Spirituality and comprehensive school counseling programs.

Since spirituality is fundamental to human functioning, in this article, the author makes the case for including students' spirituality within the context of comprehensive school counseling programs. To do so, the article (a) defines spirituality in way that would be appropriate for open discourse in public schools; (b) discusses the theoretical grounding of the proposal; and (c) provides applications to ASCA's (2003) National Model in terms of its developmental standards, responsive services, large-group guidance, and counselors' behaviors.

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      The child's "house has many mansions"--including
   a spiritual life that grows, changes,
   responds constantly to the other lives, that in
   their sum, make up the individual we call by a
   name and know by a story that is all his, all hers.
   (Coles, 1990, p. 308)

During my visits to school districts around the country, I have often heard certain administrators intimating that school counselors' contributions to the education of children and youth are of lesser import than those of teachers. In recent years, however, thanks in part to the widespread implementation of programmatic approaches to school guidance and counseling, anecdotal evidence indicates that this unfounded perception is changing for the better (Sink, 2005a). Comprehensive school counseling programs (CSCPs) have evolved into well-articulated organizational frameworks that will successfully guide school counseling practice for years to come (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2003; Gysbers & Henderson, 2000, 2005). At their heart, CSCPs emphasize that as society and families continue to change, counselors can no longer rely on outdated, reactive interventions focused mostly on students at risk for school failure or those heading toward further education or training. CSCPs have given counselors a holistic and prevention-oriented structure to assist all students with more effective services, while at the same time supporting the teaching-learning activities going on in the school. Research compiled over the past few decades has shown that counselors operating within a programmatic framework are effectively supporting the welfare and development of students and their caregivers as well as enhancing school climate (see Borders & Drury, 1992; Lapan, 2005; Whiston, 2003, for reviews).

Coupled with this higher educational profile and demands for accountability, school counselors have added to their list of important student-centered responsibilities (Cobia & Henderson, 2003; Erford, House, & Martin, 2003; Sink, 2005a), while attempting to reduce non counseling activities (ASCA, 2003). Contemporary school counselors function in collaboration with the educational system by offering assistance, direction, and instruction to students and their families. Beyond ASCA's (1999b) core duties (counseling, consultation, coordination, plus classroom guidance), recent publications indicate that school counselors also should be (a) documenting more thoroughly their work through formal and informal evaluations (e.g., ASCA, 1997, 2003; Lapan, 2001), (b) serving more effectively a diverse school population (e.g., ASCA, 1999a, 2003; Lee, 2001), (c) integrating technological advances into their practices (Sabella, 2000), (d) helping create caring communities of learners which enhance school climate (Lapan, 2001; Sink & Rubel, 2001; Sink, 2002b, 2005b), and (e) fostering healthy student development in areas seemingly more peripheral to academics (e.g., ASCA, 1999b, 2003; Myrick, 2003; Ripley, Erford, Dahir, & Eschbach, 2003; Sink, 2002a, 2002b).

The last area mentioned above is at the center of what K-12 school counselors do each day. Until the past decade or so, the "legitimate" purview of developmentally focused CSCPs had been restricted to these fairly circumscribed domains: academic-educational, career-occupational, and personal-social. Fortunately, other aspects of students' lives are receiving more attention in the psychological, educational, and counseling literature. For example, one such area producing widespread debate is the value of spirituality as an effective "tool" for constructing a sense of purpose in lilt and for working through personal challenges (see, e.g., Coles, 1990; Kozol, 1995, for good examples of what this looks like for students).

This article's primary aim is to make the case that CSCPs and the students' they serve would benefit from adopting a more holistic or sociocultural perspective of human development--one that extends to the spiritual. To do so, I first discuss the characteristics of this wider view of spirituality in such a way that most stakeholders with different faith traditions can generally support. Second, I provide a rationale for introducing spirituality into comprehensive programs. Third, before concluding, applications to school counseling practice are explored.

