Questioning the Slippery Slope : Ethical Beliefs and Behaviors of Private Office-Based and Church-Based Therapists

Counselors and other mental health professionals whose primary office is in a church building often face unique challenges in maintaining appropriate client-therapist boundaries. A sample of 497 Christian counselors responded to an 88-item survey of their ethical beliefs and behaviors. Of the respondents, 148 reported a church as their primary work setting and 162 reported a private office as their primary work setting. Survey results were factor analyzed, then church-based therapists were compared with private office-based therapists regarding their views of ethical behaviors. Although church-based therapists take greater liberties with multiple-role relationships than private office-based therapists, they appear similar with regard to other ethical beliefs and behaviors. Results suggest that churchbased therapists who take liberties in nonsexual multiple-role relationships are no more likely than other therapists to violate other ethical standards

Are we all together? : a study of evacuation and sheltering of public safety special needs populations in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Events thousands of miles away from Virginia have led to enhancements of the existing evacuation and emergency sheltering planning, highlighting the need to consider more than traditional special needs populations. Updated state-level plans specifically address the medical needs of evacuation populations. Pets were taken into consideration and inclusion of dogs, cats, and birds in traditional sheltering planning has begun. Planning began to address those with social needs such as low-income families who may not be able to evacuate until the final hours of an active evacuation. It became clear that there were specific populations that had not been included in planning- jail populations, parolees in the community, and registered sex offenders. Each of these populations requires specific logistical planning and coordination to move, and needs to ensure that the populations themselves, as well as the general population in the receiving communities, are safe. This paper, reviewing information gathered from peer surveys, assesses shelter planning initiatives across the Commonwealth, for two specific populations - sex offenders and paroled offenders - and local emergency management preparedness planning for evacuation in times of crisis

Spiritual Disciplines and the Practice of Integration: Possibilities and Challenges for Christian Psychologists

Spiritual practices have received less attention than psychological change techniques in the contemporary integration of psychology and Christianity, yet a Christian understanding of health has implications for the personal and professional use of spiritual disciplines as mechanisms for growth. We consider the practical nature of the spiritual disciplines in promoting change as well as possibilities and challenges introduced by using spiritual disciplines both outside and inside the consulting office. Used outside the consulting office, spiritual disciplines may affect the professional life of the Christian therapist by deepening his or her knowledge of God, promoting a posture of humble self-awareness, and providing a refuge for the stresses of psychological work. Used inside the consulting office, the spiritual disciplines may prove helpful with some clients, but introduce significant challenges and potential problems that warrant careful consideration