Elise Schmidt
Diversity in Counseling
Reflection Paper: Religion
1
Religion I believe is a difficult thing to talk about for many because others
question your beliefs and at times attack them. Personally my beliefs are the center for
my values and if my religion is questioned, I feel as if my values and all other life
choices are being questioned. When others discuss religion and start attacking your
beliefs it feels like they are attacking you and who you are and that is difficult. Religion
is typically black and white and not many gray; individuals either believe or do not
believe. Those in the gray don’t usually dive into a discussion about religion, they
typically sit back and soak in views and ideas.
A privilege that I have due to my religious affiliation are that many individuals
accept me and my religion due to the large number of Christians within the United
States. Another privilege that I have because of my religion is I have a selection of
schools I can go to focused around my faith and spiritual practices. A limitation I have
due to religion is within my religion such as my inability to preach or join in certain
meetings due to my biological sex.
As a counselor it is vital to understand your religion and spiritual views.
Counselors help clients with religion and spirituality and must address their own
personal issues and affiliation with religion and spirituality. (Wiggins, 2003) As a
counselor it is also important to understand religious diversity because today counselors
must be multicultural competent. Religion and spirituality are two important components
of culture and influence an individual’s experiences, beliefs, values, at illness patterns
making them important in helping individuals in therapy. (Nickels, 2011)
Elise Schmidt
Diversity in Counseling
Reflection Paper: Religion
2
My cultural competence and religious experience within the Christian
branch of religion I feel is wide and I can speak with knowledge about. Religions and
spirituality branches from Asia such as Buddhism I have limited competence or
experience. Due to the recent events in my lifetime for a little over a decade I have tried
to become more competent in Hmong and Islam to avoid having narrow minded
thoughts about the entire religion and its followers. As a person I have learned over and
over again that I believe in God but respect others thoughts and as a woman am more
likely to allow myself to believe in a higher power. (Brammer, 2012) I think it is easier to
discuss differences when the other individual believes in some higher power verse no
beliefs.
As a counselor I know that I need to become more diverse in religion and
spirituality. Religion being an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used
to worship a god or a group of gods (Merriam-Webster, 2013) and Spirituality is
sensitivity or attachment to religious values (Merriam-Webster, 2013). As a counselor I
also see purpose and benefits of religion and using it in counseling. For example if a
counselor was working with a client who had biblical beliefs and submitted themselves
to a biblical authority a counselor could have the client gather biblical texts that speak
about their dilemma. (Wiggins, 2003) Since religion and spirituality can play a large role
within counseling I myself will have to widen my experience dramatically to better help
future clients of a diverse religion and spiritual backgrounds.
Apply cultural competence to counseling is highly important because it is our job
as a counselor to apply the code of ethics and make sure every individual who seeks
Elise Schmidt
Diversity in Counseling
Reflection Paper: Religion
3
out treatment is accepted as the person they are. As a counselor you must not only
accept your client but gain an understanding of them and this can only be done by being
culturally competent. (Nickels, 2011)
For the length of the reflection paper I cannot type my remaining questions about
religion and spirituality because there are so many religions and my knowledge needs
to be expanded dramatically. Faith and religion are extremely significant personally for
myself because it is a large part of my life. I am unaware if it is bias or prejudice but
discussing religion and faith who do not believe in any higher power makes me feel sad.
I have tried to discuss why this may be with others and reflected on it and have found
no answers why. If my religious expression were different my life would be extremely
different. My experience and values are based on my religion and if that were different I
would be a completely different person.
I believe reflecting what I have learned with diverse individuals with different
religious backgrounds would be beneficial. I will become more informed in religion and
faith because many clients will have religious beliefs and religion is incorporated into
therapy. (Nickels, 2011) With growing in my cultural competence I will grow as a
counselor and a person. As always the only thing I can hope to achieve is to become a
better person overall and personally experience by engaging in discussion and
participating in events of varieties of religions.
Elise Schmidt
Diversity in Counseling
Reflection Paper: Religion
4
Reference Page
Brammer, R. (2012). Diversity in Counseling 2e. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Merriam-Webster. (2013). Religion. Retrieved from Merriam-Webster: http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/religion
Merriam-Webster. (2013). Spirituality. Retrieved from Merriam-Webster: http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/spirituality
Nickels, T. (2011). THE ROLE OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY IN COUNSELING. San Luis Obispo:
CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY.
Wiggins, M. (2003). Integrating Religion and Spirituality into Counseling. Pacific Grove: Books/Cole.