Enhancing Grace Within a Group-Based Intervention for Counselors in Training

Abstract

The development of spiritual interventions has the potential to enhance the impact of current treatments on outcomes associated with psychological and spiritual functioning. Researchers of grace have posited that, for the Christian, one’s understanding and experience of grace can facilitate personal and interpersonal transformation, resulting in improvements in both spiritual and psychological well-being. This study investigated a grace-focused group intervention aimed at increasing awareness and experience of grace among graduate counselors in training. Results of objective and projective assessments indicated that participants’ experience of grace improved over the course of the intervention. Implications are discussed in light of these findings.

Keywords

grace spirituality counselor training spiritual well-being attachment theory attachment to God

Research on spirituality and religion has increased over the past several decades, and results from such research highlight the significant benefits that spirituality and religion can have on intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning and well-being (Sawatzky et al., 2005; Unterrainer et al., 2014). In a recent investigation of an attachment-based model of spiritual development and psychological well-being, findings indicated that higher levels of spirituality predicted higher levels of psychological flourishing, including autonomy, mastery, and positive coping (Augustyn et al., 2017). Furthermore, in a meta-analysis of religion- or spiritual-oriented psychotherapies, results highlighted a beneficial effect of adding a spiritual component to psychotherapy on spiritual outcomes, and in some cases, psychological outcomes as well (Worthington et al., 2011). These findings demonstrate that an intentional focus on the development and enhancement of spirituality may directly influence psychological growth.

Research also demonstrates that counseling clients increasingly prefer the incorporation of spirituality into psychological treatment, regardless of their own claim of faith (Bannister et al., 2015; Rose et al., 2008). What has lagged, however, is the development of evidence-based, experiential spiritual treatments that incorporate both psychological theory and theological foundations (Gonçalves et al., 2015; Karl et al., 2021; Worthington et al., 2013). The development of these interventions has the potential to enhance the impact of current treatments on outcomes associated with psychological and spiritual functioning, reach potential clientele who are not currently motivated for purely psychological treatment, and decrease perceived stigma and shame related to spiritual struggles and associated religious and social disconnection. An evidence-based treatment on the construct of grace is one example of a potentially impactful clinical intervention.

Bufford et al. (2017) defined grace as “as an act of showing kindness, generosity, or mercy to someone who is undeserving and potentially incapable of returning the kindness shown.” Researchers of grace have posited that, for the Christian, one’s understanding and experience of grace have the potential for personal and interpersonal transformation, resulting in improvements in both spiritual and psychological well-being (Bufford et al., 2014; Harwood et al., 2022). Indeed, research has highlighted a significant association between one’s self-reported awareness and experience of grace with increased self-compassion (Watson et al., 2011), increased gratitude (Bufford et al., 2015), increased positive religious coping (Bufford et al., 2015), and increased spiritual well-being (Bufford et al., 2015) and increased emotional forgiveness (Bassett et al., 2019), as well as decreased depression (Sisemore et al., 2011; Watson et al., 2011), decreased anxiety (Sisemore et al., 2011), and decreased internalized shame (Bufford et al., 2015). Thus, research demonstrates that one’s cognitive concept and emotional experience of grace seem to have overall positive impact on several facets of mental and spiritual health.

Although understanding and experiencing grace are both key, many struggle to have robust experiences of God’s grace despite having a clear cognitive understanding of the concept of grace. Experiences of grace seem particularly germane for individuals struggling with spiritual doubts and a sense of disconnection from God or isolation from their faith communities. Indeed the experience of grace during times of spiritual doubt and struggle might reflect or contribute to a secure God attachment. The emerging literature on God attachment extends Bowlby’s (1969/1982) theory on human attachments to an individual’s relationship with the Divine. Broadly speaking, Bowlby posited that early human behavior was propelled by a drive to maintain proximity between an infant and a protective care giver (i.e., an attachment figure). A pattern of emotions and behaviors, known as the attachment system, emerges to acquire and maintain proximity to an attachment figure who ideally serves both as a secure base, from which to explore and master one’s surroundings, and a safe haven, wherein one can find protection and comfort when frightened and distressed (Schore, 2017). The style of one’s attachment system—whether demonstrating the dynamics of security, anxiety, or fear—tend to replicate with other important attachment figures throughout one’s life, such as a spouse or romantic partner. The growing body of literature on God attachment applies the constructs of attachment theory to religious behavior and spiritual experience as attachment-driven actions in which God represents the quintessential attachment figure in monotheistic religions (Augustyn et al., 2017; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Kirkpatrick, 1992). Much like a child’s fear of being abandoned, an adult may experience distress at the notion of divine dereliction, and security of attachment to God helps one endure the cycles of doubt that result from trauma and loss with less distress. One may derive comfort, courage, hope, and purpose from the idea and affective experience of a sustained, positive, and joint attunement with God.

