Integration of Theology and Counseling - Research Paper Example

Integration of Theology and Counseling Integration of Faith and Practice Discuss the (Biblical) understanding of human nature, suffering, repentance, and forgiveness. The Biblical understanding of human nature can be explored based on three perspectives that include the creation, fall and redemption of human beings. These three perspectives relate to the transformations in the relationship between God and human beings at different periods of human existence (McMinn and Campbell, 2007). The human nature has its origin in the genesis creation stories where God created human nature as a holisticbeing with a body, breath of life, and soul. God incorporated these three components to be characteristics of one person as seen in Genesis 1:26-27 which is about God’s plan to create human beings and Genesis 2:7, that explains how the creation of human beings took place. Genesis 1:26-27 notes God created human beings in His “image” and “likeness”. The concept of the image of God that has raised controversies with some asserting the image of God is the immaterial, spiritual soul placed in humans with scholars of Theology such as Calvin (2012)asserting the image of God resides in the soul. A second concept of human nature opposes the presupposition of dualism between the human body and soul insisting this it is not presented in the creation accounts. This interpretation of the creation account insists man did not receive a soul from God but was made a living soul. This argument is based on the line of thought that animals were also made "living souls" (Genesis 1:20, 21, 24, 30; 2:19) yet animals do not represent the image of God. Therefore, the image of God in human beings is not found in the soul but in the distinctive moral and rational capabilities that God gave humanity to replicate His moral character. In the same vein, conformity to the image of Jesus as envisioned in Roman 8:29 and 1 Corinthian 15:49 is not understood on the basis of the immortal soul entrenched in the human nature, but is portrayed in acts of righteousness and holiness by human beings. The fall of human beings when Adam and Eve consumed the forbidden fruit did not transform the composition of human nature. However, what transformed is the state or condition of existence which made it possible for human beings to die. The existence of the "tree of life" in the Garden of Eden means that immortality in human nature was subject to the consumption of the fruit of that tree, therefore, to ensure that the sinful humanity does not "live forever", (Genesis 3:22),God placed a barrier to cut off human access to the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-23).The consequence of not having access to the tree of life is that human beings were now exposed to the reality of the dying process. Death as a result of the disobedience of God’s instructions does not only mean the death of the body, but, for the whole person. The biblical understanding of human nature is that whole person dies as expressed in Ez 18:4, 20 that "The soul that sins shall die" meaning the death of human body is linked to the death of the soul since the body is the visible form of the soul (Ostroot, 2009; McMinn and Campbell, 2007). A further, consequence of the fall of mankind is that suffering became part of human existence. Suffering has its origin in the disobedience of God’s instructions by Adam and Eve and has subsequently been linked to sin (Harrington, 2000).Human suffering has a beginning in God’s address to that "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children (Genesis 3:16).From the then onwards, suffering became part of human nature where it is noted in Job 5:6-7 “For man is born for trouble." According to the various teachings of the bible, suffering has different causes that might include suffering because of sinful actions (Gal. 6:7-9), God’s discipline (Heb. 12:6) or persecution because of one’s strength in Christian faith (2 Tim. 3:12). However, God does not enjoy the suffering of human being therefore his allowing of human suffering does not imply he takes pleasure in it. The Bible notes this is the reason God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, for the redemption of humanity from their suffering. However, the fact that Jesus died for the sins of human beings does not imply that the sins one commits in life has also been forgiven. This is because forgiveness of sins must come as a consequence of repentance of past sinful actions and in accordance to the Biblical teachings of what is right or wrong. Human beings have to confess their sins and acknowledge their need for forgiveness from God. Full confession, is however as a result of reorientation of life away from the previously sinful life and towards God’s will (McMinn and Campbell, 2007). 