Spiritual Interventions in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy

Many children are raised in families where religion and spirituality are key factors in their development, and clinical experience shows that addressing this spirituality can assist the therapeutic process. In psychotherapy, spiritual interventions must be blended effectively with secular evidence-based techniques. Furthermore, when such interventions are applied with children, there are unique ethical, developmental, and family considerations.

This book presents guidance for integrating spiritual interventions in psychotherapy with children and their families. The interventions are appropriate for a range of settings, presenting problems, and client belief systems. Specific chapters address the use of prayer, forgiveness, acceptance, spiritual awareness, sacred texts, and God images in therapy. Illustrative case studies are included, and ethical issues are given special consideration.

This groundbreaking volume will be a valuable resource for therapists who work with spiritually diverse children, adolescents, and their families.

Contributors

Acknowledgements

Introduction
Donald F. Walker

I. Foundations and Context

1. Ethics, Religious Issues, and Clinical Child Psychology
   William L. Hathaway
2. Assessment of Religious and Spiritual Issues in Clinical Child Psychology
   William L. Hathaway and Joshua Childers
3. Addressing Parental Spirituality as Part of the Problem and Solution in Family Psychotherapy
   Annette Mahoney, Michelle LeRoy, Katherine Kusner, Emily Padgett, and Lisa Grimes
4. Spiritually Oriented Interventions in Developmental Context
   Heather Lewis Quagliana, Pamela Ebstyne King, David Peter Quagliana, and Linda Mans Wagener

II. Interventions

5. Acceptance
   Steven A. Rogers, LeAnne Steen, and Kerry McGregor
6. Spiritual Awareness Psychotherapy With Children and Adolescents
   Lisa Miller
7. Sacred Texts
   Donald F. Walker, Sameera Ahmed, Avidan Milevsky, Heather Lewis Quagliana, and Anisah Bagasra
8. Prayer
   Donald F. Walker, William Doverspike, Sameera Ahmed, Avidan Milevsky, and Jacqueline D. Woolley
9. God Images
   Lynn Olson, Vickey Maclin, Glen Moriarty, and Heather Bermudez
10. Forgiveness Interventions With Children, Adolescents, and Families
    Frederick A. DiBlasio, Everett L. Worthington Jr., and David J. Jennings II

Afterword: Reflections and Future Directions
Donald F. Walker and William L. Hathaway

Index

About the Editors

Donald F. Walker, PhD, directs the Child Trauma Institute, an interdisciplinary research center devoted to understanding the role of religious faith in recovery from childhood abuse, treating survivors of child abuse, and training professionals in addressing spiritual issues in treatment. Dr. Walker also teaches in the PsyD program in clinical psychology at Regent University. As a professor, he teaches courses on clinical child psychology and trauma and supervises students at all levels of the program. He is a member of the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, and the Division of Trauma Psychology (APA Divisions 36, 37, and 56, respectively). A clinical child psychologist, he maintains a small private practice treating children, teens, and families at Genesis Counseling Center in Hampton, VA.

William L. Hathaway, PhD, currently serves as a dean and professor in the School of Psychology & Counseling at Regent University. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in clinical child psychology with Russell Barkley at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and has worked in both military and civilian child specialty clinics. His doctoral research focused on the psychology of religion and coping, and he has served in various governance roles, including president of the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (APA Division 36). He has published on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the clinical psychology of religion, spirituality and self-regulation, and relevant clinical training issues.

I am very pleased to see a book that addresses spiritual interventions in child and adolescent psychology in a rigorous manner consistent with sound practice. This is a well-chosen collection of topics important for the field at this stage of its development. The authors write carefully with an understanding of the limits imposed by the current state of knowledge and with the sensibility of good clinicians.
—PsycCRITIQUES

Overall, Spiritual Interventions in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy is a unique volume with three significant strengths. First, the text continues with previous research in supplying a strong argument for understanding and working with a client's religious identifications, regardless of age. Second, the text provides clinicians an integrated view of psychological research of religion and spirituality and child and adolescent psychotherapy with practical applications. Third, the text is accessible and useful to practitioners, providing congruent case studies and theoretical support for its foundation.
—Journal of Psychology and Theology