While several studies have demonstrated that secure adult attachment is positively correlated with positive psychological outcomes (Mikulincer et al., 2003; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007), Njus and Scharmer (2020) provided evidence from three studies that God attachment provides a unique contribution to various forms of psychological well-being when controlling for other adult attachments. In addition, Njus and Scharmer found that secure God attachment is correlated with heightened levels of well-being compared to individuals who are insecurely attached to God or atheists or agnostics. Conversely, God attachment anxiety and God attachment avoidance were related to negative psychological well-being in both an internet sample and a national random sample (Leman et al., 2018). Similarly, Beck and McDonald (2004) found that both God attachment avoidance and anxiety were negatively correlated to religious and existential well-being. In a longitudinal study of older adults, Thauvoye et al. (2018) found that depressive feelings predicted God attachment and that depression was correlated with both anxious and avoidant types of attachment to God. Given these findings, it seems reasonable to posit that experiencing grace in seasons of trial and doubt might both reflect secure God attachment and promote psychological well-being; therefore, a spiritual intervention aimed at facilitating the experience of grace holds promise alongside other spiritually based interventions designed to improve psychological and spiritual well-being.

Studies employing interventions to affect positive spiritual outcomes are scant. Among the few published studies of spiritual interventions, Dworsky et al. (2013) applied a manualized group-based intervention addressing spiritual struggles in college students and found that the treatment resulted in significant improvements related to psychological distress, spiritual struggle, stigmatization of spiritual struggle, and emotional regulation. In another study, researchers examined the impact of a treatment aimed at cultivating virtue and resisting vice as it related specifically to spiritual moral struggles. Findings indicated that the treatment led to improvements in attainment of virtue and spiritual development as well as decreases in vices and stress (Ano et al., 2017). Another study (Uhder et al., 2017) investigated the impact of a gratitude intervention within a church community and found within-(but not between) group effects for psychological and spiritual well-being, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect. Finally, in a manualized group-based spiritual intervention aimed at improving God images and attachment to God, qualitative (but not quantitative) measures highlighted an improvement in spiritual outcomes as a result of the intervention (Olson et al., 2016). Taken together, the findings of these studies of spiritually oriented interventions with the literature on grace and God attachment highlight the merit of developing interventions aimed at increasing one’s awareness and experience of grace, thereby facilitating one’s security of attachment to God.

Psychological distress and emotional problems among Christian samples have been shown to be inversely related to secure attachment to God (Hiebler-Ragger et al., 2016), and trauma is known to cause spiritual disintegration evidenced by experiences of deconstruction of one’s faith, religious disbelief, spiritual distance with God, a negative God image, and decreasing involvement with one’s faith community (Figley, 2002; Herman, 2015; Walker et al., 2015). Secondary traumatic stress is a phenomenon whereby individuals become traumatized not by directly experiencing a traumatic event, but by hearing about a traumatic event experienced by someone else (Figley, 2002). Such vicarious traumatization can yield a negative transformation in the self of a trauma worker, resulting from empathic engagement with traumatic material from traumatized clients. According to Figley, the hallmark of vicarious traumatization is disrupted spirituality, meaning, and hope.

Mental health professionals and counselors-in-training (CITs) are at risk for vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress, and especially those that work with traumatized children (Butler et al., 2017; National Child Traumatic Stress Network, Secondary Traumatic Stress Committee, 2011). Research has shown they can experience high levels of psychological distress, such as secondary traumatic stress and vicarious traumatization, because of exposure to intensely negative emotions and experiences presented by clients (Adams & Riggs, 2008). It has been recommended that training programs address these risks both in curricular formats but also in more experiential and comprehensive ways that integrate relational and spiritual components into the self-care and burnout-prevention process (O’Halloran & O’Halloran, 2001). This recommendation is supported by research findings highlighting how higher levels of existential spiritual well-being and greater relational support can buffer the relationship between vicarious trauma and experiences of emotional stress (Hardiman & Simmonds, 2013).