2. Explain how to integrate the (Christian faith) in both a faith-based and non-faith-based setting. There has been debate over the possibility of integrating the Christian faith in both faith-based and non-faith-based settings (Smail, 2001; West, 2011)To effectively relate the Christian faith to the needs of the client, counselors must be aware of how their practice relate to their own beliefs and how it might influence their clients. Given the understanding of integration as a process of combining and working with two different disciplines, integration in this context implies ways in which counselors with Christian background are able to merge their professional training as counselors with Christian faith in both faith-based and non-faith-based settings. To make their sessions with clients meaningful, counselor wishing to integrate their Christian faith into professional practice must fully understand issues about client’s worldview such as ways of knowing, morality and values. Being aware of the both the counselor and client’s world worldview is especially significant in any setting given that it is what informs the core beliefs and presuppositions that control all other beliefs and interpretation the world. Clarification of the client’s world view will inform the choice of theories that the therapist will use when practicing to ensure the client is comfortable with the concepts that a counselor will be drawing from. Another, important aspect of integrating Christian faith in both faith-based and non-faith-based settings is the implicit or explicit use of theology. Implicit integration is a preferred option especially in non-faith-based settings where the client does not favor a faith based treatment of their problem. Consequently, the counselor might adopt a number of Christian based practices such as praying for the clients of the day before going to work, understanding the freedom of choice exercised by their clients as well as silently inviting God’s will during a session. The counselor can also look for solutions into the problems facing a client from the Bible without telling the client. This will help the counselor find solutions based on the biblical principles without naming the Bible as the source of inspiration (Tan, 2011). Consequently, it is the client’s needs and interests that inform the comfort and competence of the counselor to practice either implicit or explicit integration in psychotherapy. When the client is not religious, wants an alternative means of exploring solutions apart from religious resources or does not favor explicit use of religion, the counselor is called upon to adopt an implicit integration model. However, both models can be used effectively when the client is religiously oriented and is willing to undertake a direct and openly religious oriented therapy. It should not be forgotten that the counselor is also an important aspect of the integration process through their actual behavior and counseling practice which might encourage the client to prefer either explicit or implicit application of Christian faith principles during therapy (Tan, 2011). Professional Counselor Identity 1. Development of professional counselor identity Achieving a professional identity for any discipline implies undergoing the developmental processes that make it possible for practitioners to acquire an understanding of their profession and therefore efficiently perform their responsibilities. The continued growth of the counseling profession has a potential of strengthening the profession as practitioners and educators achieve a higher sense of purpose and acquire collective identity (Gale and Austin, 2003). Counselor identity is also dependent on the formation of personal relationships with the discipline which is possible through the understanding of foundations of the discipline. This foundation has been establish in the counseling profession through the establishment of clear and specific professional expectations exercised through licensing of practice, streamlined educational curricula, establishment of professional organizations and presence of ethical standards constructed on the basis of underlying professional philosophy (Remley & Herlihy, 2001). The continued development in the professionalization in the counseling practice has led to calls for the establishment of a professional identity. This is due to the fact that deployment in this area has been based on a number of specialty programs such as school and community, mental health, marriage and family counseling among other areas of specialty. These counseling sub-specialties continue to encourage fragmented development in the counseling profession by creating different affiliations for professional counselors and counselor educators. Even when there are numerous benefits that members generate from their affiliation to different associations and organizations, one of the negative aspect of this has been the lack of a single definition that demonstrate a shared professional identity of the counseling field (Calley & Hawley, 2008). The development of a number of sub-specialties within the field of counseling has led to a situation where these sub-specialties are perceived as distinct professions on the basis of the national standards for accreditation and licensing, training, practice, and codes of ethics. Consequently, there have been instances where segmentation has led to divergence of views concerning which specialty is more critical in practice and over the extent of shared counselor identity. Therefore, lack of a well-defined professional identity that brings all the counseling sub-specialties together has a negative impact on advocacy efforts of counseling. There are many researches that invest in the clarification of professional identity counseling must assume in order to continue with its development (Calley and Hawley, 2008; Gale and Austin, 2003; Myer, Sweeney, and White, 2002). For the development of counseling as a distinct profession to be achieved, it is essential that practitioners establish a sense of well-defined sense of identity. The role of individual counselors in developing a professional identity is to have proper understanding of their roles and responsibilities in the counseling profession. The practitioner is also tasked with the