Providing Faith-based services

Faith-based services are those that incorporate elements of spirituality. In the field of counseling, those who provide faith-based services have traditionally been referred to as “pastoral counselors.”

For clients with strong religious convictions or the desire to explore their own spirituality further, particularly as it relates to a mental health issue, faith-based services may be the best choice. If a provider has strong religious convictions, it is important that the provider abide by the ethical guidelines of the profession. This is particularly relevant when the provider’s own convictions are in opposition to the client’s values, beliefs, behaviors, or issues.

As reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education, a graduate student in a counseling psychology program was dismissed from the program after she refused to work with certain client populations based on her religious beliefs. Open the link to read the article:

• Schmidt, P. (2010, July 27). Federal judge upholds dismissal of counseling student who balked at treating gay clients. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from
  http://jobs.chronicle.com/article/Judge-Upholds-Dismissal-of/123704/

In a minimum of 350 words, respond to the following:

• Summarize the reasons the judge upheld the student’s dismissal from her academic program.
• Why did the judge agree with the school’s decision to dismiss her?
• What are your views on her refusal to work with certain groups?
• How does her refusal violate the ethics code for counselors? Identify the relevant code(s) or standard(s) from the following associations’ ethics codes:
  • American Counseling Association. (2005). ACA code of ethics. In Ethics. Retrieved from
    http://www.counseling.org/Resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
  • American Psychological Association. (2010). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct: 2010 amendments. Retrieved from
    http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
  • National Association of Social Workers. (2011). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. Retrieved from
    http://www.naswdc.org/pubs/code/code.asp

Respond to at least two of your fellow students’ responses. Provide a statement of clarification, a point of view with rationale, challenge a point of discussion, or draw a relationship between one or more points of the discussion. Respond to the following in your review:

• Do you agree or disagree with the school’s decision to dismiss this student?
• Discuss how counselors can remain true to their own values, while practicing ethically and professionally.

Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

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