The involvement in a spiritual and relational intervention has the potential to enhance one’s experience of grace and spiritual well-being during the counseling student’s initial year of applied clinical work, thereby moderating the deleterious effects of the stresses associated with this season of clinical training, especially vicarious trauma. The intervention was designed to facilitate a deeper sense of spiritual union with God and with others through education, activities of personal reflection and expression, and interpersonal interaction regarding spiritual disappointments, doubts, and disconnection (See Procedure section for detailed description of the intervention). In addition, the designed study was created to occur within a community context in order to provide the additional benefit of social support alongside the didactic and spiritual formation aspects of the intervention.

Therefore, this study investigates the impact of a structured spiritual and relational intervention on one’s experience of grace and spiritual well-being throughout his or her initial training year of applied clinical work. The purpose of the group intervention study was to (1) examine the impact of a grace-based intervention on CIT’s understanding and experience of grace and image of God and to (2) examine how participation with the intervention influences spiritual well-being and social connection of the participants (i.e., CITs).

Grace Intern Intervention Description

The group-based, grace-focused intervention was collaboratively developed by the faculty of a clinical mental health graduate program through a series of discussions regarding collectively observed changes in students’ spirituality and religious practices corresponding to the impact of traumatic events (Figley, 2002; Herman, 2015; Walker et al., 2015) such as reports of spiritual distance with God, a negative God image, religious disbelief, deconstruction of one’s faith, decreased social connection, and decreasing religious involvement. Consideration of relevant research regarding spiritual well-being, positive religious coping, vicarious trauma, counselor education, attachment theory, and anecdotal feedback from students about the beneficial aspects of their faith-integrated curriculum shaped the design of this intervention, which was designed to counter the phenomenon of spiritual disintegration. The primary goal of the intervention was to facilitate spiritual reintegration through activities that increase the awareness and experience of grace as a form of positive religious coping for the stress of assuming a counselor’s role with clients and to ameliorate the effects of vicarious trauma, thereby facilitating greater security of attachment to God (see Figure 1). The intervention employed didactic, experiential, and group process elements to validate the experience of disappointment with God, faith-related doubts, and feelings of spiritual disconnection while simultaneously refreshing faith-based aspects of vocational “calling” and spiritually oriented social support. This intervention followed the principles enumerated by Walker et al. (2015) for spiritually oriented psychotherapy for trauma, including respect for reintegration of the individual’s spirituality and religiousness.

Figure 1.

Grace intervention rationale.

Methods

Participants

Participants were 36 adults recruited from a Christian graduate clinical mental health counseling program. The institutional review board approved the study. All participants were “counselors-in-training” (CITs), completing their final internship year of their graduate counseling program. Participants were recruited via email, which invited them to participate in a research study aimed at helping them to engage in spiritual self-care and growth as they prepare for the internship process. If interested, participants were provided with informed consent that provided details about the study, including risks and benefits. As a benefit for participating in the research, participants were told that they could exchange participation in the study for one assignment (i.e., one of the two required community presentations) in their internship coursework. In total, 48 students were invited to participate. Of this group, 36 entered the study and completed the pre-test (a 75% response rate). All but one participant (who changed graduate programs mid-year) completed all aspects of the study (a 97% completion rate).

Thirty females and six males participated. Mean age of the participants was 31.36 (SD = 10.18). Eighty-three percent of the sample identified as Caucasian, 14% identified as African American, and 3% identified as Hispanic. Sixty-one percent of the sample identified as single, 28% were married, 8% were divorced, and 3% were widowed. All self-identified as having a Christian affiliation, with the following denominational affiliations: 57% were non-denominational, 14% were Presbyterian, 11% were Baptist, 6% were Pentecostal, 3% were Reformed, 3% were Lutheran, 3% were Nazarene, and 3% were Methodist.

