Enhancing the spiritual development of adolescent girls

Professional School Counseling, June, 2004 by Mary Alice Bruce, Debbie Cockreham

Because this is a group process that is unusual within the school setting, where it has been stressed for the past several decades that church and state should be kept separate, a group leader must believe in the importance of spiritual development and growth in the lives of adolescent girls. Ethically, one of the most important personal prerequisite for a group leader of a spiritual development and growth group in the schools is for counselors to be comfortable with their own spirituality, confront their own feelings of meaninglessness, address their needs for self-care, and not be afraid to address the spiritual side of life (Miranti & Burke, 1995).

Another important ethical consideration for a counselor leading a spirituality development group is to enter the client's personal spiritual belief system with constant awareness, understanding, support, care, and respect. In this way, a counselor can help the group members clarify and apply personal beliefs that facilitates the group members' expression of their own spirituality, in a way that is conducive to the members' overall psychosocial development. Spirituality and religion are inherently value-laden, and a client's values tend to move toward those of the counselor during the course of intervention (Kelly, 1995). With this ethical concern in mind, it is especially important for the group leader of a spiritual development group to give the group members the freedom to choose their own values and to reassure parents and all stakeholders of this respectful level of support and acceptance (American Counseling Association, 2004; American School Counselor Association, 2004).

As mentioned earlier, times of disequilibrium can lead to spiritual growth. A school counselor must be comfortable with creating times of mild disequilibrium for group members to facilitate their growth, helping adolescents understand they can disagree strongly with another person without giving or taking offense. Fortosis and Garland (1998) stated that the group counselor must allow the members to express themselves honestly in a non-threatening environment with plenty of give and take between leader and members. The researchers continued by discussing how the counselor may sometimes have to confront group members with questions and statements designed to stimulate the girls to take a solid position and understand what and why they believe the way they do. It is important for adolescents to realize that someone who creates disequilibrium in their lives may actually be a positive force.

SUMMARY

Adolescents who sense meaning and purpose in their lives, who are at peace with themselves, and who have a healthy perspective about living in a confusing, rapidly changing, and frightening world are quite unusual (Lantieri, 2001). The attitudes and moods of a nation's youth reflect the attitudes and moods of its adults. The prevailing mood in our young today is hopelessness, helplessness, and despair that reflect "the ideals and tension of the culture at large" (Miller, 2002, p. 37). Our youth need to receive messages of hope, encouragement, and spiritual connections.