Pitfalls of Integrating Religious Elements into Counseling
Regardless of the growing evidence supporting the integration of religious elements into counseling; it is no secret that the majority of psychotherapeutic schools of thoughts had been conceptualized by Western scholars (Basit & Hamid, 2010). As a consequence most approaches focus on the mainstream, white, Christian, Euro-American clientele (Beshai, Clark, & Dobson, 2013). Only a few counselors are, therefore, trained to work with religiously divergent clients. In addition to the lack of training there is a lack of knowledge. Competent religiously-sensitive counseling would require the counselor to get an in-depth understanding of the client’s religion and to respect the relevant religious concepts. Understanding and acceptance are key elements. Consider the following example: