Soul Healing: A Spiritual Orientation In Counseling And Therapy

(Hardback)

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In this groundbreaking book, Dorothy Becvar shows how a spiritual orientation can be used to facilitate healing at the deepest level. By incorporating a soul healing perspective into their practices, professionals may be able to help both themselves and their clients find meaning, wholeness, and a sense of the sacred in their lives, regardless of each persons beliefs about religion. According to postmodern theory, each of us creates his or her own reality. With a spiritual orientation, we may recognize that at some level we choose all of our life experiencesincluding our physical and emotional problemsthat provide lessons essential to our personal growth and wholeness at a soul level. Although usually we are not conscious of these choices, our experiences may be part of the process called soul healing. In Becvars framework, spirituality accommodates the full range of belief systems. Therapy with a spiritual orientation focuses on the whole of the client, and is aimed at the co-creaton of a new context within which healing at a soul level may be achieved. A pivotal part of this approach is the conscious awareness of both the relationship between client and therapist and the sacred trust bestowed on mental health professionals by their clients. In Part I, Becvar draws on her life experiences and shows how they influenced the development of her theoretical framework, which she then describes. Part II focuses on the five principles of soul healing: Acknowledging connectedness, suspending judgment, trusting the universe, creating realities, and walking the path with heart. Part III addresses the ramifications for both individuals and society to consciously undertake a journey toward wholeness. With compelling and sensitive case examples, Becvar illustrates ways in which clients and therapists may experience their connectedness and thereby co-create therapeutic relationship infused with a spiritual dimension.

Author Bio

Dorothy S. Becvar, Ph.D., is a family therapist in private practice in St. Louis, Missouri. She has published many articles in professional journals and co-authored with her husband Raphael J. Becvar three books: Family Therapy: A Systemic Integration, Hot Chocolate for a Cold Winter's Night: Essays for Relationship Development, and Systems Theory and Family Therapy: A Primer. She has been on the faculties of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis University, Texas Tech University, Washington University, and Radford University.