The Loma Linda University (LLU) School of Behavioral Health (SBH) is uniquely positioned to train clinicians in a biopsychosocial-spiritual model, being located alongside the Schools of Medicine and Religion in a faith-based university. It was toward this end that the SBH Spiritual Life and Wholeness Committee developed school-wide religious and spiritual clinical training competencies.
We began in 2021 by looking to the professional organizations and literature of our disciplines of social work, counseling, marriage and family therapy, and psychology. We found several sources that we began building on and contextualized them to LLU.
We talked with each other and faculty from other schools and presented our drafts in several settings, making revisions following feedback. We asked for feedback from the SBH deans, chairs, program directors, and faculty, and made further revisions. The ninth and final draft was voted on by SBH faculty in January of 2023 and unanimously accepted.
Our goal with these competencies is that LLU SBH-trained clinicians are spiritually sensitive professionals who intuitively understand the larger context behind presenting problems and can flexibly integrate religion and spirituality into treatment in beneficial ways.
Written by Dr. Kendal Boyd, Associate Chair, Department of Psychology