Spiritual Counseling: Everything You Need To Know

Aside from your physical, emotional, and mental wellness, spiritual health is also essential to your holistic well-being.

Spiritual counseling guides individuals to relate their spiritual principles and beliefs to life events and situations. It is increasingly considered a remarkable tool for re-establishing connections with the deepest part of ourselves.

To give you an introduction, we have compiled all the necessary information about spiritual counseling.

What is Spiritual Counseling?

According to Karin Bleecker, the program director of New Life Portugal, spiritual counseling is a mode of healing that considers an individual’s values and beliefs. It guides individuals in turning a new leaf and creating the life they want after overcoming challenges.

Bleecker added that spiritual counseling does not require a religious belief system, despite being grounded in the perpetual wisdom of many spiritual traditions.

For people who believe in a higher power, spiritual counseling can aid them in their healing process and help them form deeper connections with this power.

On the other hand, Angel Rivera from Beat Bullying.org explains that spiritual counseling is a comparatively modern form of counseling that incorporates spirituality into an individual’s treatment. 

While spirituality is the quality of concerning oneself with the human soul as opposed to material things, spiritual counseling takes a different route than conventional therapy.

Lastly, according to Unity Spiritual Life Center, spiritual counseling is composed of reflective listening and faith-filled prayers to remind the individual that they are immersed in the Spirit and that God is always there to heal them.

The Importance of Spiritual Counseling

Ashleigh Lamberti, a licensed marriage and family therapist explained that spiritual counseling aims to heal the whole person.

Unlike traditional therapy, which has a narrow approach, spiritual counseling has a holistic approach that focuses on the mind, body, and soul.

For some, spiritual counseling allows them to become more mindful and apply this practice to focus on the present and live a meaningful life. For others, this therapeutic method gives them inner peace.

In any case, spiritual counseling helps individuals find healing from within in a purposeful manner.

Benefits of Spiritual Counseling

Here are five benefits of spiritual counseling according to Top Counseling Schools.org.

1. Alleviate depression, anxiety, and stress.

A glimpse of insight into spiritualism is beneficial in understanding the causes of anxiety, stress, and depression.

A spiritual director helps candidates become aware of the role of their environment in breeding negative thoughts and toxic behaviors. 

They reroute the candidates’ mental and emotional state to positivity, health, and balance through intentional mantras, self-affirmation, and meditation.

By doing so, the candidates can break free from the vices and negative behaviors restraining them.

2. Establish a life of positivity.

Straying from negative habits is not a walk in the park. That’s why spiritual counseling sufficiently quiets the mind through meditations and mantras to rewire the brain’s need for constant stimulation and gratification.

The methods applied are significantly beneficial in establishing and maintaining inner peace. Through regular spiritual sessions, one can form discipline in meditation that holistically improves life.

3. Enrich peace.

One factor that hinders people from creating meaningful lives is their inability to let go of the past. Some had it more rigid, undergoing experiences that led them to hate the world.

Spiritual counseling will help strengthen the individual’s willingness to let go of traumas and surrender to the perspective that it’s possible to move forward with the right mindset.

The power of surrender establishes inner peace, acceptance, and positive anticipation of the future.

4. Establish trust in society.

According to Careers in Psychology, spiritual counselors often create stronger bonds with their clients.

Openness and total acceptance establish these bonds. These bonds are also the foundation of the individual in building their trust in society. They become ready to socialize and develop healthy relationships without fear of alienation.

5. Establishing mindful thinking.

Spiritual counseling can help individuals use positive affirmations to readjust their minds’ vibrations and eliminate destructive thoughts.

Over time, the person begins to realize the power of using positive imagery and words in the mind, allowing them to live a life of positivity.

How Does Spiritual Counseling Work?

Spiritual counseling believes that life is inherently personal, and individuals would want to build their unique, flowing relationship with it. The soul is considered the starting point of the healing process. 

The individuals incorporate mindfulness of the heart and the mind to create a sacred interdependence between these elements.

