Faith and Spiritual-Based Counseling
More than five years ago, the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) embarked on a quest to change the way behavioral health services are delivered to Philadelphia’s men, women, children and families. One of the most powerful and long-lasting forms of that healing is inherent in the faith and spiritual communities indigenous to our neighborhoods.
Recently, DBHIDS formed a very important partnership with Community College of Philadelphia and, together with input from the faith community, the two organizations created the concept of a noncredit certificate in Faith and Spiritual-Based Counseling.
The Faith and Spiritual-Based Counseling certificate is a 45-hour noncredit workshop that gives behavioral health providers and spiritual leaders the skills necessary to help people living with behavioral health issues from a faith or spiritually-based perspective. Rather than focusing on any one tradition or philosophy, the Faith and Spiritual-Based Counseling workshop is inclusive.
Students are required to purchase the following text book prior to the start of class: Faith, Spirituality and Resilience in Recovery, Pascal Scoles, ISBN: 978-1657178557. (Revised in 2020.)
Learning Outcomes
- Understand that behavioral health problems sometimes impede religious and spiritual development
- Communicate and sustain the message of hope and caring to people in recovery
- Identify additional fellowship programs, other self-help, and peer-led supports in the community
- Acknowledge and address ethical values, clinical issues, and attitudes regarding faith based counseling
- Shape, form, and educate a caring congregation and a secular counseling system that welcomes and supports persons and families in need of faith based counseling
- Practice basic counseling techniques that encourage empowerment
- Illustrate knowledge of basic theory of trauma and recovery
- Develop awareness of rites and rituals from various spiritual traditions which aid in the process of healing and recovery
Session List
Session 1: Introduction to Faith as a Healing Practice
Session 2: Community Empowerment in Behavioral Health
Session 3: Trauma and Healing
Session 4: Resilience and Flow in Recovery
Sessions 5 & 6: Soul Healing, Spiritual Traditions and Beliefs
Session 7: Cultural Competence and Healing
Session 8: Ethics, and Helping Relationships
Session 9: Spirituality and Jungian Healing Practices
Session 10: Wilber's Four Quadrant Approach to a Theory of Consciousness
Session 11: How People Change in a Recovery Oriented System of Care
Session 12: Behavioral Interventions in the Change Process
Session 13: The Brain and Vitamins
Session 14: Holistic Healing Practices: Acupuncture and Massage
Session 15: Holistic Healing Practices: Meditation, Exercise, Yoga
Course Hours: 45 Hours
Noncredit Program Refund Policy
Refunds for noncredit programs will be granted if the class is canceled or if you withdraw no later than the day before the first class. Refunds are not available after class begins.