The Spiritual in Counselling Training

Abstract

This chapter explores whether spirituality is absent from the process of counselling training, drawing not only on my research, based on a co-operative inquiry group consisting of practitioners who met for 11 months to explore their experience of spirituality in counselling training and in their work with clients, but also on my experience culturally of spirituality; as a trainee; and as trainer of therapists on a postgraduate programme. The wider debate highlights the fact that spirituality is a neglected component in counsellor education, with most of the writers and researchers pointing to the need for spirituality to be incorporated into training (Bergin, 1991; Lovinger, 1984; Shafranske, 2009; Shafranske & Malony, 1990; West, 2011).