Measures

Dimensions of Grace Scale

The Dimensions of Grace Scale (DGS; Bufford et al., 2017) is 36-item, multi-dimensional self-report measure of grace that assesses five factors: Experiencing God’s Grace, Costly Grace, Grace to Self, Grace from Others, and Grace to Others. Experiencing God’s Grace subscale includes items such as “I strive to do good because of God’s acceptance of me not to earn His love.” The Costly Grace subscale includes items such as “I must work hard to experience God’s grace and forgiveness.” The Grace to Self subscale includes items such as “I accept my shortcomings.” The Grace from Others subscale includes items such as “As a child I was confident that at least one of my parents loved me no matter what.” Finally, the Grace to Others subscale includes items such as “If someone wrongs me, they need to make it right.” Acceptable validity has been established through correlating factor scores with several spiritual and psychological measures including assessments of religious coping, spiritual well-being, gratitude, and shame. Bufford et al. (2017) reported an alpha for the five factors ranging from .71 to .98. Bufford et al. (2017) reported an alpha for the five factors ranging from .71 to .98. Internal consistency of the DGS was acceptable in this study, with an alpha coefficient of .88.

Spiritual Well-Being Scale

The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB; Paloutzian & Ellison, 1982) is a 20-item self-report measure that assesses spiritual well-being in regards to one’s relationship with God (Religious Well-Being) and one’s relationship with others and the world around them (Existential Well-Being). In the original psychometric evaluation of the measure, the internal consistency coefficient for the total score was .92. Validity for this scale has been established in several samples. The internal consistency coefficient for the total score in this study was .95.

Social Connectedness Scale

The Social Connectedness Scale–Revised (Lee et al., 2001) is a 20-item self-report measure of the degree of interpersonal closeness that individuals feel with others. Sample items include “I feel disconnected from the world around me.” Higher scores on the SCS-R represent a stronger sense of belonging. The scale has been shown to have good test–retest and internal consistency (Lee & Robbins, 1995, 1998). Past research utilizing the revised scale indicated the reliability statistic was α = .94 (Lee et al., 2001); in this study, the alpha coefficient for the study’s sample was also .94.

God Representation Figure Drawings

The God Representation Figure Drawings (GRFD; Davis et al., 2014a) measure (a) God concepts (the individual’s doctrinal/head knowledge of God) and God images (the individual’s experiential/heart knowledge of God), (b) God attachment (the nature and quality of the individual’s perceived relationship to God), and (c) self-functioning (the individual’s overall self-esteem and psychological well-being). One purpose of the measure is to help distinguish one’s more explicit theological beliefs about God (“head knowledge” or God concepts) from one’s more implicit experiential or emotional relationships with God (“heart knowledge” or God images). The measure utilizes the following sequence of prompts (see Moriarty, 2006; Moriarty & Davis, 2012):

“On this piece of paper, draw a picture of you and God.” [used to assess “head knowledge of God” or actual God concepts]

“On this piece of paper, draw a picture of how you FEEL you and God look when you do something wrong. Draw what you feel you and God look like, not what you think.” [used to assess “actual heart knowledge of God” or actual God images]

“On this piece of paper, draw a picture of how you WOULD LIKE TO FEEL you and God look when you do something wrong. Again, draw how you would like to feel, not how you think you should feel.” [used to assess “ideal heart knowledge of God” or ideal God images]

The assessment prompts the participants to draw pictures of God and themselves. This projective measure was utilized as both a means to invite the participants into a more creative and experiential exercise to describe their relationship with God and also as a means to qualitatively evaluate and code how participants used drawings to depict their relationship with God. Using the Integrative Scoring System (Davis et al., 2014b), researchers used scoring benchmarks to quantify drawings of God images, rating depictions of the relationship on scales of benevolence, accessibility, responsiveness, and authoritarianism.

Procedure

The intervention entailed three points of intervention taking place for graduate students in their counseling internship year: (1) mid-way through Practicum (i.e., 4–6 weeks into beginning to see clients), (2) mid-way through Internship I (i.e., 6 months or half-way through internship year), and (3) mid-way through Internship II (i.e., 11 months into internship year) and almost to the conclusion of their academic program of study (see Figure 2). In the initial year of offering this group intervention, the university decided to offer the intervention to all students instead of creating a control group who did not receive the intervention. This approach was based on the hypothesis that the intervention would provide helpful benefits and an awareness that the CIT’s were struggling and had expressed need of connection and hope.

