Due to the nature of this question, the first post will be due Thursday, 19 May 2016. The second post will still be due Saturday.  Various counseling sources state that religion and spirituality play an important role for African-Americans (Sue & Sue, 2012) and that a “strong spiritual base can enhance personal resilience” (Hines & Boyd-Franklin, 2005, p. 93). In addition, counselors should accept “spiritual forces as meaningful phenomena in the life realm and decision-making processes” for African-Americans (Toldson, 2008, p. 173). Considering the information from your text and other sources, imagine that an African-American male named Jay presents himself and shares with you that he has had various negative and disappointing experiences with the church he attends. He shares that he attends a prominent African-American church that has various outreach programs and strong community connections; however, Jay stated that he feels he’s been neglected by his church as none of the elders, deacons/deaconesses, or ministers have followed-up with him about problems he has shared with an elder or two about his past substance abuse. He struggles with the shame and guilt of past use and shared how he’s been disappointed that no one in the church seems to care. He shared how he feels more connected and more at home with his substance abuse support group that meets at the local county health department rather than his church. In addition, he mentions that he feels he’s been “bossed around” by an elder who oversees the ministry that Jay serves in. He’s seen this same elder and other elders exhibit similar behavior with being “bossy” or putting down someone’s suggestion in front of others. He also shared that he has wanted to meet with the pastor and has made several attempts to do so but either no one calls back or that the earliest available appointment is a few weeks out. With these and other experiences, he shares that he is struggling spiritually and feels like he’s having a “crisis of faith” regarding his personal relationship with Christ. (Crisis of faith can be defined as one having serious questions and/or doubts about faith but is not limited to this definition.) He reports still loving God but is questioning the meaning of his walk due to his church experiences. Because of these experiences, he feels the temptation to use again to relieve his distress. As a counselor working with Jay, what would you do to address his presenting problem, and what areas might be important to consider when working with him? Would you incorporate aspects of your faith to help him address his crisis of faith, and if so, how? As you think about this question, think about what “categories” to which Jay may belong and include this as part of your response (no citations needed for the “categories” piece). In addition, as you answer the spiritual part of the question (“aspects of your faith”), keep in mind to answer in a way that does not impose upon Jay. References Hin.

1. Due to the nature of this question, the first post will be due
Thursday, 19 May 2016. The second post will still be due
Saturday.
Various counseling sources state that religion and spirituality
play an important role for African-Americans (Sue & Sue, 2012)
and that a “strong spiritual base can enhance personal
resilience” (Hines & Boyd-Franklin, 2005, p. 93). In addition,
counselors should accept “spiritual forces as meaningful
phenomena in the life realm and decision-making processes” for
African-Americans (Toldson, 2008, p. 173). Considering the
information from your text and other sources, imagine that an
African-American male named Jay presents himself and shares
with you that he has had various negative and disappointing
experiences with the church he attends. He shares that he
attends a prominent African-American church that has various
outreach programs and strong community connections; however,
Jay stated that he feels he’s been neglected by his church as
none of the elders, deacons/deaconesses, or ministers have
followed-up with him about problems he has shared with an
elder or two about his past substance abuse.
He struggles with the shame and guilt of past use and shared
how he’s been disappointed that no one in the church seems to
care. He shared how he feels more connected and more at home
with his substance abuse support group that meets at the local
county health department rather than his church. In addition, he
mentions that he feels he’s been “bossed around” by an elder
who oversees the ministry that Jay serves in. He’s seen this
same elder and other elders exhibit similar behavior with being
“bossy” or putting down someone’s suggestion in front of
others. He also shared that he has wanted to meet with the
pastor and has made several attempts to do so but either no one
calls back or that the earliest available appointment is a few
weeks out.
With these and other experiences, he shares that he is struggling
spiritually and feels like he’s having a “crisis of faith”

2. regarding his personal relationship with Christ. (Crisis of faith
can be defined as one having serious questions and/or doubts
about faith but is not limited to this definition.) He reports still
loving God but is questioning the meaning of his walk due to
his church experiences. Because of these experiences, he feels
the temptation to use again to relieve his distress.
As a counselor working with Jay, what would
you
do to address his presenting problem, and what areas might be
important to consider when working with him? Would you
incorporate aspects of your faith to help him address his crisis
of faith, and if so, how?
As you think about this question, think about what “categories”
to which Jay may belong and include this as part of your
response (no citations needed for the “categories” piece). In
addition, as you answer the spiritual part of the question
(“aspects of your faith”), keep in mind to answer in a way that
does not impose upon Jay.
References
Hines, P. M., & Boyd-Franklin, N. (2005). African-American
families. In M. McGoldrick, J. Giordano, & N. Garcia-Preto
(Eds.),
Ethnicity and family therapy
(3rd ed.) (pp. 87-100). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2012). Counseling the culturally
diverse: Theory and practice (6th ed.). New York, NY: John
Wiley and Sons.
Toldson, I. A., (2008). Counseling persons of Black African
ancestry. In P. B. Pedersen, J. G. Draguns, W. J. Lonner, & J. E.
Trimble (Eds.),
Counseling across cultures
(6th ed.) (pp. 161-179). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Although we are dealing with African-Americans/Blacks and
spirituality issues as it relates to this week’s topic, I wanted to
share a link that exemplify issues that can occur within the
Black community. One of the reasons for this exposure is to

3. help you see the “tension” that can exist at times not only
between groups (e.g., different races) but also within the
African-American community as well:
This video (
http://vimeo.com/24155797
) shares information about with Black/African-American women
and their looks. This is a common struggle among
Black/African-American women regarding their identity about
how they should look. I bring this to your attention as this is not
only an issue among other races about comments made towards
African-Americans but also even an issue within the Black
community.