lntegration of Psychology and Christianity: A Unique Challenge in Clinical Training

This article explores the challenges of training clinical psychology doctoral students in the integration of psychology and Christianity. Our training program is based on a competency model that includes the integration of psychology and Christianity as a specific area of clinical competence. Competence in integration is evident in the students' respect and empathy for clients as well as specific knowledge and skills in working from a faith perspective. Training in integration has unique challenges including the variability in practicum supervisors' knowledge and skill in working with religion as an aspect of diversity. Semester evaluations completed by both practicum supervisors and graduate students show that students' competence in integration is often more advanced than the supervisors'. This imbalance can cause discomfort for the supervisor and lead to misunderstanding as students attempt to practice within an integrative framework. The nature of the practicum site often determines how an integrative perspective is incorporated into clinical care. Medical settings and clinics affiliated with faith-based organizations often support both an implicit understanding and explicit use of faith as a protective factor. In contrast, forensic settings and school sites tend to limit explicit discussions of faith. It is recommended that training programs incorporate both implicit and explicit opportunities for the integration of Christianity and psychology and increase supervisors' awareness of integration as an aspect of diversity. Who hasn't felt some of the heart-pounding anxiety when preparing the self-study or during the site visit by the American Psychological Association, Commission on Accreditation representatives? The extensive preparation requires a review and evaluation of every aspect of the clinical program. Similar to many programs, our self-study required a 200+ page appendix to provide the requested program data. But, in addition to the microanalysis, the self-study also gave us an opportunity to have meaningful discussions with our students about our larger mission and values. In small group meetings we asked our students, "Why did you choose George Fox University?" and talked about how their expectations had or had not been met. The most frequent response to the "Why GFU?" was, 1) the focus on the integration of psychology with Christian thought 2) the mentoring relationships embedded in our research and clinical team models and 3) the opportunities for training in health psychology. Interestingly, there was much more variability in the expectations for the integration curriculum than for the clinical and research mentoring or practicum training. Responses ranged from the opportunity to contrast the theological and psychological conceptualization of grace to how to pray with a client in session. Program Distinctives Perhaps in response to the changing needs and expectations of students, our integration curriculum underwent a major restructuring three years ago. The curriculum no longer includes content-focused courses in Old and New Testament, for example. Instead the integration courses reflect a combination of knowledge and clinical application, utilizing team-teaching with a religious studies scholar and a psychologist coleading classroom interactions regarding integration. Given that integration is a program distinctive and remains a priority for our students, the integration program will continue to evolve and incorporate both knowledge and clinical skills. The emphasis on mentoring relationships is another distinctive aspect of our program. Mentoring occurs as students participate in "vertical" teams for research and clinical work. The term vertical describes the composition of the team, which includes students from each cohort year as well as the faculty mentor. Clinical and research vertical teams meet weekly or bi-weekly; allowing students from multiple cohorts to work closely with each other. …