acquisition of skills to enhance their satisfaction and pride in the chosen field. This is based on the understanding that the presence of weak professional identity has a direct consequence on the quality of output in terms of how the practitioner handles given roles and responsibilities. Therefore, having an established counselor identity is essential especially since it helps establish the distinct role played by practitioners without which there would be confusions about which functions is for counselors which ones are played by other social workers. The performance of individual practitioners has further consequence on the perception of the image of the profession by both practitioners and those outside the profession (Remley and Herlihy, 2001). There are a number of similarities in the role and identity of counselors and other social workers that might lead to a conclusion that the two not different. This confusion in identity arises from the fact that both focus on assisting individuals, couples and families overcome a variety of problems in their lives. However, the role played by counselors is distinct in a number of ways since unlike social workers who incorporate a range of interventions and modes of assistance for their clients, professional counselor focus strictly on counseling. A professional counselor’s role is to apply a range of professional skills while working with a client to discover goals and potential solutions to problems that cause the client’s emotional turmoil. Additionally, counselors work with clients to identify a number of activities that are essential in the improvement of the client’s communication and coping skills. Other areas that counselors assist their clients include improvement of self-esteem and promotion of behavioral change and mental health of their clients. Given the available areas of specialization in the practice of a professional counselor, I like to work in the Sex Offender/Offended and Relapse Prevention Program especially with male youth with Sexually Maladaptive Behavior. My interest in this area is based on the available statistics which indicates high rate of recidivism for released offenders who do not undergo treatment when in the correction facility. Application of contemporary cognitive and behavioral treatment procedures have been found to play a role in the reduction in of the rate of sexual recidivism by up to 40 percent (Hanson, Gordon, Harris, Marques, Murphy, Quinsey and Seto, 2002). The positive effect of cognitive and behavioral approaches to problems affecting maladaptive sex offenders indicate the important role of counselors in lowering the reoffending rates and therefore contribute positively to the elimination of sexual violence. 2. Discuss ways a counselor should be involved in advocating for the counseling profession. There are various ways a counselor can be involved in advocating for the counseling profession all which can be categorized into four avenues: promote professional identity, increase the public image of counseling, promote legislative/policy initiatives and develop professional collaboration (Chang, Dixon and Minton, 2011; Gale and Austin, 2003; Remley and Herlihy, 2001). In promotion of professional identity, there are a range of activities that a counselor can be engaged in such as a promoting the professional pride in the counseling profession. In this case, the counselor can make a conscious effort to improve the perception of others within and outside the profession by highlighting important areas where the profession has had positive impact in the lives of people in the community. The counselor can also be involved in advocating for the counseling profession by promoting efforts to develop unified definition counseling and specializations within counseling. This is through contributing to the scholarly work in the counseling profession especially those aimed at creating a specialized body of knowledge for the profession. In the work place, the counselor can contribute to the development of professional identity in counseling by displaying professional credentials while at the workplace. It is through incorporation of professionalism into their daily activities that will ensure counselors participate in advocating for the counseling profession (Chang, Dixon and Minton, 2011). Increasing the public image of counseling involves drawing the attention of people to the positive impact that the counseling profession has had in the lives of people in addition increasing the general knowledge about the functions played by the counseling field. Advocacy in this area by counselors can also cover promotion of efforts to ensure increased public access to counseling services. The counselor can be involved in platforms that call for the channeling of resources to areas that had been neglected in provision of counseling services. Such neglected sections can include rural areas or the minority members of the society (Chang, Dixon and Minton, 2011). Counselor involvement in the development of professional collaboration is also part of advocating for the counseling profession. Collaboration is important due to the encouragement of formation of professional platforms where practitioners meet to share vision, current practice by members, what needs to be done and how to achieve common goals of counseling profession. A counselor can also encourage collaboration with other fields such as social work to ensure sharing of important information on related areas (Chang, Dixon and Minton, 2011) Further, area of involvement of a counselor in advocating