Prayer as a Counseling Intervention

Summary

This article review deals with prayer as a counseling intervention and whether or not clients would prefer to use prayer during counseling sessions or not. The study reveals that a large percentage of clients would actually prefer to use prayer during the counseling session. Some clients even seek out Christian counselors with the expectation that prayer will be incorporated and used during the counseling sessions. However the study is quite contrary to that expectation, it shows that such a practice is controversial and perhaps unethical. There are some that believe that religion, and spirituality should not be incorporated into the counseling session. They do not agree that prayer sessions should have a place in psychotherapy. Even though some therapists/counselors were spiritually inclined, they still did not believe that prayer should be included in a counseling session. They believed that the two should be separate. Others question whether or not a counselor would even be trained effectively enough to include this type of divine interventional counseling. Specialty fields have evolved that offer guidance to practitioners. For instance, within the Christian counseling specialty, studies have determined what spiritual techniques are used by clinicians evaluating the client's religious background, recommending religious books, and praying with a client are among those used with the greatest frequency (Weld & Eriksen, 2007). There are many references that a clinician/counselor can use if he or she wants to learn more about the subject of counseling and spirituality. Today, there are many different resources that are available. If a counselor desires more knowledge in the specific area of using prayer during counseling, the best thing that they can do is to research it.

Interaction

The reason why I chose this particular article is because as a licensed minister it is interests me. As becoming a Christian Marriage, Couple and Family Therapist, my belief is that prayer should be used in counseling sessions. Upon believing and having faith that prayer can and will help any situation, I believe in the use of it in all areas. For me to counsel and not use that theory, in my opinion it would be hypocritical. In order to do the will of God, a person must be led by the Spirit of God. My belief is that if a person is to be called a Christian counselor, they must first be led by Christ. After reading this particular article, my plan is to seek out other resources regarding the use of prayer as a counseling intervention.

When it comes to the clients desire as to whether or not they would prefer a Christian counselor. I agree that those clients who are not Christians themselves would not really care whether the counselor was Christian or not. Furthermore they probably would not even object to prayer being used in counseling sessions.