For their personal and collective growth, compassion for self and others becomes a core aspect of spiritual counseling. It is a holistic approach with no differentiation or duality between personal responses and reactions.

It makes the individual aware that integrating personal wounds and their journey is the greatest tool for their life experiences.

What happens during a spiritual counseling session?

According to Angel Rivera, you can expect spiritual counseling during your therapy session.

During the session, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss with your counselor your challenges and devise solutions framed from your spiritual beliefs.

Your treatment will depend on your needs and the type of counselor you choose to consult. For instance, a consultation with a denominational spiritual counselor will accompany prayers and other religious components.

On the other hand, non-denominational counselors may include aspects from various religions in your session.

You have the liberation to discuss the perfect treatment plan with your counselor. You can also expect a safe and non-judgemental space where you can fully express yourself and explore your spiritual belief to gain a deeper understanding of your truth.

Techniques and Methods of Spiritual Counseling

Some common spirituality counseling practices include the following treatment methods:

Meditation

One of the most common aspects of all forms of meditation is mindfulness. It is a form of meditation in which an individual focuses on being aware of what the individual is sensing and feeling in the moment.

Hypnosis

It helps people enter their subconscious mind, connect their body, mind, and soul, and then understand their inner selves. 

Hypnosis helps people bring themselves to directed attention, decrease surrounding awareness, and have a heightened ability to respond to advice.

Existential questioning

It helps the individual explore thoughts around the meaning of life, what death means to them, and how the afterlife and its thoughts affect them. It also helps them contemplate their daily thoughts and align them to start feeling better gradually.

What Should You Look for in a Spiritual Counselor?

When choosing your spiritual counselor, selecting a certified mental health professional with specialized training in spiritual counseling would be best.

Your spiritual beliefs will also guide you in choosing who’s best for you. Some spiritual counselors have a non-denominational approach and are experts in diverse belief systems.

Aside from this, it’s important to note that a spiritual counselor you can trust and be comfortable with would be best for you.

Confidentiality

Just like all the other practices of psychotherapy, spiritual counseling maintains a code of ethics. 

It does not allow the mental health practitioner to disclose information about the patients, sessions, and the contents of the sessions to any third party unless for extremely rare cases. 

All information that goes to and fro the client and the counselor is kept between the two without fail.

Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy and spiritual counseling are not so different in their approaches. In fact, spiritual counseling stems from the methods and approaches used in psychotherapy. 

While there may be similarities in both approaches, there is a slight deviation in how spiritual counselors work in their sessions.

Psychotherapy focuses on a client’s mental well-being and the healing of their past traumas. It takes into consideration their experiences of childhood memories and family history.

It also helps individuals identify, process, and analyze their emotions and feelings to help them build their self-esteem.

On the other hand, spiritual counseling helps clients to recover their mental well-being by identifying, processing, and analyzing their emotions and feelings. 

However, the direction of the counseling sessions is more toward the clients’ spiritual beliefs for their healing process. Spiritual counselors explore the connection between the client’s emotions and their belief systems.

Spiritual Counseling and Religion

Spirituality and religiousness go hand in hand but are two different things in reality. Spirituality comes from the belief in a higher power, and the inner conscious relies on it for inner peace and tranquility. 

Meanwhile, religion is faith in a ‘specific’ higher power, whether Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, or Hinduism. Religion follows a specific faith, while spirituality does not have a particular belief system. 

People can be spiritual without following any particular religion. Spirituality means different things to different people and usually revolves around believing in a higher power. It gets followed by people regardless of ethnic, religious, and traditional values.

Wrap-Up

Spiritual counseling encourages one to deeply examine held beliefs. They are encouraged to commit or recommit to their significant values.

Even people with little enthusiasm for spirituality will find the importance of spiritual counseling in honestly knowing themselves and learning to be mindful.

Spiritual counseling is a remarkable tool for people regardless of their background. It is a bridge that connects an individual to a more meaningful life awaiting them.

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