for the counseling profession is by promoting legislative or policy initiatives within the counseling profession. There are a number of benefits that the counseling profession can derive from counselor involvement in policy advocacy. The counselor can be vocal on issues relating to the process of drafting policies or legislations to ensure there is a level ground for participation of all stakeholders. The participation by counselors ensures influential individuals do not dominate the dialogue on important policies that will apply to the whole profession (Doherty, Mendenhall & Berge, 2010). Further, the counselor can be involved in advocating for the profession by informing other members of the profession about new legislative frameworks that have been introduced to improve the profession. Lastly, the counselor can undertake studies aimed at identification of barriers to the counseling practice especially those that result from the application of specific legislations and regulations. Identifications of such barriers will ensure modifications legislations that prevent effective exercise of the counselor’s roles and responsibilities or if possible modification of others to suit current practices in the field (Chang, Dixon and Minton, 2011). Theoretical Orientation My theoretical orientation leads me to favor Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) since this theoretical basis of therapy presents clients with treatment that emphases on observing the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors and is therefore well suited to tackle major problems facing different clients. In CBT, the counselor works with a client to develop a set of skills that builds clients’ awareness of their thoughts and emotions in addition to recognizing how different situations, thoughts, and behaviors contributes to the emotions expressed by the client. The counselor then works with the client on improvement of feelings through changing of dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors. What makes CBT an effective tool in therapy is that the process involved in skill acquisition is collaborative with the counselor and client closely working together to change the dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors exhibited by the client. What makes CBT a unique form of therapy is the emphasis on skill acquisition and presentation of homework thereby setting CBT apart from other approaches that are based on “talk therapies.” CBT encourages counselors to use their sessions with clients to teach acquisition of skills that address presented problem and to avoid simple discussions of issues or offering advice to clients (Dobson, 2009). CBT has a number of tenets and interventions applied in the treatment of the client. This tenets and interventions are based on a number of principles of CBT the first one being that CBT has its basis on the Cognitive Model of Emotional Response. In equipping clients with skills to overcome their problems, CBT insists on the belief that human feelings and behavior are as a result of thought and not external influences such as people, situations, and events that surrounds the client. This conceptualization of the problem the client faces enables counselors to work with their clients on the best way to change their thought processes even when their situations does not change (Dobson, 2009). The second tenet of CBT is that sessions can be brief and time-limited but with a high quality of the intervention process. CBT focuses on achieving results within a short period of time and is therefore, among interventions with rapid results in therapy. Putting into considerations the different types of problems and approaches in tackling them, the average number of sessions involved in CBT can be as low as sixteen. There are a number of concepts involved in the developing of the patient’s skills such as the instructive nature of CBT and the fact that the therapy makes use of homework assignments that makes the theory brief than other methods. The time to formally terminate therapy is determined based on deliberations on the progress of the client through consultation of both the counselor and client ensure the client has developed essential skills before termination of the process (Dobson, 2009). CBT emphasizes the necessity of having a sound therapeutic relationship between the client and the counselor; however, therapists following this theoretical framework recognize that this should not be the focus of an effective therapy. A number of existing forms of therapy assume that the main reason clients heal after therapy is due to the establishment of a positive relationship between them and the therapist. CBT therapists also acknowledge the importance of establishing trusting relationship with clients, however, this not enough to ensure complete healing. CBT therapists note the clients achieve transformation of behavior after they acquire skills that make them think differently and are empowered to act on lessons learned in session (Dobson, 2009). CBT is based on the collaborative efforts between the therapist and the client through setting of goals and responsibilities. CBT therapists endeavor to fully understand the goals that clients have in life as a basis for the formulation of interventions to help clients realize the goals. During the sessions, the responsibility of CBT therapist is to listen, teach, and encourage, while the client is supposed to communicate concerns, learn, and put the lessons into practice (Dobson, 2009). To ensure effective results are achieved within