Kaunseling disertai Elemen Spiritual lebih berkesan Kerana Manusia Insan Spiritual

Salam, minggu ini saya ingin berkongsi sedikit perspektif mengenai satu subjek yang sedang saya pelajari di University yang begitu menarik minat saya iaitu - kaunseling. Kaunseling adalah satu proses dimana seorang ‘pelanggan’ atau client dibantu untuk mencari penyelesaian mengenai masalah hidup dengan SENDIRI. Kaunselor TIDAK menyelesaikan masalah anda, namun dengan berkongsi masalah dan melalui perbincangan dan stratergi-stratergi tertentu, ia InsyaAllah dapat menyedarkan anda mengenai kaedah terbaik menyelesaikan masalah yang anda hadapi. Walaupun sekecil masalah, kadang kala kita sebagai manusia memerlukan bantuan untuk membetulkan perspektif kita. Dan antara cara yang paling baik adalah untuk kita sedar dan mencari penyelesaian adalah dengan berbual .

Rata-rata ilmu ‘kaunseling’ dan psikologi (jika tidak diambil kira psikologi Islam yang belum lagi mendapat pengiktirafan dunia dan dimuatkan dalam buku teks psikologi moden) adalah ‘sekular’ dalam metodologinya, kaedahnya dan penyelesaiannya. Pakar psikologi Barat menoak mentah-mentah ‘agama’ dan spiritualiti kerana menggagapnya tiada nilai kerana tidak dapat dilihat dan dikaji secara saintifik dan sistematik. Namun kini, pakar –pakar psikologi dan ilmu jiwa tidak dapat lari dan terpaksa mengakui mereka tidak dapat menolak nilai jiwa, agama atau spiritualiti kerana telah dibuktikan bahawa kaedah ‘spiritual’ seperti menggabungkan spiritualiti dan kaunselling atau psikoterapi jelas memberikan kesan yang lebih baik kepada manusia umumnya.

Hakikatnya manusia adalah insan spiritual ,bukan binatang tanpa jiwa. Manusia BUKAN binatang, Barat gemar menyebut manusia sebagai ‘animals’ , contohnya “We are social animals” Saya tidak bersetuju dengan pernyataan ini. We are NOT animals! Manusia adalah manusia, sebaik kejadian yang mempunyai akal dengan fitrah mahu menyembah. Selalu diingatkan, jika kita tidak menyembah Allah maka kita akan menyembah selain dari Allah seperti diri sendiri, harta, rupa, pangkat, lelaki, suami dan wanita! Kerana apa? Kerana fitrah manusia adalah untuk mengabdi dan menyembah. Ya! Kita hamba, namun ada yang menjadi hamba kepada selain dari Tuhan.

Manusia mempunyai jiwa spiritual yang sebenarnya ‘mahu’ dekat dengan Pencipta walaupun cuba dinafikan. Di bawah saya sertakan sedikit penulisan dalam Bahasa Inggeris mengenai penemuan terkini dari beberapa jurnal mengenai Kaunseling dan Spiritualiti, bagaimana dengan menggabungkan dan memasukkan elemen dan kaedah ‘spiritual’ ke dalam proses kaunseling atau psikoterapi kita sebenarnya lebih berhasil member impak dan kesan daripada tidak mengambil endah keperluan (spiritual) manusia ini yang malangnya banyak berlaku dewasa ini .

Nasihat saya, sekiranya mahu mencari penyelesaian kepada masalah anda, carilah pakar yang bertauliah yang boleh memasukkan elemen spiritual ke dalam praktis mereka. Manusia tidak boleh lari dari Tuhan, walaupun mereka gemar melakukannya. Jiwa yang resah dan gelisah memerlukan kita kembali menghubungkan diri dengan yang Esa. Dulu, kini dan selamnya itulah asasnya.Kembalilah pada Rabbmu! Selamat membaca!

“Some think that the process of therapy itself is a spiritual activity” Dennis Lines (Lines)

I bring you to a comment in an article by Gerald Corey. He writes on how to integrate spirituality into counseling practices.

“Religion and spirituality are often part of the client’s problem, but can also be a part of the clients solution. Because spiritual and religious values can play a major part of human life, spiritual values should be viewed as a potential resource therapy rather than as something to be ignored” (Corey)

“Spiritual experiences does influence behavior” (Mack, 1994) Religion and spirituality are used by many as a coping mechanism that may very well benefit oneself for it gives people hope, and is seen as an incredibly useful tool to satisfy the need of making sense of the world. I choose to include and mention ‘religion’ in the same breath as spirituality because in my opinion, religion and spirituality have rather similar values but different semantic meanings and dimensions. Spirituality is unique to each individual and may be expressed in many ways, religion being one of them. Spirituality can also stem from secular instance. The journal Religion and Spirituality listed four categories of areas in where spirituality may most likely transcend: 1. Religious spirituality 2. Humanistic spirituality 3.Nature spirituality 4.Cosmos spirituality (Davis, Hook, & Worthington, 2008; Worthington & Aten, 2009 as cited in Worthington, Hook, Davis & McDaniel, 2011) Hinterkopf, (1998) provides a functional definition of spiritually “a subtle, bodily feeling with vague meanings that brings new, clearer meanings involving a transcendent growth process”

