Religiosity and Spirituality in Professional Counseling Training

The lack or absence of training in the inclusion of religiosity and spirituality in counselor education has been recognized but most often goes unaddressed. While the profession does have a developed set of religious and spiritual competencies, specific training is not always included across programs. Although religiosity and spirituality have been demonstrated through research to be a vital protective factor in the prevention and recovery of persons with mental health concerns (Gladding & Crockett, 2019), practitioners often admit not including these aspects in the therapeutic space. According to Fairchild (2021), 85% of the global population identifies as religious or spiritual. However, there appears to be barriers to the provision of training future counselors in including and addressing religiosity and spirituality during counseling sessions. The authors address the rationale for the inclusion of religiosity and spirituality and discuss barriers to the incorporation of religiosity and spirituality in counselor education training. Additionally, the authors provide possible strategies and opportunities to facilitate the training of future counselors using the multidimensional model of broaching to broach the subjects of religiosity and spirituality in the clinical counseling setting.