A perilous and passionate calling: the development of counsellor spirituality

Abstract

In recent decades, spirituality has been reinstated as a legitimate arena for counsellors and therapists. However, there is little research on the development of counsellor spirituality. FRANCES MACKAY presents her research on how counsellors integrate their spirituality into their overall narratives of personal and professional development. Sixteen counsellors representing a range of spiritualities, training, work contexts and experience were interviewed to explore the part spirituality played in their decision to become counsellors, their ongoing development and practice as counsellors. A narrative methodology was used to elicit, present and analyse their responses. In the process of analysis, connections between their personal and local story-contextualised in place, time, family, community and culture-and larger stories provided by wisdom traditions and mythology emerged. The 'passion narrative', emerged as an integrative metaphor that could provide coherence within individual stories, and also suggest connections with the larger stories of wisdom traditions and mythology relating to the notion of calling.