Bergins, (1998), as cited in Mack, (2003) p.3 argues that “the notion of human beings goes well beyond the mechanistic notions once claimed s foundations in early psychology”. Empirical findings indicate that human beings who are able to connect themselves with God or a higher power lead positively healthy dynamic lives. (Mack, 1994) Both the journals that I have chosen, emphasizes the fact that counselors cannot disregard, ignore nor neglect these important experiences in their clients and suggest ways to investigate the matter responsibly. What more for clients in countries like Malaysia where many people still hold on strongly to their religious beliefs. Both journals puts forth the idea that counselors have no choice but to equip themselves with a better understanding of spirituality and embrace various religious/spiritual interventions for clients whom value ideas of spirituality in their lives. (Quackenbos,Privette, and Klentz, 1985 as cited in Kahle & Robbins, 2004 ) explains that religiously inclined clients would prefer for religious issues to be included into the therapy process.

The Journal entitled Religion and Spirituality, presented and compared how religious and spiritual (R/S) psychotherapy benefited clients enhancing their psychological and spiritual outcome. “Patients in R/S psychotherapies showed greater improvement than those in alternate secular psychotherapies both on psychological (d=26 and on spiritual (d=41) outcomes” (Washington et al., 2011 p. 204) The journal cited 4 clinical case studies depicting how the R/S psychotherapy may be integrated with cognitive behavior therapy.

The journal entitled Assessing Religion and Spirituality in Counseling: Some Reflections and Recommendations starts off by explaining that spiritual assessments are necessary for counselors to “determine whether or not their clients religious and spiritual beliefs are deleterious to their mental health or if they could be used as a resource to promote healing (Richards & Bergin, 2005, as cited in Richards, Bartz, O’Grady (2009), p 65) The journal provides counselors with helpful assessment questions that can be included when assisting clients with religious or spiritual issues.

However given the predominant secular setting of counseling, counselors during making assessments often fail to notice the religious and spiritual background of their clients. (Richards, et al., 2009)This would be evident for counselors who were trained ‘secularly’, giving exceptions to some Muslim and Christians that have specializations in Islamic psychology or counseling and Christians with specialization in pastoral counseling.

Counselors therefore must first be able to make an honest assessment of their own spiritual/ religious knowledge, orientation and understanding. It is crucial for counselors to seriously take into account and acknowledge their lack of training with regards to issues concerning spirituality and religion. Counselors must realize, under certain circumstances as concluded by (Washington et al., (2011) p.212) “Religious/spirituality oriented psychotherapy works” thus resulting “in better psychological and spiritual outcomes and some evidence suggest that gains are maintained at follow ups”

Counselors must value the beliefs of their clients seriously and speak a language of respect for the religious beliefs and culture. Counselors need to response sensitively to issues regarding spirituality and religion. If in any case, when the need arises, and counselors are not able to integrate spirituality into treatment, it is therefore their responsibility to seek consultation from other religious spiritual authorities who can participate together in the counseling process. This in my opinion may aide therapy faster because therapy is congruent with the belief system of the client providing a more holistic approach to counseling.

Spirituality concerns, perception of God must be discussed and explored during level 1 assessment and in greater depth during level 2 assessments. Assessment questions provided by (Richards et al., 2009) are relevant to be used a s a general guideline, and in my opinion are universally applicable although coming from a Western perspective.

Counselors need to acknowledge that spirituality and religion are interconnected and are issues that should not to be ignored. Spiritual incorporation into counseling may provide strength for some clients when dealing with problems in their lives. Since spirituality has an influential role that enables a person to ‘grow’ and develop, the essence of spirituality therefore speaks the same language as counseling. It is about making ‘change’ while providing a sense of purpose and direction. I fully support the call of both journals that encourages counselors to be more aware of issues regarding religion and spiritually and provide this alternative dimension when necessary during treatment.

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REFERENCES

1) Corey, G. (n.d.). Counseling Outfilters. Retrieved January 30, 2012, from Article 25: Integrating Spirituality in Counselling Practice: http://counselingoutfitters.com/vistas/vistas06/vistas06.25.pdf

2) Hinterkopf, E. (1998). Defining the Spiritual Experience: A Manual for Using the Experiential Focusing Method. Baltimore. Retrived January, 30, 2012, from http://www.focusing.org/defining.htm

3) Kahle, P.A., & Robbins, J.M (2004). The power of Spirituality in therapy: integrating spiritual beliefs in mental health practice. Haworth Pastoral Press

4) Lines, D. Spirituality in Counselling and Psychotherapy. London: SAGE Publicitions. Retrived from http://www.thedivineconspiracy.org/Z5232A.pdf

5) Mack, M.L. (1994). Understanding Spirituality Iin Counseling Psychology: Considerations for Research, Training and Practice. Counseling & Values , 39 (1), 15-31. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cvj.1994.39.issue-1/issuetoc

6) Richards, P. S., Bartz, J. D., & O' Grady, K. A. (2009). Assesing Religion and Spirituality in Counselling: Some reflections and Recommendations.Counseling and Values , 54 (1), 65-79. Retrived from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

7) Worthington, E. L., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., & McDaniel, M. A. (2011). Religion and Spirituality. Journal Of Clinical Psychology: In Session , 67 (2), 204-214. Retrived from wileyonlinelibrary.com