SPIRITUALITY DEFINED

So what do I mean by "spirituality" and what might it look like from a student's point of reference? While introducing this special issue, Sink and Richmond indicated that the key element of a "genetic" view of spirituality, relates to students' attempts at making sense of their lives (Coles, 1990). Specifically, it concerns purpose- or meaning-seeking activities, thoughts, feelings, and so on, which are self-energizing (see Jankowski, 2002, for a detailed discussion). These expressions are sometimes religious in nature (e.g., asking a rabbi for guidance or praying to a god), reflect the sense of the sacred, and may involve students' morals and values (Eliade, 1989; Huxley, 1989). Overall, the perspective discussed here resonates with children's own definitions of spirituality. (Maples, 2001, for recent published examples) and other broad-based conceptualizations of term (e.g., Morgenthaler, 1999; see also definitions presented in this issue's articles).

Borrowing from Piagetian (1936/1963, 1955) psychology, and schema theory (Mandler, 1984), another way to conceptualize these overt or covert expressions of spirituality is to call them scaffolding schemas (i.e., helpful or harmful preexisting orientations or patterns) that assist the students in the process of navigating and interpreting life's experiences and obstacles. These internalized schemas are largely derived from the child's ongoing involvement with his or her sociocultural world (Vygotsky, 1998). Sometimes these schemas can help students move forward in their development and in coping with internal or external concerns. Quite the opposite may occur as well. Students may have self-defeating schemas (e.g., learned helplessness) that are not constructive.

Some Examples

To illustrate what I mean: When faced with the school day's challenges, elementary-age children might revert to mimicking typical familial schemas (e.g., "when in a conflict always stand your ground" or "prayer can get you through the day"). On the other hand, adolescents usually have more developed meaning-making schemas. For instance, they may rely on how their peers or wiser adults (e.g., a youth leader) made sense of similar situations. Youth may also read a sacred text, journal, take mind-numbing drugs, or go for a walk to consider the issues. Many readers may interpret these behaviors as simply "good" or "bad" problem-solving techniques; however, from my perspective, these are spiritual expressions or attempts to comprehend and deal with challenges. In other words, these responses are more than applying a well rehearsed skill to a circumstance; rather, these are multidimensional "meaning-making" constructions involving, for example, students' cognitive, social, and emotional processes that evolve over a long period of exposure and interaction with their sociocultural mediators.

Kozol's (1995) "study" of children from disadvantaged inner city families in New York provides additional examples of spiritual schemas:

      A 4-year-old [whose mother died from
   AIDS] says, "My mommy lives in heaven. Her
   eyelashes go down instead of up because she is
   ... in heaven, but I miss her."

      One drawing by a 10-year-old boy shows a
   brick wall with a large gate in the middle.
   Above it are eight puffy clouds. On each cloud
   there is a small stick-figure. Next to one is the
   word "ME" [sic] with an arrow pointing to
   his head. Another arrow indicates "MY
   FRIENDS [sic]."

      A drawing by a 12-year-old shows heaven as
   "God's house" with a friendly-looking sun
   smiling above it. In front of the house are
   three angels with wings, standing on clouds.
   (pp. 196-197)

Here the children apply what I call "spirit-talk" which tips-off their underlying scaffolds or resources. For example, they may use language that implies a spiritual understanding (e.g., "It's my karma," "Mary helps me get through the day," "As it says in the Holy Book," "I've been walking in the darkness."). By doing so, they are attempting to make sense of their complicated experiences and feelings (Coles, 1990); in a way, students are using familiar "codes" that reflect their underlying spiritual-cognitive connections to another dimension of existence beyond the "here and now." Briefly, these "acts" are orienting expressions (schemas) that are deployed to "better" negotiate their personal-social worlds. The schemas generally reflect one or more of the three major elements of children's spirituality: awareness, self-knowledge, and personal transcendence (Duff. 2003).

RATIONALE FOR INTRODUCING SPIRITUALITY INTO CSCPS

It is not a novel idea to educate the whole child as philosophers like Martin Buber (1926/2002) recommended over 75 years ago. In fact, state-funded schools in the United Kingdom are actually intentional about doing this, including spirituality in a generic sense as part of core curricula (see Education Reform Act of 1988 at this web site: http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts 1988/Ukpga_19880040_en_1.htm). Given the promising research concerning the positive effects of spirituality on mental health (Miller & Thoresen, 2003a, 2003b; Ray, 2004), America's public schools and their counseling programs could benefit from educating the whole child, including the spiritual dimension of development.