Figure 2.

Procedures: Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3 of group intervention.

Each intervention point was 3 hours long, separated into three components. The first component entailed a 30- to 40-minute didactic presentation by a faculty member connecting the practice of counseling to a relevant aspect of Christian faith and practice, especially related to the constructs of Christ-like love, suffering, and hope for healing and the redemption of suffering. The content of this component was crafted to activate CITs’ awareness of grace and to normalize the experience of spiritual disintegration, such as doubt and spiritual disconnection, linking it to Christian vocation and Christ’s cry of dereliction on the cross (Hill & Sartor, 2022). Second, participants were divided into groups of approximately 12 to engage in the ancient spiritual exercise of Lectio Divina. The Lectio Divina—literally, a “divine reading”—is a corporate exercise from contemplative and monastic Christian traditions wherein participants listen to a biblical passage with a prayerful, meditative disposition or imagine themselves in the scene of the narrative to experientially receive an impression or message from the text (Knabb, 2021). This form of reading contrasts a more cognitive and analytical approach for propositional content. At each point of intervention, passages corresponded to the theme of the didactic presentation, especially those promoting spiritual purpose in suffering and identifying with the crucified God (Moltmann, 1974). Participants shared their single word or short phrased impression with others in their group without further elaboration, keeping this group activity experiential and meditative. The passages chosen for this component of the intervention correspond to the didactic content, adding meditative, communal, and experiential aspects to the intervention. This exercise was deployed to experientially reframe the spiritually deleterious effects of vicarious trauma and to reduce spiritual disconnection and isolation. Finally, participants stayed in their groups of 12 for the third element: a process-oriented group facilitated by a faculty member with prompts related to verbalizing the impact of counseling practice on the students’ faith and spiritual well-being. The process group component was implemented to ameliorate the spiritual and social isolation commonly associated with spiritual disintegration. Collectively, the components of this intervention were assembled to activate positive religious coping by activating CITs’ awareness and experience of grace individually and corporately. The hoped for net result was an increase in religious and spiritual well-being, an increase in social connectedness, and an increase in the experience of grace contributing to secure God attachment. The intervention included a 10-minute break between each of these three components (See the Appendix 1 for detailed instructions).

In addition, the activities selected for this procedure were components of curriculum in a course on Christian spiritual formation designed to expand CITs participation in spiritual activities and improve their use of spiritual resources for coping with the personal rigors of clinical practice. Anecdotal feedback from students combined with comments provided in course evaluations were sufficiently robust to merit empirical investigation regarding the efficacy of these activities on students’ experience of grace, spiritual well-being, and God attachment. Furthermore, these activities were chosen for their accessibility and utility for this group of participants. In particular, the group is comprised of graduate students from Christian backgrounds who are in a process of experiencing the dynamic interaction between their faith and their budding professional vocation. As such, these students often expect didactic lectures as the preferred medium for graduate school activity. Moreover, they come from evangelical Christian backgrounds that hold a high view of the authority of Scripture, though this may often be experienced more cognitively than emotionally and may inhibit discursive exploration of Scripture. Given this demographic, utilizing briefer didactic lecture as an opening for an ancient Christian Scripture reading practice that refocuses attention from cognitive content to emotional and meditative dynamics may provide a useful procedure for increasing the experience of grace for this particular population.

Results

The means and standard deviations of the study variables at Time 1 (pre-intervention) are presented in Table 1. All data were normally distributed with skewness and kurtosis <|2|. Total scores on all study variables did not differ significantly based on age, gender, race, or marital status (all p values > .05). Correlational analyses were conducted to determine the relationships among study variables. Of note, grace was positively correlated with spiritual well-being (r = .74, p < .001) as well as social connectedness (r = .52, p < .01). Furthermore, grace was positively correlated with a measure that assessed positively valenced God representations of “head knowledge” (r = .46, p < .01) as well as “heart knowledge” (r = .40, p < .05).

Table 1.

Means and Standard Deviations for Pre- and Post-assessment on Study Measures (N = 35).

