The Ways Paradigm: A Transtheoretical Model for Integrating Spirituality Into Counseling

Competence in integrating spirituality and religion into professional counseling has become a focus of counselor education over the past decade, with the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) adding language about spirituality and religion into its 2009 and 2016 accreditation standards (CACREP, 2009, 2015) and the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC; 2009) establishing competencies in addressing religion and spirituality in counseling. However, although the majority of recent counseling trainees report that they feel competent with many aspects of integration, studies have consistently found that counselors do not report using spiritual and religious resources in counseling to the extent that they rate these resources as important (Cashwell et al., 2013). Some of this discrepancy may be related to counselors' concern to avoid harm in this central aspect of life, especially given that the one competency recent counseling trainees did not feel prepared for was the cultural and social manifestations of clients' spirituality and religion (Dobmeier & Reiner, 2012). In fact, in a recent study (Henriksen, Polonyi, Bornsheuer-Boswell, Greger, & Watts, 2015), more than 50% of participants indicated that their counselor education programs did not significantly address spirituality and religion. It also appears that counselors are most comfortable bringing in nonsectarian, spiritual concepts already interwoven with counseling theory, such as hope and meaning (Adams, 2012; Dobmeier & Reiner, 2012). This pattern of findings highlights the need for sound, comprehensive models that provide counselors with a framework of integration in theory and practice that can help them move from a position of appreciating spirituality and religion to using these constructs for the client's good. Many such comprehensive models have been articulated in the literature. However, these models exhibit a wide disagreement as to what counts as meaningful and effective integration. A model that seems too theological or religious to some appears too spiritually vague and lacking in substance to others. Far from neutral, these terms are fraught with multiple meanings, many of which may be in flux as counselors work to clarify the associations they evoke. The Underlying Challenge: Evolving Definitions The underlying challenge for these models is the "fuzziness" (Zinnbauer et al., 1997, p. 549) of the terms religion and spirituality themselves. In social science, the most common strategy is for authors to define religion and spirituality precisely. This strategy is essential for designing empirical research, especially for the purposes of assessment and measurement. However, religion and spirituality are terms under negotiation in contemporary Western society (Ammerman, 2013). Attempts to construct a foundation of universally agreed-upon meanings will likely perpetuate disagreement and confusion. What is needed is a simple heuristic model that can allow counselors and counselor educators to navigate the multiplicity and diversity of existing models as they work to integrate counseling with spiritual and religious traditions. Therefore, rather than "unfuzzying the fuzzy" (Zinnbauer et al, 1997, p. 549), we take a different strategy, using a broad definition of these terms to highlight the breadth of counseling that can come under these rubrics. Embracing this multiplicity also reflects the lived experience of contemporary Westerners, as seen in the most recent sociological research on the topic. Ammerman (2013) noted that all our participants--affiliates and nonaffiliates, active and inactive alike--employed multiple definitional tacks over the course of their contributions in the interview, diaries, and descriptions of their photos. Indeed, the vast majority of their references to spirituality moved across multiple categories--Awe and God, Ritual and Mystery, Meaning and Morality--often even within the same story, (p. …