Training Psychologists to Work With Religious Organizations - The Center for Church - Psychology Collaboration

8/7/2019 Training Psychologists to Work With Religious Organizations - The Center for Church - Psychology Collaboration

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Professional Psychology: Research and Practice2001, Vol. 32, No. 3, 324-328 Copyright 2001 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.0735-7028/OI/$5.00 DOI: 10.I037//0735-7028.32.3.324

Training Psychologists to Work With Religious Organizations: The Centerfo r Church-Psychology CollaborationMark R. M cM inn , Katheryn Rhoads Meek, Sally Schwer Canning, an d Carlos F. Pozzi

Wheaton College

Church-psy chology collaboration is gaining attention amon g professional psychologists, but few trainingor practical research opportunities ar e available fo r those interested in collaborating with religious leadersan d organizations . The authors introduce the Center for Church-Psychology Collaboration (CCPC), withits mission to m ake susta ined and relevant contributions to the research literature in psychology, traindoctoral stud ents in effective mean s of collaborating with religious organizations, and provide service toreligious com mun ities throughout the world. Domestic and global implications are discussed.

Several articles regarding church-psychology collaborationhave recently appeared in Professional Psychology: Research an dPractice (Benes, Walsh, McMinn, Dominguez, & Aikins, 2000;Budd, 1999; Edwards, Lim, McMinn, & Dominguez, 1999; M c-Minn , Chaddock, Edwards, Lim, & Campbell, 1998; Plante, 1999).These articles have introduced some of the possibilities for reli-gious leaders and psychologists working together while also pro-viding concrete examples of current collaborative endeavors. Al-though this is an important first step, important questions remain.For examp le, how does one go abo ut training psychologists for thissort of work? Further, how should one establish an adequatefoundation of research on which responsible collaboration betweenreligious leaders and psychologists may be based?

A look at the emerging l i terature suggests various interactionsare occurring between psychologists and clergy (Edwards et al.,

M A R K R. McMiNN received his PhD in clinical psychology from Vander-bilt Universi ty in 1983. He is the Dr. Arthur P. Rech an d Mrs. Jean M ayRech Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College, where he oversees theCenter for ChurchPsychology Collaboration. His professional interestsinclude clergy-psychologist collaboration, technology and practice, pro-fessional ethics, an d cognitive therapy.K A T H E R Y N R H O A D S M E E K received he r PsyD in clinical psychology fromWheaton College in 1999. She is research an d consultation coordinator fo rthe Center for Church-Psychology Collaboration at Wheaton College. Herprofessional interests include interpersonal forgiveness, professional eth-ics, clergy health, an d psychology-clergy col laboration.S A L L Y S C H W E R C A N N I N G received her PhD in professional-scientific psy-chology from th e Univers i ty of Pennsy lvan ia in 1994. She is assistantprofessor of psychology at Wheaton College, where sh e coordinates theUrban Par tnership Initiative of the Center fo r Church-Psychology Collab-oration. Her professional interests include commun ity-based interventionswith urban, low-income chi ldren an d families of color; parent training;professional psychology t raining; an d underserved groups.C A R L O S F. Pozzi received his PsyD in clinical psychology from th e IllinoisSchool of Professional Psychology in 1995. He is assistant professor ofpsychology at Wheaton College, where he is the director of clinical trainingfor th e Department of Psychology. His professiona l interests include parentt ra in ing with Lat ino an d African American parents, behavior therapy, an dtheoretical and appl ied psychology in the Latin Am erican context.C O R R E S P O N D E N C E C O N C E R N I N G T H I S A R T I C L E should be addressed to MarkR. M cMinn , Depar tm en t of Psychology, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illi-nois 60187. Electronic mail may be sen t to mark .mcminn@wheaton .edu.

1999; Kloos, Horneffer, & Moore, 1995; McMinn et al., 1998).These interactions include traditional referral activities that is,clergy referring to psychologists (Budd, 1999; Kaseman & Ander-son, 1977; Meylink & Gorsuch, 1988; Plante, 1999) and psychol-ogists referring to clergy (Budd, 1999). Psychologists also offerservices to clergy, including assessing potential clergy, providingtreatmen t for at-risk or emotionally unstable clergy (Plante, 1999),an d offering workshops and training seminars for clergy andmembers of the congregation (Hulme, 1974; Kaseman & Ander-son, 1977). Some interactions are truly collaborative, drawing onthe expertise of both the clergyperson and the psychologist: teamteaching seminary or university courses (Edwards et al., 1999),coleading support groups or educational seminars (Budd, 1999;Edwards et al., 1999), joint staffing of difficult cases (Budd, 1999;Hulm e, 1974), engaging in interactive needs assessments (Benes etal., 2000; Pargament et al., 1991), and offering broad-based pre-ventative services (Benes et al., 2000; Budd, 1999; Roberts &Thorsheim, 1986). Some important training and research questionsemerge, given the expansive array of professional activities al-ready occurring and the potential for more collaboration in thefuture owing to the primacy religious leaders often have in thelives of those in need of men tal health services (Clemens, Corradi,& Wasman, 1978; Larson et al., 1988; Weaver, Koenig, & Och-berg, 1996; Weaver et al., 1997). How does on e prepare to workwith clergy and religious comm unities? Ho w is bilateral collabo-ration modeled and defined in the context of graduate training?Wha t important variables foster a successful collaborative rela-tionship? What sorts of applied training activities best preparepsychologists to work effectively with clergy and religiousinstitutions?

