The Role of Spirituality in the Lives of Counselors: Reframing the Focus

The term spirituality is often hard to hear without prior, preconceived ideas and bias attached to it, and is often used interchangeably with other words, depending on one's past and culture. The field of counselor education and supervision has also used the term in ambiguous ways, which has led to apprehension and a lack of clarity with which the term is taught and understood. This paper explains the historical focus of spirituality within the counselor education field, then redefines the focus towards the lives of counselors, but more specifically the lives of counseling students and the impact counselor educators might have on reframing the term as an explanatory definition that is innate and unique to all people. Implications, exploration, counseling ethics, and future considerations are also presented.