Life is ever-changing and unpredictable. Because of drastic changes in our society, numerous people are under pressure from various sources at school, in the workplace, or in their families. People need a therapeutic pedagogy to develop the capacity to heal from their traumas. Conventionally, education is assumed to enhance learners'…

Doctoral-level graduate training is, by definition, very demanding from a cognitive perspective. As graduate students adjust to the significant academic demands of doctoral education, they are often in a period of financial, personal, and relational flux or challenge. In addition to what are likely more obvious social and emotional effects,…

Counselors and lesbian and gay clients experience parallel values conflicts between religious beliefs/spirituality and sexual orientation. This article uses critical thinking to assist counselors to integrate religious/spiritual beliefs with professional ethical codes. Clients are assisted to integrate religious/spiritual beliefs with sexual…

The death of a loved one has serious implications for adolescent growth and development. The authors review relevant research on the grief process and spirituality in adolescence, and they give a rationale for integrating spirituality into adolescent grief work. By way of a case illustration, they draw implications for counselors' use of…

Children's spirituality is a rising area of importance in research within other helping disciplines, which social work should attend to. Epistemology is an important element of research that is often difficult to discern. This article discusses the different epistemological paradigms and identifies pertinent theories in relation to some of the…

Spirituality is a universal phenomenon and an inherent aspect of human nature that unfolds during adolescence as the individual searches for transcendence, meaning, and purpose in life. Recently, spirituality has received attention as a source of resilience for adolescents. Theoretical perspectives and empirical research suggest that spirituality…

Specialists in death, dying, and bereavement and their consequences for individuals, families, and communities have experience and research findings that are relevant to an understanding of the reactions of individuals faced by deadly violence. At such times, powerful emotions and ingrained patterns of thought and behavior can given rise to…

A great deal has been written about resilience; however, there has been very little published about Posttraumatic Growth (PTG). Although they share common characteristics, there is a critical distinction between the two. Resilience is a term used to describe youth who possess innately positive psychological and emotional attributes such as…

Based on specific school and community tragedies, this article reviews difficult situations and how students' spiritual and religious beliefs were incorporated into school-based grief interventions. Suggestions are made to strengthen this often untapped resource, encouraging school-based mental health professionals to consult with community…

Mindfulness is a concept that has taken quite a hold on the therapeutic world in recent years. Techniques that induce "mindfulness" are increasingly being employed in Western psychology and psychotherapy to help alleviate a variety of conditions. So while mindfulness has its conceptual roots in Buddhism it has been translated into a Western…

What does it mean to live in global times of terror? What are our responsibilities to children in such times? This paper draws attention to how war and terror are internal states that express themselves externally. With reference to Asian wisdom traditions, and specifically the "Bhagavad Gita", it suggests that spiritual insight into our…

School leaders do work that is both demanding and draining. Amid the day-to-day pressures of managing their school districts, many are seeking inspiration and deeper meaning. As a result, some are increasingly looking to integrate their spirituality and their work. In this article, the author describes three individuals interviewed as part of the…

The hermeneutical analysis of the stories of young people who have experienced domestic violence is described as multi-layered having been developed from a voice centred relational methodology. The purpose was to uncover the complexity of lived experience. As the analysis proceeded, the young people's voices emerged as "feeling" voices,…

With spirituality as a cornerstone, 12-step groups serve a vital role in the recovery community. It is important for counselors to be mindful, however, of the potential for clients to be in spiritual bypass, which likely will undermine the recovery process.

Western cultures have taken on a death-denying and grief-avoiding dimension, suggesting that children in particular are to be protected from the harshness of loss and death. As a result, many children grow up without having consciously experienced the pain of major loss and grief. It is argued that having been spared from suffering, from the pain…