Center for Church-Psychology Collaboration (CCPC)With growing recognition of the need for church-psychology

collaboration, combined with a desire to teach students the value ofworking with other professionals in a bidirectional, mutually ben-eficial manner , the CCPC was established as part of the doctoralprogram in clinical psychology at Wheaton College in 1999. Th ethree objectives of the CCPC include research, training, and

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326 McMINN, MEEK, CANNING, AND POZZIdents recently worked in a faith-based community health center ina poor urban neighborhood assisting in the evaluation and expan-sion of the health center's chaplain program. Chaplains in thisfaith-based health center provide direct spiritual and emotionalsupport to patients experiencing a variety of concerns includingdepression, domestic violence, an d adjus tment to serious illness orloss. Chaplains also serve as a link between the health centerprofessionals and other resources in the patient 's co mmu nity, suchas his or her local church. Students interviewed ke y medical centerstaff to identify perceived barriers to chaplain referrals, examinethe postreferral process, identify existing strengths of the programthat should be preserved and enhanced, identify the top five areasof patient need tha t should be targeted, an d exam ine the feasibilityof adding a lay chaplain compone nt to the program. Students thensummarized their findings for the staff and collaborated in devel-oping protocols for use by chaplains in the highest priority areas ofpatient needs.

Finally, an emerging area of training ha s resulted from thedevelopment of the Multimethod Church Assessment Process(MCAP; Dominguez, 2000). The M C A P is a manualized, broad-based assessment process to help clergy identify needs and re-sources within a congrega tion. It is a collaborative m odel, in wh ichquestions are generated, assessment procedures identified, andfeedback provided. The MCAP is being used in various congre-gations to help th e church leadership answer questions related tocongregational life. An MCAP tra ining manual ha s also beendeveloped and is being used to prepare doctoral students andprofessionals to do church-based assessment.Service

In the process of our research and training objectives, we at-tempt to serve religious communities, especially insofar as thosecommunities affect mental health in their immediate en vironment.In general, the method of service flows from an indirect servicemodel, with CCPC students and supervisors working to assess,empower , and support the existing resources with in religious com-munities . W e begin with th e assumption that fai th-based comm u-nities have been a source of encouragement, hope, and meaning forpeople over man y centuries long before the advent of modernpsychology. This assumption calls us to respect and learn fromthese comm unities of faith, to enter these communities with hu -mility, and to recognize tha t the psycholog ical skills w e offer mustbe viewed in the context of religious, cultural, and historicalfactors.Faculty members involved in developing the CCPC have artic-ulated various interest areas corresponding to their particular ser-vice and research interests. These interest areas have become"arms" of the CCPC. Some interest areas are primarily domestic infocus, such as the Urban Partnership Initiative and the rural/frontier psychology interest group, whereas others are interna-t ional. Although the interest areas are diverse, all pertain to thecentral mission of the CCPC: "Psychology serving the Church."Th e CCPC provides modest funding fo r each of the interest areasan d creates a common identi ty that brings together various facultymembers ' interests and provides an organizational enti ty fromwhich to seek grant support and donations.International service interests have included taking teams ofstudents an d faculty to Ukraine (Ellens et al., 2000), South Korea

(McMinn et al., in press), India, and Honduras. To illustrate thenature of these international service interests, the Latin AmericaInterest Group is described here.The Latin America Interest Group was developed to sculpt a

shared vision for the establishment of an ongoing dialogue withChristian mental health professionals in Central and South Amer-ica. The in tent of such a dialogue is to serve the indigenouschurches in each region, to support culturally contextualized ef-forts to integrate Christian faith and mental health perspectives,and to aid in the development of effective intervention and servicedelivery strategies that are both culturally sensitive and consistentwith a Christian worldview. Through this partnership, our knowl-edge of psychological theory and the integration of that theorywith the Christian faith blends with the Latin American church'sexperience, producing a model of prevention and interventionrooted in psychological theory interpreted through the eyes of theChristian church in that particular context. The Latin AmericaInterest Group also has a research agenda to understand changinggender roles and expressions of sexuality in Latin A merican soci-ety, the influence of liberation theology in the emerging psycho-logical models in Latin America, and the role of the church inaddressing the emotional needs of the Latin American people.

To accomplish these tasks, the group is involved in a series oftraining, research, and service activities. Through an ongoingrelationship with a local church in Honduras, the Latin AmericaInterest Group has been able to offer a series of training seminarsto church leaders and mental health professionals on relevanttopics. Each year a team of faculty and students travels to Hon-duras to provide training and to encourage the development ofchurch-based community services within the Honduran church.Also, the Latin America Interest Group has started a series ofsummer training opportunities for Latin American church leaderson mental-health-related issues here in the United States. Eightindividuals are brought to Wheaton College for a 6-week trainingworkshop each year. Expenses fo r travel, lodging, an d instructionare covered through donations.