Measure	Subscale	Mean (pre)	SD	Mean (post)	SD	t
Grace Scale	Total	171.66	25.60	178.31	27.34	2.31*
	God	44.83	6.35	46.37	6.15	1.51
	Costly	40.03	7.80	39.86	9.07	–0.19
	Self	20.54	6.98	24.74	8.06	4.49**
	From	34.00	11.07	33.51	10.44	–0.48
	To	32.26	5.72	33.83	5.27	1.85
Spiritual Well-Being	Total	96.31	17.05	97.17	17.50	–0.07
	Religious	48.57	11.37	48.46	11.59	0.80
	Existential	47.74	7.06	48.71	8.53	0.34
Social Connection Scale	Total	92.08	16.20	71.80	4.70	–6.57**
Figure Drawing (Head Knowledge)	Total	41.76	12.01	38.23	13.95	–1.42
Figure Drawing (Heart Knowledge)	Total	25.41	10.87	31.32	11.32	2.23*
Figure Drawing (Ideal)	Total	48.44	8.00	47.44	8.71	–0.69

SD: standard deviation.

p < .05, ** p < .01.

The purpose of the study was to develop a group grace-based intervention and measure the impact of group participation on CITs’ experience of grace. The main hypothesis was that participation in the intervention would enhance CITs’ experience of grace, as measured by the Dimensions of Grace scale and the God Figure Representation Drawings (GFRD). Paired sample t-tests for comparison of means were used to evaluate the significance of change in scores across time. Power analyses for pairwise comparisons suggested there was sufficient power to detect differences between time points. Table 2 shows scores for the five subscales and total of the DGS at Time 1 (pre), Time 2, Time 3, and Time 4 (post). Analyses revealed that the study’s main hypothesis was supported (See Table 1). There was a significant increase when comparing pre and post Total scores on the DGS (t = 2.31, p < .05; See Figure 3). When examining subscale score changes across time, there was a significant post change in participants’ experience of Grace to Self at T1 to T4 (t = 4.49, p < .001). In addition, there was a trend for a change in participants’ experience of Grace to Others from pre to post (t = 1.85, p < .10).

Table 2.

Means (Standard Deviations) for DGS Total and Subscale Scores Across Time (N = 35).

DGS	Time 1	Time 2	Time 3	Time 4
Total	172.61 (25.87)	173.57 (24.01)	175.40 (24.25)	178.31 (27.34)
God	45.14 (6.53)	45.06 (6.10)	45.97 (6.09)	46.37 (6.15)
Costly	40.28 (7.83)	40.00 (8.44)	40.77 (7.92)	39.86 (9.06)
Self	20.39 (6.95)	22.60 (6.56)	22.74 (7.36)	24.74 (8.06)
From	34.42 (11.19)	33.80 (10.10)	33.68 (9.91)	33.51 (10.44)
To	32.89 (5.69)	32.11 (5.08)	32.23 (5.55)	33.83 (5.27)

DGS: Dimensions of Grace Scale.

Figure 3.

Improvements in Grace Across Intervention Time Points.

For the projective assessment measured by the GFRD, paired sample t-tests for comparison of means from pre- to post-intervention indicated a significant improvement in figure drawing #2, which represents how the person experientially/emotionally perceives relating with God. There were no significant differences in means from pre to post intervention for drawings #1 (Head Knowledge) and #3 (Ideal God Image).

A secondary hypothesis concerned how the intervention may have influenced spiritual well-being. For the SWB scale, paired sample t-tests revealed no significant differences in total and subscale (Religious and Existential Well-Being) scores across time.

Notably, results revealed a significant negative shift in social connectedness over the course of the intervention. Specifically, perceptions of social connectedness dropped over 20 points on the Social Connectedness Scale, with a T1 mean score of 92.08 (SD = 16.20) and a T4 mean score of 71.80 (SD = 4.70).

Discussion

Findings from this study support the hypothesis that CIT’s experience of grace can be significantly enhanced by interventions aimed at facilitating a deeper sense of union and secure attachment to God and others through didactic exploration, reflection, and group processing. The grace-based group intervention targeted growth in spiritual self-awareness through intentional focus on expansive moral frameworks intended to non-judgmentally accept spiritual experiences of doubt, disappointment, and disconnection (Strawn & Noah, 2022). Perhaps paradoxically, spiritually reflective activities that normalize and de-stigmatize negatively valenced experiences of God-attachment can actually enhance rather than detract from secure attachment to God, given an appropriate context. This acceptance-based relational intervention reflects a spiritual register of the interpersonal insight from attachment theory, namely that security of attachment includes the experience of rupture and repair. Moreover, promoting more flexible love-based and redemption-focused worldviews likely served to emphasize that a relationship need not be maximally ideal but simply “good enough” to constitute security of attachment. Taking the pressure off spiritual expectations may therefore be an important component of a rich experience of grace.

