This course offers a bridge between clinical practice and spiritual diversity, expanding Pacifica’s Extension offerings by introducing a competency-based approach to the sacred that honors both psychological depth and lived expressions of spiritual-but-not-religious experience and religious faith. Rather than interpreting religion symbolically, participants will practice engaging it relationally and clinically—with cultural humility, compassion, and respect for each client’s lived experience.

While Pacifica Graduate Institute has long explored the imaginal and archetypal dimensions of the sacred, many practicing clinicians encounter clients whose experiences are rooted in specific religious worldviews and spiritual-but-not-religious orientations before ever being exposed to Jungian or transpersonal perspectives. This course addresses that gap by offering an evidence-based, and deeply compassionate model for meeting clients where they are.

This course serves as a bridge between Jungian and transpersonal, spiritual-but-not-religious worldviews, and the diverse forms of religious faith through which many clients seek meaning, healing, and transformation. Participants will learn how to engage this full spectrum of the sacred with clinical skill, ethical grounding, and cultural humility.

Grounded in the ASERVIC Spiritual Competencies and current AAMFT/CAMFT/ACA diversity standards, the course equips clinicians to integrate clients’ spiritual, spiritual-but-not-religious, and faith-based perspectives into assessment and therapeutic dialogue without imposing or deconstructing belief systems. The focus is on clinician self awareness, skill development and cultural humility, not on promoting any specific worldview.

What you will Receive:

• 4 Live Interactive Webinars (via Zoom) with Q & A (listed in Pacific time)
• Recommended Readings and Resources
• A Verified PGI Digital Badge — stackable toward certificate and degree pathways
• 6 CECs

This Course is ideal for:

• Those seeking to develop competence and confidence in integrating spirituality and religion into holistic client care, with ethical clarity aligned with ACA, CAMFT, and AAMFT professional standards.
• Master’s-level pre-licensed and licensed counselors
• Marriage and family therapists

 

 

Course Overview:   

• Module 1: Embodied Self-Awareness and Ethical Use-of-Self

This module establishes embodied self-awareness as the ethical foundation for spiritually integrated counseling practice. Participants examine how their own spiritual, religious, and spiritual-but-not-religious orientations influence perception, presence, and clinical judgment.

This module directly supports ACA values-clarification and non-imposition standards, CAMFT self-of-therapist awareness, and AAMFT ethical responsibility for managing personal beliefs. Experiential learning emphasizes somatic self-monitoring as a tool for maintaining clinical neutrality, cultural humility, and client autonomy.

 

• Module 2: Ethical and Culturally Responsive Communication about Spirituality and Religion

This module develops ethically grounded communication skills for engaging spirituality and religion in individual psychotherapy. Participants learn how to invite, respond to, and contain spiritual material in ways that respect client beliefs while avoiding coercion, avoidance, or over-identification.

The module aligns with ACA-informed consent and cultural responsiveness requirements, CAMFT ethical communication guidelines, and AAMFT standards for respectful engagement across differences. Emphasis is placed on language, boundaries, and embodied presence that support safety and trust.

 

• Module 3: Spiritually Integrated Assessment – A Psychoanalytic Perspective

This module introduces spiritually integrated assessment through a psychoanalytically informed lens, drawing on Freud, Jung, and contemporary depth psychology (including Kalsched). Participants learn to assess how spirituality and religion function psychologically within an individual’s mental health rather than evaluating belief content.

This module supports ACA, CAMFT, and AAMFT expectations for culturally informed assessment by teaching clinicians to recognize:

• Whether spirituality functions as a psychological support, organizing structure, or defense
• Internalized spiritual resources
• Culturally specific expressions of the sacred as they appear in narrative, affect, and imagery

The focus remains on clinical listening and ethical awareness, not diagnosis or intervention.

 

• Module 4: Ethical Integration and Scope-of-Practice Considerations

The final module focuses on ethically integrating spiritual and religious material into clinical understanding while maintaining professional boundaries and scope of competence. Participants learn how to recognize when spiritual material can be safely engaged within counseling practice and when consultation or referral may be indicated.

This module reinforces ACA, CAMFT, and AAMFT expectations regarding scope of practice, documentation, and professional responsibility, emphasizing humility and ethical discernment.

Learning Objectives (6 CECs)

Upon completion of this microcredential, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the ASERVIC Spiritual Competencies and their relevance to ethical counseling practice under ACA, CAMFT, and AAMFT standards.
2. Demonstrate embodied self-monitoring to support ethical engagement with spiritual or religious material in individual psychotherapy.
3. List psychoanalytically informed indicators of how spirituality or religion may function within an individual’s psychological life.
4. Discuss scope-of-practice considerations and ethical boundaries for integrating spirituality and religion into counseling practice.
5. Assess and differentiate relational engagement with spirituality and religion from interpretive or belief-driven approaches in clinical work.
6. Describe culturally specific expressions of the sacred as they emerge in individual psychotherapy without imposing or deconstructing client belief systems.

 

Course Addendums:

Hand-outs will be provided.

Recommended Readings:

Cashwell, C. S., & Young, J. S. (2018). Integrating spirituality and religion into counseling: A guide to competent practice (2nd ed.). American Counseling Association. (Primary text; ASERVIC competencies relevant to each module)

Vieten, C., Scammell, S., Pierce, A., Pilato, R., Ammondson, I., Pargament, K. I., & Lukoff, D. (2016). Competencies for psychologists in the domains of religion and spirituality. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 8(2), 89–99.  (Module 1: Self-awareness, ethics, and use-of-self)

Knox, S., Catlin, L., Casper, M., & Schlosser, L. Z. (2020). Addressing religion and spirituality in psychotherapy: Ethical and clinical considerations. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 76(6), 1133–1145.
(Module 2: Ethical and culturally responsive communication)

Kalsched, D. (2013). Trauma and the soul: A psycho-spiritual approach to human development and its interruption(selected chapter). Routledge. (Module 3: Psychoanalytic listening to spiritual imagery and function)

Knox, S., & Schlosser, L. Z. (2019). Ethical and clinical considerations in addressing religion and spirituality in psychotherapy. Ethics & Behavior, 29(5), 383–399. (Module 4: Ethical integration of spiritual and religious material, professional boundaries, and scope-of-practice considerations)

American Counseling Association. (2014/2019). ACA Code of Ethics.

American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. (2015/2020). AAMFT Code of Ethics.

California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. (Current edition). CAMFT Code of Ethics.