Insights from a Therapist's Journey

I am Kim Nichols, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist practicing at The Armstrong Center for Hope (ACFH) in Durham, North Carolina.  I also work full-time as program coordinator of Learning Together, a service-learning program for health professional, graduate, and undergraduate students at Duke University.

I am not a member of ACPE, but I participated in ACPE’s Level 1 Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy training in January. I emailed my trainer some of my reflections after the training, and he invited me to shape them into an article for the ACPE newsletter. 

I have been in search of a training like this for quite some time. As I reflect upon my current therapy caseload, about 90% of my clients say they want to discuss and explore their spirituality. This excites me because I feel that through the gifts of the Spirit that God has graciously blessed me with, I am in awe about having the privilege to walk with others throughout their life journey.  Before attending your training, I thought about a phrase from a sermon that my pastor delivered a few weeks before the training. He said, “We are made for a life empowered by the Spirit.” These words were inspirational to me and confirmed my decision to embark upon this training.

Here are some of the important learnings for me in the training:

• Drawing upon our own spirituality without imposing it upon others
• Moving towards the spirituality of the client
• Learning an overview of spiritual assessment
• Learning how to recognize and address spiritual struggles
• Affirming that we all have a unique spiritual fingerprint

And much more…

I also enjoyed the rich opportunity to get to know other participants throughout the training. The breakout sessions were meaningful to me, and I learned a lot from the activities and the other learners. Although not possible in most educational workshops, I found myself wishing that I had more time to learn more about my workshop colleagues.  I met so many amazing people and I rarely get the opportunity to fellowship/connect with so many spiritually gifted individuals.  I was blessed by each and every person that I met during this workshop.

The ACPE SIP Level 1 training has enhanced my confidence when it comes to addressing spirituality in the therapy room. That said, I don’t think I will ever become truly confident -- which is probably a good thing. I do believe that when we are not sure what to do or say, and we just follow our heart prompts, that is when God’s Spirit is able to shine brightly through us. 

I am grateful for ACPE’s investment in this training. It has affected me so positively, and through me, I pray, my clients.