Incorporating Spirituality Into Core Counseling Courses: Ideas for Classroom Application

Recently, spirituality has received increased attention in the counseling field, and both spirituality and religion have been acknowledged as important aspects of multiculturalism. The role of spiritual and religious beliefs is mentioned throughout the Standards of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), and guidelines for working with spiritual issues within various cultural paradigms are emerging. Nevertheless, many counselor educators seem unsure about how to infuse spiritual issues into courses. This article presents a rationale for inclusion of spiritual issues in counselor education curricula and provides activities to incorporate knowledge and skills for dealing with spiritual and religious diversity in CACREP core courses.