Description: Competencies are descriptions of what we believe the effective counselor needs to possess to ethically and successfully work with clients on spiritual and religious issues. The 14 competencies in this chapter challenge counselors, as does Guru Nanak, to recognize the essential unity of humankind and humans' common attempts to understand their relationship with the higher power. The competencies are tools to help counselors maintain a relationship with a client even when the client's beliefs are contrary to their own. In essence, the competencies ask counselors to see through the client's lens while being fully conscious of their own spiritual or religious viewpoint. They ask counselors to sacrifice their sectarianism for a while and go beyond mere toleration so that they can truly understand their clients' spiritual and religious lives.
Objectives:
Examine the emergence of the Association for Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) as a viable entity in the American Counseling Association (ACA)
Identify the specific competencies counselors must possess if they are to effectively address the spiritual and religions needs of their clients
Source: Integrating Spirituality and Religion Into Counseling: A Guide to Competent Pracitce, Second Edition, edited by Craig S. Cashwell and J. Scott Young
