An exploration of how trainee counsellors who are practising believers of a world religion or faith tradition experience undertaking counsellor training

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper is a report of a qualitative study in which the aim was to investigate how counsellors who identified as practising members of a world religion or faith experienced undertaking counsellor training in the UK. All four participants were final year students on BACP accredited counsellor training programmes and identified as practicing Christians. Data was collated via semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings point to trainees experiencing significant anxiety with regard to talking about their faith during training for fear of eliciting negative judgments. As a result, participants either avoided talking about their religion or sought to defend it against negative perceptions. Participants tended to feel more comfortable talking to supervisors or therapists rather than their peers about religion when it was relevant to the client work or to personal issues. All participants reported receiving limited teaching input around religion and mental health on their programmes and felt this was a neglected area in counsellor training.