Spiritual and Religious Competency Training
Principal Investigators: Dr. Jeanette Irene Harris & Dr. Susannah Kondrath
This is a compilation of existing and original videos developed to meet expressed needs for training in R/S-integrated mental health care competencies within Veterans Affairs mental health services.
Spiritual and Religious Competency Training YouTube site →
Background
VA mental health trainees and providers expressed needs to learn about religious and spiritual diversity, assessing spiritual factors relevant to mental health care, ethics and laws relevant to spiritually-integrated care, working with chaplaincy, moral injury/spiritual distress, and addressing their own biases so that they can provide spiritually-sensitive care. Our team both developed original workshops/videos to meet these needs, and compiled a collection of existing videos that addressed these areas.
Settings
Graduate school courses
Internship/Practicum sites
Supervision
Faculty/Professional development
These videos were designed for use by busy, practicing mental health professionals in federal settings.
Populations
Individuals
Groups
Testimonials
“After attending the trainings, I feel that the quality of care I give to my patients will be much better than before. I now have a much better understanding on how to connect my patients with spiritual support and offer that to them as well.”
“I would not hesitate to engage in conversations regarding veteran’s spiritual beliefs on a deeper level.”
“The VA videos on spirituality take a very broad and inclusive perspective on spirituality and religion, including from VA chaplains, which should make it feel less challenging for all Veterans to engage in conversations about their spirituality at VA (if introduced by other providers in the same way).”
“I make referrals to chaplaincy now. One example, a deeply religious Catholic vet with no social support. Started attending Mass here at the VA. He connected well with that community & the Catholic chaplain & his depression is much improved.”
“I’ve felt more confident referring Veterans to chaplaincy as I have a better sense of how they can work to support a Veteran’s needs, and thus feel more qualified to make the referral/recommendation.”
Keywords
R/S-integrated mental health care competencies; working with chaplaincy; ethics; spiritual diversity; moral injury; assessment
