X-tian Counseling Students required to counsel against beliefs

[asta]

Cross posted to general board. The basis of the court's ruling is that the student would end up breaking the ethical guidelines of the American Counseling Association once they graduated:

 

C.5. Nondiscrimination

Counselors do not condone or engage in discrimination based on age, culture, disability, ethnicity, race, religion/spirituality, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status/partnership, language preference, socioeconomic status, or any basis proscribed by law. Counselors do not discriminate against clients, students, employees, supervisees, or research participants in a manner that has a negative impact on these persons.

 

Court Upholds Expulsion of Counseling Student Who Opposes Homosexuality

 

A federal judge has ruled in favor of a public university that removed a Christian student from its graduate program in school counseling over her belief that homosexuality is morally wrong. Monday's ruling, according to Julea Ward's attorneys, could result in Christian students across the country being expelled from public university for similar views.

 

I'm particularly interested if this is why there are "Christian Counseling" programs and "Regular" Counseling programs. And, if so, where do the the "Christian" counseling programs get their certifications from.

 

Well, that, and it opens a whole can of worms as to how many other fields have anti-discrimination clauses in their accrediting bodies/major associations that would be in conflict with major religions.

 

 

a

 

p.s. And what does whether or not a student gets certified have to do with their degree? Isn't this putting a litmus test on getting a college degree? What if a student simply wants to learn about counseling, but actually intends to do something completely different?

Edited July 29, 2010 by asta

[Nan in Mass]

A thought about your ps - I have no idea about counseling (is that really how you spell counseling? not counciling? or is it one of those words like principal/principle? anyway...) schools, but my boys are in programs that are associated with licensing (another confusing word to spell). While in theory, someone could go through the program just for interest's sake, I doubt the school would accept a person with such motives. They would give the slot instead to someone who intended to work in the field. But maybe that doesn't apply to counceling schools? As to the rest, can of worms is right...

-Nan

Edited July 29, 2010 by Nan in Mass

[LibrarianMom]

You inquired what was the difference between "Christian counseling" and "regular counseling." Christian counseling is done from a Biblical viewpoint and is often based through a church or private counseling practice. These students take their regular counseling and psychology courses along with a number of Bible courses. After they graduate, they may choose to take the state licensure exam to be a licensed counselor just like counselors from a secular school.

[laughing lioness]

You inquired what was the difference between "Christian counseling" and "regular counseling." Christian counseling is done from a Biblical viewpoint and is often based through a church or private counseling practice. These students take their regular counseling and psychology courses along with a number of Bible courses. After they graduate, they may choose to take the state licensure exam to be a licensed counselor just like counselors from a secular school.

 

I'll have to disagree with you. Christian counseling and Biblical counseling are often different. Christian counsleing is done by a Christian. That doesn't mean that they are counseling from a Christian pov- esp if they had secular training (the Christian pov is simply thier personal perspective, but often not a deliberate Christian counseling pov) If they are a licensed counselor, they are subject to the ethics of their license. In order to get licensed you have to have the mandated number and type of classes mandated by the board that you want to get licensed by. Many seminaries and Christian schools offer "Christian counseling" but in reality they are counseling programs with some Bible requirements or perhaps 1-2 credits or maybe classes in "Integration." There are at least 2 noteable exceptions to that and they are Rosemead and Fuller Theological Seminary (both located in S. CA). Both are private and both are pricey (ask me how I know).

Biblical counsleors often have degrees that are more Bible based with perhaps a couple of counseling classes thrown in (at the Christian college my dd is attending the Biblical counseling classes are not even taught by a mental health professional- my dd acutally pointed out several inaccuracies to the prof. In addition, the use of medication is often questioned and the legitimacy of true mental illness is not validated). My dh works as a Biblical Counselor 1 day a week, but he is the only trained mental health professional at that agency (this is common). Several of the other counselors do not have a bachelor's degree and they were trained by taking 2 10 week courses and sitting in on sessions with other trained counselors.

The Christian counselors that we know (we know many, including my dh) are mandated by their licensing board to follow the ethics of the board they rep. If that board says "be pc" and you aren't (like you condemn homosexuality in a session- in fact a Master's level provider just lost a lawsuit becasue she refused to counsel a gay couple based on her personal code of ethics) then you can loose your license. Many of the Christians that we know that counsel, in fact, counsel no differently than a secular counselor, because of board mandates. My dh has a legal form that he will ask clients to sign if they specifically want counseling from a Christian perspective in order to NOT jeapordize his license and he switched agencies and geographic location in order to do the type of counseling he can do with integrity. Many seminaries are offereing "Christian counseling." The reality is that the counseling is done from a licensing board perspective, not a Christian one (I know this from personal experience as a counselor in this context). The rationale is that "the context counsels." (snort!).