ImplicationsEngagement in novel professional settings (such as those wediscuss here) is likely to challenge and transform how we do things

as professional psychologists. We are attempting to do this bysimultaneously looking backto value the vital historical role thatreligious communities have played in maintaining and enhancingmental healthan d looking forwa rd, envisioning the possibilitiesof professional psychologists partnering with religious communi-ties. The CCPC is not intended as a reaction to the economicturbulence affecting the professional psychologist but rather as agenerative en terprise tha t will result in the ongoing development ofprofessional psychology and contribute to the welfare of a broadersegment of society. We offer several domestic and global impli-cations for a profession in transition.Domestic Implications

With the burgeoning interest in spirituality that we see in pro-fessional psychology (Miller, 1999; Richards & Bergin, 1997,2000; Shafranske, 1996) and with psychologists seeking ways todiversify the professional services they provide, it appears inevi-


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CHURCH-PSYCHOLOGY COLLABORATION 327table that psychologists will be working more closely with clergyand religious organizations in the future than they have in the past.In anticipation of this trend, it is important to provide focusedtraining to prepare psychologists for what lies ahead. This trainingshould involve ample contact with religious leaders because thereare particularly challenging obstacles pertaining to trust and valuesimilarities when working with clergy (Aikins, 2000; Chaddock &McMinn , 1999), and it should cover community-based servicesfocused on prevention, broad-based assessment, and consultationas well as direct services (Humphreys, 1996, 2000). The trainingmodel described here for the CCPC is only one possible model,and it has been described with the expectation that others involvedin training professional psychologists may use similar models, orimprove upon the model we have described, in training a talentedsubset of the next generation of professional psychologists fo reffective church-psychology collaboration.Mo reover, recent trends in professional psychology training andpractice have sensitized psychologists to the importance of cultu ralan d contextual awareness. A com petent psychologist is a cultural lyaware psychologist. For ma ny underserved populations, includingsome ethnic minority groups, economically disadvantaged individ-uals, an d m any in rural an d frontie r settings, a community of faithis central to their existence and identity. Psychologists have anobligation to understand an d respect these religious com mun itiesan d values whe n working with individuals, families, and groups offaith. Careful training in the graduate school years can help instilla respect for religious diversity and prepare students to collaborateeffectively with religious leaders.

The epistemological roots of psychology are embedded in sci-ence. Developing any new specialty area in professional psychol-og y is, to a large extent, a research task. By describing variousCCPC research activit ies in this article and elsewhere (Chaddock& McMinn, 1999; Edwards et al, 1999; Ellens et al., 2000;McMinn et al., 1998; McMinn et al., in press), we hope to generateinterest in church-psychology collaboration as an important areaof research fo r scholars, professional psychologists, an d doctoralstudents.Global Implications

In the December 1998 issue of American Psychologist, AnthonyJ. Marsella proposed a global-community psychology, defined as a

Superordinate or meta-psychology concerned with understanding, as-sessing, and addressing the individ ual and collective psychologica lconsequences of global events and forces by encouraging and usingmulticultural, multidisciplinary, multisectoral, an d mult inat ionalknowledge , me thods , and interve ntions. (Marsella, 1998, p. 1284)

Although the CCPC activities described in this article fall short ofthese lofty ideals, they reflect one step toward a cross-culturalpsychology in which students are taught to think globally aboutmental health needs, and resources. During the year in which thisarticle was written, 8 of our 17 tenured or tenure-track departmentfaculty traveled overseas with students to be involved in consult-ing, research, and train ing. This produces an ethos of globalizationthroughout th e department tha t attracts international stude nts, gen-erates cross-cultural discussions in the classroom, and createsopportunities for cross-cultural research and service. Admittedly,our global perspective is somew hat narrowed by our commitment

to Christian congregations in various parts of the world, and muchcould also be learned by working with other communities of faith.Nonetheless, invo lvem ent in interna tional research, service, andtraining provides faculty and students with a firsthand experienceof cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic, political, and ideologicaldiversity.

One impediment to psychologists traveling to underserved areasof the world is the lack of existing mental health structures an dresources. Psychologists typically do not travel to places in theworld where there are no other psychologists because that culturedoes not recognize a need for psychological services and does notextend an invitation. However, all cultures and places have reli-gious communities, and those religious communities invariablycare for people's psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs.Spiritually sensitive psychologists who are willing to partner withreligious organizations and who have the requisite skills for work-in g with clergy have many opportunities fo r serving an d training inunderserved areas of the world.

There is little doubt that the profession of psychology is intransition. Amo ng the many changes are trends away from directservices toward more consultative and indirect services, increasingawareness o f spiritua lity as an area of human diversity, greatercommitment to m arginalized and underserved people, and theglobalization of psychology. We have described one effortthrough church-psychology collaborationto train students, pro-duce relevant research, and provide service opportunities for thechanging profession of psychology.

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Received August 29, 2000Revision received January 2, 2001

Accepted January 23,2001

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Training Psychologists to Work With Religious Organizations - The Center for Church - Psychology Collaboration