Not only do students of all ages routinely exercise these schemas, they also have important existential questions on their minds; are conflicted about their beliefs, values, and morals; and desire to explore religious and spiritual topics which affect their daily lives (Coles, 1990). With this recognition, school counselors may feel some cognitive dissonance. They want to assist students with their "spiritual" issues; but, instead, barriers to genuine interchange have tended to go up. Perhaps out of fear of litigation for violating school policies, a dogmatic stance on the "separation of church and state," or the belief that any conversation of a "spiritual" nature would be a breach of the profession's ethical code, counselors deflect or redirect these discussions, hoping that the home or other institutions will address them in a meaningful way.

The counseling, educational, and psychological door to these issues is already ajar. Over the past decade or so, with the publication of seemingly countless articles and books on the spiritual life of children, youth, and adults (e.g., Coles, 1990; Duff, 2003; Hathaway, Scott, & Garver, 2004; Hinterkopf, 1998; Ingersoll, 1997, 1998; Jankowski, 2002; Mack, 1994; Miller & Thorensen, 2003a, 2003b; Polanski, 2003; Ray, 2004; see also this web site for a list of influential publications: http:// childspirituality.org/database/books.htm), the mental health community has begun to revisit the assumption that counselors are unethical when they address students' spirituality in public school settings. Interestingly, the American Psychological Association (APA) has recognized the importance of spirituality as a way to maintain one's physical and mental health. To underscore this, the APA devoted the entire January 2003 (Volume 58) issue of the American Psychologist to the topic (Miller & Thorsen, 2003a). Furthermore, the research-based positive psychology movement would support a counseling approach that includes the marshalling of students' spiritual resources as they work through issues (Lampropoulos, 2001). Finally; with the release of this issue of Professional School Counseling and earlier publications within the professional literature (e.g., Carmichael, 1993; Maples, 2001; Sink, 1997), school counselors may become more open to exploring the positive elements and dangers of spirituality with their counselees.

To recap, I am encouraging, as others have done before me, the school counseling profession to extend the developmental boundaries of their work with children and youth (Sink, 1997, 2002a, 2002b, 2005b; Stroh & Sink, 2002). Of course, it is essential that counselors, alongside other educators, continue to assist students to master the developmental competencies set out in comprehensive programs. However, to be truly holistic and prevention-oriented in the delivery of school counseling services and activities, as well as to reflect the current state of the literature on the benefits of spirituality to enhancing mental health, these same programs may become more effective with students if they incorporate rather than minimize their spiritual lives.

Using primarily ASCA's (2003) framework for school counseling programs as an example, this article next looks at how the two main conceptual orientations anchoring CSCPs relate to spirituality. I also provide further theoretical grounding for my position by joining these conceptual stands together using the learner-centered approach to human development and education.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERPINNINGS OF COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAMS

After reading carefully the principal literature that outlines the theoretical elements of most comprehensive school counseling programs (e.g., ASCA, 2003; Borders & Drury, 1992; Gysbers & Henderson, 2000, 2005; Myrick, 2003), two important emphases associated with student spirituality emerge: systems thinking and developmental psychology. Based on Sink's (2005a) observations, these conceptual lines are traced here. Systemic-Ecological Orientation

According to noted counselor educators like Bemak, Green, Keys, and their colleagues (Bemak, 2000; Green & Keys, 2001; Keys & Green, 2005; Keys, Green, Lockhart, & Luongo, 2003; Keys & Lockhart, 1999), a systemic approach is fundamental for comprehensive programs to be successful with all students. This orientation is largely founded upon Bronfenbrenner's (1979) social ecological theory and a family systems approach (Mullis & Edwards, 2001), where students' issues and development are contextualized within their interpersonal "ecosystems" (e.g., home, peer group, church, and community). By "rallying" the significant people in the student's life, collaborative interventions can be attempted within a wider context (Keys & Green).

Counseling interventions need to be systemic in nature as well, reconceptualizing students as multi-dimensional or bio-psycho-social-spiritual beings (Jankowski, 2002). ASCA's (2003) National Model strongly indicates that for students to flourish in school, counselors should be advocates, collaborators, and leaders, and to do so effectively, they must think more broadly and systemically. In short, effective school counseling programs ask professionals to apply systems thinking in their proactive interactions with the expectation that by seeing the larger context for behavior this will help facilitate change (Amatea & Brown, 2000; Cams & Carns, 1997; Mullis & Edwards, 2001; Peeks, 1997). Obviously, school counselors with a systems outlook will value the role spirituality plays in the lives of students and their caregivers.

