Week 11: Comparing Mentoring with Counseling and Psychotherapy
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By completing this week’s assignments, you will have demonstrated an ability to apply the knowledge obtained in previous weeks in order to make important determinations about whether a person, who is evidencing emotional or psychological distress should continue to be seen under a mentoring model, or referred to a mental health provider.Through investigating psychotherapy, counseling, and spiritual mentoring, you will be able to define each for the purpose of showing similarities and differences. You will be able to discuss these similarities and differences. Finally, on the basis of studying the similarities in the ethical codes, you will have updated your information sheet as may be necessary from the findings of this week’s study.
MENTOR’S PERSPECTIVE
This week’s work requires analysis of definitions, requirements, and codes pertaining to spiritual mentoring, counseling, and psychotherapy. Do not use subjective thinking, but scrutinize resources — many of which you must find on your own. Research, study, analyze, and discuss — these are the necessary parameters of this week’s work.
Psychotherapy, counseling, and spiritual mentoring have many similarities, but significant enough differences to require definition and clarification. (You will find that some claim counselors and psychotherapists are the same, others claim a difference.) There will be times in spiritual mentoring that you will have to know when you need to refer a person to either a psychotherapist or counselor. You need knowledge of what they treat to assist in how you identify and refer. The emphasis is when making referrals to mental health professionals is appropriate; and when, in contrast, it is important to assist the mentee in “embracing” their emotional distress as part of a meaningful process of spiritual unfoldment. Knowing the difference is the mark of mentor who can do in-depth work without putting his or her mentees at risk.
As way of perspective on this topic, it is important not to panic just because a person expresses emotional distress, even depression. On such occasions, the symptom may fit within a process of spiritual unfoldment. Your role in such circumstances will be to encourage the mentee to reframe the symptom as a meaningful part of the overall journey. But on other occasions, the symptom will be too destabilizing to support as a meaningful part of the spiritual unfoldment. Even though it may ultimately serve the process of the mentee’s deeper development, we may need to make a prudent decision to refer him to a licensed mental health provider (licensed counselor, social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist) rather than assuming unnecessary and unwise risks.
Knowing when to refer a mentee for mental health counseling is the mark of a responsible and caring mentor. On one hand, referring a mentee to a mental health provider too quickly can communicate a lack of acceptance of tolerable levels of stress and emotional struggle in the normal course of spiritual unfoldment. We must find and maintain a very fine balance between holding and referring to another professional. We need to respect, and relay upon, the importance of traditional psychotherapy for those mentees whose symptoms may exceed the levels of distress that can be contained within the mentoring relationship. We also need to hold the mentee accountable when we determine that such other care is needed.
A section of this week focus is to analyze the code of the ethics for spiritual mentors, counselors, and psychotherapists for the purpose of reviewing your information sheets, adding, or perhaps, re-phasing as needed.
Perhaps, the most problematic and controversial aspect of your work as a mentor will be its similarity to counseling and psychotherapy. Therapists are licensed professionals, and can usually receive payments from insurers who reimburse for “medically necessary” treatments. They are closely monitored by state licensing boards, and must observe rigid ethical codes designed to protect their clients from unprofessional conduct. Because there is no equivalent authority — as yet — overseeing your work, you are comparatively free to proceed according to your own best judgment. However, there is some overlap between the two disciplines, especially when it comes to defining what makes a relationship a “healthy” one. While we may recoil from the negative tone of some of the prohibitions that govern mental health professionals, we would do well not to go where more experienced professionals fear to tread.
WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Write a 1000 word essay that is well referenced. In the first section you will define spiritual mentoring, counseling, and psychotherapy. In the second section, you will discuss the similarities and differences between the three, which will require an elaboration of the definitions. In the third section, you will discuss specifically, what as a spiritual mentor you will not do compared to counselors or psychotherapists. In the fourth section, you will present the major similarities in ethics that you will follow. Using this information, in the final section, you will indicate any additions or revisions to your information sheets.
Read Chapters eight and nine in Spiritual Direction 101- You can read this on scribd.com You can log on with IrwiN@trademissions.org and my password is-Bubbles31455
Research, and be prepared to present the similarities and differences between psychotherapy and counseling and spiritual mentoring by reviewing the following ethical guidelines which you will find at the links below.Read the four links below and use these as sources for the essay and proof you need for your explanation.
- The American Psychological Association’s (APA) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct– https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index
- American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics and Standard of Practice, 2005– https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2014-code-of-ethics-finaladdress.pdf?sfvrsn=96b532c_2
- Then read the Guidelines for Ethical Conduct (sdicompanions.org) – https://www.sdicompanions.org/docs/guidelines/Flip/guidelines_ethical_conduct.html
- Research if there any other ethical guidelines or definitions that would be appropriate to include.
- Here are other sources to read: https://spiritualdirection.com/2014/02/12/the-difference-between-counseling-and-spiritual-direction
APA
CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT
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