Of note were the improvements to Social Connectedness and the Grace to Self subscale. It seems the group intervention may have normalized the “deconstruction” of aspects of some of the CIT’s faith struggles, spiritual doubt, and feelings of isolation. Creating a space for spiritual honesty in a group context seemed to allow the CIT participants to feel less guilt and more grace-to-self about their spiritual struggles and isolation during this season of professional development, as evidenced by increases in Grace to Self. While it was undoubtedly disappointing that the intervention did not significantly boost CIT’s experience of God’s grace, the authors remain encouraged that the intervention seemed to buffer the deleterious effects of compassion fatigue with regard to isolation and self-criticism. As a self-report measure, it bears mentioning that the Grace to Self construct relates to a perception of grace, which in this case appears to originate with the self. Thus, the Grace to Self construct likely reflects something akin to self-compassion and not conclusive evidence that grace was actually received. Moreover, it seemed especially helpful to have the presence of engaged, committed faculty who honored their experience, “contained” their anxiety, and yet not validate the doubts as objectively true. Indeed, Pargament and Exline’s (2022) framework of spiritual struggle normalizes spiritual struggles that result from challenging experiences, yielding spiritual distress and disorientation. The results of this study suggest that acceptance of spiritual disorientation in one’s own sociocultural context, within the framework of the tradition’s teachings (Walker et al., 2015) and emotional support from supporting mentors contributes to growth of wholeness. This group intervention seems a good starting point for designing future interventions for CITs which create holding spaces for spiritual doubt and isolation and facilitate open expression of these thoughts and feelings in a supportive social context that includes both peers and mentors.

Of special note in this study is the positive correlation between the experience of grace and a projective measure assessing positively valenced God representations of both “head-knowledge” and “heart-knowledge.” This finding suggests an alignment with classical spiritual wisdom that the intellectual knowledge of grace and the affective experience of grace are two sides of the same coin which, while being conceptually distinguishable, cannot actually be separated in lived experience. From a Christian perspective, the experience of grace is socially interpersonal and integrates the intrapersonal aspects of intellect and emotion. The group-based modality was likely instrumental in the intervention’s success, congruent with classical spiritual wisdom purporting that the experience of grace is an irreducibly communal activity that cannot be accomplished in isolation but requires vulnerability to the witness of an empathetic and empowering community.

Study findings highlight the importance for future intervention strategies to continue incorporating dialogical and didactic experiences in which CIT’s are invited to actively explore the theological assumptions behind their experiences of grace in attachment to God (Strawn, 2022). This may involve explorations in clinically integrative practice that assess the significance of theology for mental health flourishing in the late modern cultural context of mental health professions in the western world (Neff & McMinn, 2020). For example, normalizing and de-stigmatizing doubts and disappointments in relation to God may be assisted by the classical theological principle: gratia non tollit naturam sed perficit. According to this principle, “grace does not destroy nature but perfects it” (Aquinas, 1920–1922). If this is true, it would mean that the experience of grace includes the natural experiences of doubt and disappointment and, rather than spiritually bypassing them, would reframe them into a larger perspective of deeper union with God, self, and other. CITs frequently report that such grace-filled theological perspectives offer a meaningful pathway to spiritual growth because it facilitates a deeper integration of “head-knowledge” and “heart-knowledge,” which may result in more lasting and secure positive change.

Limitations

There were several limitations in this study. All participants were current students in a faith-based clinical mental health counseling program in the southeastern United States. Furthermore, to best serve the CIT cohort in the program, invitations to participate and gain access to the intervention were inclusive, resulting in a single group design and ruling out the creation of a control group in the design of the study. Therefore, we cannot confirm that the increases in grace over time were caused by the intervention or an alternative confounding variable, including placebo effect or even time itself. Further investigations into the intervention’s effectiveness should include a control group of students. Another limitation was the omission of measures to assess psychological functioning, such as anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Future research will benefit from a more comprehensive assessment to elucidate the likely interconnected links between spiritual and psychological growth.

