Integrating spirituality in clinical settings with religiously observant clients and clinicians

Religiously observant Jewish clinicians hesitate to add spirituality in therapy with religious clients for fear of imposing their beliefs, inadequate training, and the lack of established professional standards, even when it has been shown to increase wellbeing. This article investigates these barriers and provides an example of a case study whereby the clinician effectively integrated spirituality resulting in better outcomes. Spiritual interventions that match the client’s culture led to better therapeutic relationships and treatment results. This article advocates spiritual competence training in social work education while requesting guidelines to help clinicians perform spiritual integration ethically and effectively.