Working psychotherapeutically with the patient's spiritual issues.

The therapist has the skill to engage with many manifestations of the mind, but dealing with spiritual anxiety - which can become a florid crisis - or a deeply religious concern, traditionally belongs to the domain of ministry. Nonetheless, practitioners will often find themselves listening to the spiritual narratives of their patients or clients, and be uncertain how to work effectively with these.

This 2-day conference with workshops focuses on how practitioners can hear and work with these themes in an informed, sensitive and responsive way. We will consider how the therapist can sense and locate herself in a spiritual or religious narrative when it arises in the consulting room, can find a language to communicate with the client that both contains and, if necessary, helps to work through that spiritual experience.

We will hear how contemplative approaches to psychotherapy may be useful in bringing the therapist closer to the patient's spiritual process and consider how psychological and spiritual factors may be interconnected.

"Psychotherapists need to be able to distinguish healthy from unhealthy spirituality without pathologizing clients' experiences, beliefs, or their religious faiths."
David Lukoff