Developmental Psychology

As mentioned before, spirituality is a central part of human development and wellness (Coles, 1990; Myers & Williard, 2003). The ASCA (2003) National Model and other school counseling program literature consistently reinforce the idea that practice should be closely allied with well-researched developmental theories (Borders & Drury, 1992; Gysbers & Henderson, 2000; MacDonald & Sink, 1999; Myrick, 2003; Paisley, 2001; Paisley & Benshoff; 1996; Paisley & Hubbard, 1994; Paisley & McMahon, 2001; Ripley et al., 2003; Thompson, 2002). To highlight this point, the National Model states, "As specialists in child and adolescent development, school counselors coordinate the objectives, strategies, and activities of a developmental school counseling program" (ASCA, p. 15). Put more plainly, a second commonality among comprehensive school counseling programs is the attempt to focus on students' issues from a developmental perspective (MacDonald & Sink; Sink & MacDonald, 1998), which, in the view of noted developmental psychologists (e.g., Fowler, 1986; also sec, Mack, 1994, for a summary of these theorists), includes the spiritual/faith domain.

Further Theoretical Grounding

Learner-centered education (LCE) is derived in large part from Piagetian and Vygotskian psychologies (Stroh & Sink, 2002). Since Piaget's constructivist theory of development is largely familiar, I touch upon the influential work of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1998). Akin to other theorists in the LCE movement, Vygotksy saw child development as a holistic process involving cognition, social, emotional, and motivational elements. While, as far as I know, he does not specifically address the spiritual as defined in this article, his work certainly includes the sociocultural context from which children and youth evolve and make meaning. In a "rich" cultural developmental milieu, caregivers--or what Vygotsky called sociocultural mediators--in and out of the family, nurture young persons' growth. Significant others (e.g., caregivers, teachers) mediate the essentials and the nuances of culture and society by psychological tools, which are symbolic cultural artifacts, like language, signs, symbols, texts, and formulae (Kozulin, 2001). These cultural "artifacts" also include the spiritual symbols, language, books, life-coping strategies, and so on, from the student's family, surrounding community, and faith based institutions.

Although the sociocultural mediation process of the spiritual occurs across all developmental levels, let me illustrate how this might happen in adolescence. Vygotsky and his contemporary followers (e.g., Karpov, 2003) have shown that with the onset of formal-logical thinking, students will do a significant amount of self-analysis and reflection on their deeper feelings and their "place" in the world. Teenagers, in other words, discover themselves within a complex, multilayered, and seemingly contradictory world (Karpov). No doubt, this exploration leads to larger questions of existence, meaning, purpose, and transcendence (i.e., questions of a spiritual nature). Adolescents' significant others (e.g., parents, grandparents, teachers, youth leaders, "wiser" peers, siblings, religious entities) are involved in the exploration as well. Caregivers model potential "answers" (schemas) as well as openly mediate (i.e., process, discuss, demonstrate) a range of options. Adolescents therefore arrive at school with these reflections (i.e., these scaffolding schemas) which are embedded in a larger system(s). The teaching-learning process that school counselors engage in with students, including guidance presentations as well as group and individual counseling, can facilitate this spiritual cognitive exploration.

CSCPs should be fundamentally learner-centered in design (Stroh & Sink, 2002), where educators, including counselors, create learning environments that are well attuned to the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs of students (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Lambert & McCombs, 1998). Congruent with the underlying intent of ASCA's (2003) National Model--to serve all students equitably--learner-centered educators are familiar with the importance of building on the conceptual and cultural resources that children and youth utilize each day in school. As a result, LCE practices are not only culturally responsive (Lambert & McCombs; Lee, 2001), but they also mesh well with the widely employed diagnostic instructional approach. Within this pedagogy, educators try to understand what students think in relation to their preconceptions by discussing their misunderstandings in a sensitive way while providing them additional scenarios to process. In turn, the new situations help students to revise their earlier faulty notions (Bransford et al., 2000). LCE reflects the National Model's (ASCA) view of school counselors who:

      are well trained educators in a position to
   call attention to situations within the schools
   that defeat, frustrate and hinder students' academic
   success.... They provide the leadership
   to assess school needs, to identify issues and to
   collaborate with others to develop solutions.
   (p. 15)