a favorable time, some CBT approaches borrow from aspects of stoic philosophy. The therapist applying CBT do not direct clients on how they should feel instead focusing on how clients do not want to feel. The CBT tactics that apply stoicism teach clients the benefits of being calm when faced with unattractive circumstances. Further, this approach asserts that clients have undesirable situations whether they are upset about them or not, however, being upset means there are two problems: the original problem and the client being upset about the problem. The fact that many people want to have few problems as possible means however, stoicism asserts that individuals must calmly accept their personal problems. Acceptance and staying calm when faced with a problem will ensure a client feel better and can be in a position to use their intelligence, knowledge, energy, and resources to resolve the problem (Dobson, 2009).Other important elements of the CBT approach includes the use of Socratic method to understand client problem, creation of structured and directive sessions based on special techniques and the use of homework. I also learn towards the Adlerian style of therapy, this subjective reality can be described as phenomenological and includes the individual’s perceptions, thoughts, feelings, values, beliefs, convictions and conclusions, which deal holistically with the client. Application of Adlerian theory in counseling can be based on a number of techniques that are compatible with the concepts this theory fosters. Among such techniques is the subjective interviewing where the clients are encouraged to go back in the past and narrate the story in their other lives. The role of the therapist in this technique is to be an active listener and to empathize with the client. While, listening, the therapist pays attention to clues that relate to features of the client’s coping mechanisms and approaches to life (Corey, 2009). The therapist using subjective interviewing to treat a client seeks to identify the client’s perceptions about life therefore gaining a good understanding of the client. Having the clients narrate their life story provide a basis for making conclusions about the genesis of their issue. A second intervention framework when using the Adlerian style of therapy is application of the early recollection technique. The use of early recollection technique in Adlerian style of therapy calls for the therapist to request the client to go back in their earlier life and recall their earliest memories of up to age six. Corey (2009) notes the importance of early memories in the treatment process lies in its ability to illuminate the client’s life story since they represent metaphors of current views. Therefore, the application of early recollection technique in Adlerian style of therapy makes it possible for therapists to make assessments about the client’s strengths and weaknesses in dealing with life challenges. Identification of the client’s life themes and strengths and weaknesses allows the client and therapist to work together on available interventions to reshape the client’s perception of life. My approach in therapy is therefore integrative and is based on my belief on effectiveness of an approach that brings together different functioning such as affective, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological systems within a person. This type of Integrative Psychotherapy also takes into account many views of human functioning by allowing the therapist and client to make use of extensive body of knowledge present in a dynamic system perspective that includes approaches such as family therapy, psychodynamic, body-psychotherapies, client-cantered, behaviorist, cognitive, Gestalt therapy, object relations theories, psychoanalytic self-psychology and transactional analysis approaches. Consequently, Integrative Therapy equips the therapist with a range of models and methods from across orientations making to possible for the best therapist to select what suit a specific clients and contexts (Erskine and Moursund, 2011). References Calvin, J. (2012). God the Creator. Alachua, Florida: Brdge-Logos. Calley, N. G., & Hawley, L. D. (2008).The professional identity of counselor educators. The Clinical Supervisor, 27(1), 3–16. Chang, C., Dixon, A. L., & Minton, C. A. B. (Eds.). (2011). Professional counseling excellence through leadership and advocacy. London: Routledge. Corey, G. (2009). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Dobson, K. S. (Ed.). (2009). Handbook of cognitive-behavioral therapies. New York: Guilford Press. Doherty, W. J., Mendenhall, T. J., & Berge, J. M. (2010). The families and democracy and citizen health care project. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 36(4), 389-402. Erskine, R. G., & Moursund, J. 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Rediscovering Genesis: New Beginnings for a Modern World. Indiana: Xlibris Corporation. Remley, T. P., &Herlihy, B. (2001). Ethical, legal, and professional issues in counseling. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. Smail, D. (2001). On not being able to eff the ineffable. In: S. King-Spooner and C. Newnes, eds. Spirituality and Psychotherapy. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books. Tan, S. Y. (2011). Counseling and psychotherapy: A Christian perspective. Michigan: Baker Academic. West, W. (2011). Spirituality and therapy: the tensions and possibilities. In: W. West (Ed.). Exploring Therapy, Spirituality and Healing. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More