Working With Clients Who Have Religious/Spiritual Issues: A Survey of University Counseling Center Therapists

Abstract

University counseling center therapists (N = 220) completed an Internet survey about religion/spirituality in therapy, with 200 of these therapists describing therapy with a recent client whose issues involved religion/spirituality. Common client religion/spirituality issues were questioning one's childhood religion, exploring religion/spirituality beliefs, and using religion/spirituality as a source of strength. Similarity of therapist and client religion/spirituality values was not related to the strength of the therapeutic relationship. Therapists with higher levels of religious commitment tended to rate religion/spirituality goals as more important and use religion/spirituality interventions more frequently than therapists with lower levels of religious commitment. Finally, therapists with more religion/spirituality training had higher self-efficacy for working with religion/spirituality issues. Implications for practice, research, and training are discussed.