To sum up, school counselors functioning within CSCPs should be learner-centered in orientation, which means that they work with the whole child (see Erricker, Erricker, Ota, Sullivan, & Fletcher, 1997, for a comprehensive discussion of this topic). The practitioner side of me now asks, "So, how do learner-centered school counselors act as nurturers of students' spirituality, while at the same time, not violating the profession's ethical code of conduct?" The "how tos" are addressed next.

IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL-BASED PRACTICE

In this section, practical applications are discussed within the context of ASCA's (2003) National Model for School Counseling Programs. The areas where spirituality most naturally could be infused are these: (a) developmental domains and standards (competencies); (b) responsive services; (c) large-group guidance; and (d) counselor behaviors.

Developmental Domains and Standards

The ASCA National Standards (ASCA, 2003) include under the personal-social developmental domain (Standards PS-A1, A2, B1, C1) competencies and indictors that could involve students' spirituality (e.g., when counselors focus on meaning-making and purpose in life issues with students). For example, appropriately targeted guidance lessons and counseling methods involving spirituality (see discussion below) can play a role in helping students meet these standards: (1) Standard A--Students' acquisition of the knowledge, attitudes, and interpersonal skills to aid them comprehend and respect self and others; (2) Standard B--Students' making good decisions, setting appropriate goals, and taking necessary action to attain their goals; and (3) Standard C--Students' attain personal safety skills involving, for instance, establishing appropriate boundaries, maintaining personal privacy, understanding situations that require added support from significant others, making healthy choices, coping with peer pressure, managing stress and conflict, and learning the coping skills necessary for dealing effectively with life events. In addition, while not spelled out here, spiritual resources could be deployed to assist students meet developmental competencies and indicators within the career (e.g., Standards C:A1, C:B2) and academic (e.g., Standards A:A1, A:B2.5, A:C1.1 and A:C1.2) domains.

Responsive Services

ASCA's (2003) National Model outlines multiple responsive services (e.g., counseling, consultation, referral, and peer facilitation). Because the link between spirituality and counseling is so clear, I focus here on individual and small group interventions. By interacting with school counselors in one-to-one and small group settings, students' spirituality can be uncovered and used as a resource for furthering personal-social development, problem solving, healing, and recovering wholeness (Sink, 1997).

Early elementary-age. Learner-centered counseling (see Stroh & Sink, 2002, for details) for younger children usually involves play-oriented methods, including artwork. These approaches are catalysts for development as well as an important means to elicit spirituality (i.e., meaning-making schemas; Sweeny & Landreth, 1993). As most know, the counseling environment should be richly stocked, filled with interesting toys and picture books that challenge students to create, imagine, make sense of, and dialogue about them. In addition, there needs to be opportunities for interplay between pairs of children, who "dialogue" about their experiences with the counselor facilitating the process. For those who need additional training and ideas, go to the Center for Play Therapy's web site (http://www.coe.unt.edu/cpt/) at the University of North Texas. Bibliotherapy is another good strategy to try out with younger children when exploring their issues of spirituality (e.g., Brandell, 2000; Pardeck & Pardeck, 1993). Finally, while it is more difficult to implement these ideas in small groups, I have seen it done with some success.

Late elementary-age to high school students. When working with older students as individuals or in small groups, the effective use of open questioning can facilitate, as appropriate, spiritual interchange. In developmentally and ethically sensitive ways, ask Socratic questions, pose dilemmas, and show appropriate evocative materials (e.g., news articles, music videos, sections of films) to elicit discussion and deeper processing. Students might also benefit from reading and hearing about how people (i.e., role models) drew upon their spiritual resources for problem solving and decision making. These models should probably not be religious figures in public schools, but rather ordinary people in the students' communities who have overcome significant life stressors (e.g., an injury, a disability, cancer, drug addiction) by means of their inner resources.