Not surprisingly, students reported low scores of social connectivity throughout their internship year. While scores were especially low at the beginning of their internship, they remained concerning throughout the year. Students’ report of loneliness and isolation is a concern for any counselor training program, especially during the last several years as students have completed part of their program with additional isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs, including ours, should continue to find in-person and virtual opportunities to foster a sense of community and connection among students during their internship year.

The graduate students’ notable consistent low scores of “grace-to-self” during the counseling internship year were revealing. School faculty and administration noted the counseling interns’ difficulty showing grace to self during their internship year and discussed what interventions and changes might assist their students. As a training university, these results were alarming both out of concern for our graduate students and concern for their counseling clients. The university is currently developing intentional curricular and co-curricular initiatives to enhance students grace-to-self during their tenure at the university (Plisco et al., 2022).

Implications

The significant positive change on participants’ experience of grace in this study invites further research on the longer-term effects of the intervention for these counselors. Does a boost in experiential grace translate into greater resilience against the spiritual disintegration of vicarious traumatization? Does this increase in experiential grace cascade into the therapeutic experience of their clients? That is, do CITs’ clients have an increased experience of grace pursuant to this change in the counselors?

There is clear value for CIT to be offered both curricular (i.e., required) and co-curricular (i.e., optional) interventions at the university setting. Both from quantitative results and qualitative feedback, the student participants expressed their desire to have experiences to grow spiritually and relationally and to validate their new experiences as a counselor. Interventions that are both experiential and relational can support and encourage CITs as they gain confidence and support as new professionals.

It seems especially important that CITs experience validation in their spiritual struggles. One common theme students expressed during the group process component was “I thought I was the only one feeling this way.” The group process allowed them to observe and experience the universality of their struggle. The group sharing can be an antidote to toxic positivity and forced spiritual bypassing of adversity that CITs may hear from others outside of the profession. Concurrently, didactic components of the intervention that normalized doubt-experiences and dark nights of the soul as a natural rhythm in the life of faith consistently encouraged CITs by giving language and permission for these experiences during the compassion fatigue encountered in their introduction to clinical practice. By promoting a mindful posture of “non-judgmental open awareness” toward these experiences (Knabb, 2021), the CITs were better equipped to hold these experiences and feel less alone by the witness of a supporting, empathetic, and empowering community of peers and senior colleagues.

Promoting a culture of self-care and incorporating wellness-based strategies directly into curriculum or training are an essential part to supporting and educating CITs as they navigate their professional journey (Ohrt et al., 2015; Wolf et al., 2014). While most graduate students learn the rationale for self-care during their training, many are left frustrated, confused, and apathetic as to how to practice wellness and overcome barriers amid their academic, clinical, and personal demands—especially during their clinical internship year as they juggle academic responsibilities alongside their counseling internship (Canning, 2010; Flanagan et al., 2013). The overwhelmingly positive response rate and high level of student engagement in the optional grace intervention seems to indicate a clear need and interest in co-curricular opportunities for grace-specific interventions for CITs.

Footnotes

Appendix 1 Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Daniel C. Sartor

Author Biography

Daniel C. Sartor is the clinical director of the Wings Center at Eagle Ranch, Inc. He is a clinical psychologist, maintaining a diverse practice of psychotherapy, executive coaching, corporate training, and consulting for domestic and international organizations on trauma-informed care and organizational health. Previously, Dan served as the Vice President of Integration and a Professor of Counseling at Richmont Graduate University, where he developed curriculum and taught, supervised, and mentored graduate students in a faith-based CACREP-accredited mental health counseling program. Dan holds a MA and PhD in clinical psychology from Biola University and an MA in Counseling from Reformed Theological Seminary. He completed an MBA from Kennesaw State University, and he earned a BA in Music from Moody Bible Institute.

Mary Plisco has been a counselor educator and practicing psychologist for 11 years. She is also Director of Research at Richmont Graduate University.

Amanda M. Blackburn is Professor and Vice President of Student Affairs at Richmont Graduate University. Her research interests focus on student wellness and the Richmont Grace Intervention.

Preston M. Hill is Assistant Professor of Integrative Theology, Co-Chair of Integration, and Director of the DMin Program at Richmont Graduate University.

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