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Module Week-1-Journal Article
Review-#2
Theories Of Counseling (Liberty University)
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RUNNING HEAD: Developing a Spiritual Assessment Toolbox 1
Developing a Spiritual Assessment Toolbox: A Discussion of the Strengths and Limitations
of Five Different Assessment Methods
Valarie Freeman
Liberty University
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Developing a Spiritual Assessment Toolbox 2
Summary
This article provides information that is going to be very helpful to healthcare workers as
well as social workers. The information that was provided dealt with educating our providers
with the proper tools to be able to spiritually handle clients with different backgrounds and
religious cultures. As we all know, many of us handle situations very differently so healthcare
workers and social workers need to have different methods of treating clients. The article
provides us with five assessments that will help in identifying with the clients’ spiritual
background. This information will help in the process of identifying the spiritual assets to help
with the clients’ treatment. The author discussed five different assessments to discuss and then
explain what the assets were. The author discussed strengths and limitations of each. The first
assessment that the author discusses is spiritual histories which seems to be the most common
approach. This assessment helps the client to focus on his or her childhood to the present. The
strengths and limitations with this assessment is that it allows the client to be more open in the
discussions. The second assessment that the author discusses is spiritual lifemaps which
discusses how the use of pictures can tell the story. The strengths and limitations with this
assessment allow the healthcare worker to get a better worldview of the clients’ life. The third
assessment that the author discusses is spiritual genograms which discusses how a family tree is
helpful in learning about the history of the family. The strengths and limitations that this
assessments offer is the presence of family members being involved in the clients’ life. The
fourth assessment that the author discusses is spiritual ecomaps which discusses the clients’
current situations. The strengths and limitations that this assessment is that it is able to provide
present and past historical information. The fifth assessment that the author discusses is
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ecograms which discusses events that have happened in the past and what is going n in the
present.
Interaction
The insights that I have gained by reading this article have been very helpful on bringing
about information that can help our healthcare workers as well as social workers be more helpful
and knowledgeable on different issues. I felt that the information about spiritual assessments
could help identify a lot of problems that have been addressed but not solved. I definitely agree
with the author on providing our healthcare workers and social workers with the proper
information on spiritual assessments that may be very helpful in determining what type of
treatment is needed. I feel that it is very hard when you are not fully educated on different ways
to handle many different cultures as well as religious beliefs. The reasons why I am interested in
this article is that it is information that will definitely help the practitioners to be able to do their
jobs effectively. These assessments allow us to be able to handle conflicts and be able to be
strengthen by them.
Application
My application will consist of me interacting with a client in a clinical setting. The client
has come to me because he has promised his family that he will seek help. The client has not
admitted to having a problem. The client is only here because family members are on him about
getting some help before it is too late. I as the counselor have agreed to see this client. I have
expressed to the client that the first thing is for me to get to know him as well as him getting to
know me and feeling comfortable to discuss the issues at hand. I have explained to the client that
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the first step is admitting that you have a problem and then we can move from there to getting
some help. I as a counselor needed to ask certain questions dealing with his drug use and how
his behavior is when he is using that drug. As the article stated we do not always know about our
clients’ spiritual backgrounds and that’s when spiritual assessments are used to make sure that
logical decisions are made in the best interest of the client. I as the counselor, needed to find out
about my clients’ spiritual background. At this point, maybe I have gained his trust and I will be
able to take the information that he has provided and create a treatment plan for his recovery. I
will definitely have to consider if he will need inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation. As the
article addressed that spiritual genograms is very useful when the family is involved. I as the
counselor has stressed to my client that a change will definitely not come overnight and that it is
something that he will definitely have to work on. I also expressed to my client that he is no
longer alone in dealing with his disease. I concluded the session by summarizing all the
information that was discussed and offered encouragement with the treatment plan. I ended my
session by expressing to my client that he had a wonderful therapist who is here to help him get
his life back on track.
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Reference
Hodge, D.R. (2005). Developing a Spiritual Assessment Toolbox: A Discussion of the Strengths
and Limitations of Five Different Assessment Methods. Health & Social Work, 30(4),
314-323.