Other effective means of tapping into students' spiritual resources are readily found in most libraries and by searching the Internet for pertinent ideas. Students across all grade levels generally like to express themselves through a combination of drawing and painting, but perhaps, journaling, writing poems and short stories, and videotaping should be reserved for older students. Although there are many good texts to check out for ideas, Jacobs' (1992) Creative Counseling Techniques: An Illustrated Guide provides an excellent array of techniques which are particularly relevant for secondary students to foster deeper processing. For example, he describes various "Gestalt-type" activities that are appropriate for either individual or group counseling. One variation is to have students dialogue with an open chair in such a way they feel they are addressing an imaginary person who truly knows them inside and out and accepts them unconditionally.

For students K-12. Jacobs' (1992) also recommends the application of age-appropriate props (e.g., shield, cups, clean paper coffee filter, rubber bands, blocks, chairs, pillows, bean bags, stuffed animals, puppets, meaningful photos) to help stimulate dialogue and deeper processing during individual and group counseling. For instance, a replica of a shield could symbolize those responses to a playground conflict that a fifth-grader deploys to protect herself from hurt. Having the student explore her "protective" schemas may lead to uncovering one or more of her spiritual resources. She may use self-talk (e.g., "I don't need to fight with him; he's just out to push my buttons.") and, what appears to others as passivity (e.g., backs away), to resolve the quarrel. Her passivity could be seen as a less than an optimal strategy, by some counselors. However, by using the shield as a "tool," a spiritually sensitive counselor might find out that the child's behavior was actually an attempt at practicing a rich spiritual schema taught in her Sunday school class at the local Mennonite church.

For students who are more verbal and self-reflective, one-to-one approaches such as narrative therapy (Freeman, Epston, & Lobovits, 1997; Winsdale & Monk, 1998) and solution-focused brief counseling (Littrell, 1998; Sklare, 1997) are also consistent with a learner-centered education and have been adapted for use in schools with late elementary-age children and youth. These are good vehicles for soliciting students "spiritual stories" as well as helping them draw upon their spiritual strengths to solve tough problems. In both methods, counselors can encourage students to rewrite themselves in such a way that they can access alternative and preferred stories of identity and ways of behaving.

Large-Group Guidance

Large group guidance is a major component within CSCPs to teach prevention, coping, problem-solving skills, and making good life choices. In addition, it helps students meet the developmental standards of the National Model (ASCA, 2003). A well-trained counselor with assistance from the classroom teacher can develop and deliver guidance activities that incorporate learning opportunities involving spirituality (e.g., those which support student growth as a whole person). As discussed previously, however, counselors will need to reconceptualize their instructional methods to reflect constructivist (LCE) thinking. By doing so, students will be challenged to go beyond themselves and towards goals that are personally, socially, and spiritually meaningful to them (Albert, 2000; Forster, 1997; Sink, 1997).

Specifics for instruction. Start with conducting guidance lessons in teachers' classrooms where the students already feel engaged in the learning process and are emotionally safe: (Sink, 1997). To determine this in elementary schools, a quick 5-minute classroom environment scale like My Class Inventory (Fraser, Anderson, & Walberg, 1982) could be administered to students in various classrooms. Then by breaking the large group into smaller cooperative learning groups, counselors can more easily arrange fun role-plays, practical simulations of real life events and issues, enactments of personal and social dilemmas, and so on.

For middle- and high-school students, cooperative learning activities are helpful as well. Go into language arts/English classes and use selected literature (e.g., Shakespeare's, Dickens', T. S. Eliot's works as well as other texts that are not Eurocentric like Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe [1958] and Parrot in the Oven by Victor Martinez [1996]) to gently draw out issues of a spiritual nature (Coles, 1990). Themes so well represented in these books are, for example, adolescent hopes and dreams, meaning, purpose, death, grief, "why" questions, and numerous others (e.g., morality, values, and ethical behavior). By strategically organizing lessons with perhaps the classroom teacher, these "larger" issues can be educed. However, counselors must listen carefully for any signs of the students' spiritual voices. Youth are probably going to be more reticent at first to share, with their contributions appearing more like "trial balloons" for discussion. The counselors' role, as a teacher's would be in a learner centered classroom, is one of a facilitator-manager of the action and interchange, making sure there is class decorum and that the exchanges among students are appropriate for a school setting.

Drama can be another helpful way to facilitate spiritual discussion in large group settings. Consistent with Grainger and Kendall-Seatter's (2003) recommendations, children's engagement in and reflection upon dramas are positive and sensitive means to create the feeling of community, increase self-knowledge, foster empathy, search for meaning and purpose as well as experience a sense of the transcendent (or being inspired). By conferring with language arts/English teachers and community drama companies' educational liaisons, counselors can utilize sections of meaningful plays to challenge students to go within and beyond themselves. In a collaborative fashion, students can also write their own works to reflect on and perform.

Counselor Behaviors

It is appropriate that we close this application section by briefly revisiting counselors' behaviors as they relate to spirituality. The National Model (ASCA, 2003) reiterates an important point:

      What we believe about students, families,
   teachers and the educational process is crucial
   in supporting success for every student. Our
   beliefs are derived from our own background
   and experiences, and our beliefs drive our
   behavior. (p. 27)

This statement reflects the attitude of openness that counselors should hold in regards to students' attempts at meaning-making. To help students draw upon their spiritual resources in productive ways, counselors must remain steadfast in modeling these other Rogerian type behaviors within the school community: genuineness, flexibility, a non-critical spirit, caring, and sensitivity. Obviously, counselors should not push any particular agenda, moralize, or be dogmatic (ASCA, 1998); rather, by way of personal and sensitive modeling and providing students opportunities to share their voice and stories, spirituality can be explored in ethically responsible ways. To avoid the appearance of promoting spirituality or religion, it is perhaps wise to use other less controversial terms or phrases. Helping students through their personal "journeys" and gently eliciting their expressions of meaning-making and finding purpose in life will probably not raise "red flags." Finally, if school counselors take the National Model's (ASCA) standards for school counselor performance (e.g., Standard 13) seriously, they will be an important force for systems change, advocating, leading, and collaborating with others in an attempt to encourage members of the school community to reenvision students as multidimensional persons who regularly use their spirituality.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS

In this article, I have presented a case for including the spiritual dimension within existing comprehensive school counseling programs. The implementation process will be challenging, for even the movement to return character (moral) education to American schools has garnered significant resistance among educators. Like character education, the debate about introducing a "generic" spirituality into public schools will be controversial and at times heated. Despite the evidence that spirituality is fundamental to human functioning and that it assists persons with their mental and physical health, many will continue to argue that any attempt to address spirituality in public school settings is simply wrong-headed. I acknowledge these concerns, for the dangers of potential dogmatism, fanaticism, elitism, and religious insensitivity are real. While always keeping these issues in mind as they plan and conduct their interventions, I believe school counselors working from a systemic and developmental framework similar to a learner centered orientation towards education have an obligation to address important aspects of students' lives, including their spiritual explorations (Coles, 1990). This notion was encouraged by America's earliest leaders (Needleman, 2002), and it remained a consistent theme in public education up to perhaps the 1960s (Hunter, 2000). If we follow the lead of our students, rather than imposing an agenda or our personal beliefs and values onto students, we can remain faithful to our profession's ethical code (ASCA, 1998).

Because students' spiritualities are often toeholds and compasses for more effective problem solving and for shaping their lives, school counselors need to establish coherent and helpful ways of engaging these spiritual resources. If we revisit, for example, our personal-social developmental competencies, responsive services and guidance lessons, spirituality can be sensitively infused. It is my long-term hope that school counselors' work within comprehensive programs will become truly holistic--providing genuine acceptance, respect, and support for students' expressions of spirituality as they negotiate a complex and often disturbing world.

References

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Amatea, E. S., & Brown, B. E. (2000).The counselor and the family: An ecosystemic approach. In J. Wittmer (Ed.), Managing your school counseling program: K-12 developmental strategies (2nd ed., pp. 192-203). Minneapolis, MN: Educational Media.

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American School Counselor Association. (2003). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs. Alexandria, VA: Author.

Bemak, F. (2000).Transforming the role of the counselor to provide leadership in educational reform through collaboration. Professional School Counseling, 3, 323-331.

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Christopher A. Sink, Ph.D., NCC, LMHC, is professor and chair, School Counseling and Psychology, Seattle Pacific University, WA. E-mail: [e-mail].

The invaluable feedback received from Professors Rich Lapan and Lee Richmond, and Richard Cleveland, school counselor, on an earlier version of this article is greatly appreciated.