Throughout history, the mental health professions have largely omitted religious and spiritual concerns from counseling practices. In this book, Sarah Taggart argues that the exclusion of beliefs, both religious and secular, from mental health practice has cut off a crucial area of human experience - and alienated a potentially huge clientele.

She reveals how our belief systems - sets of assumptions about reality that govern our lives - support us and provide color, meaning, and flavor to our existence whether we are aware of it or not. And she shows how mental health practitioners can draw on these beliefs as yet another rich resource by which to understand client histories, orientation, and boundaries, as well as to work toward healing solutions within these systems.

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Living As If is a professional guidebook for psychologists, psychiatrists, clergy, psychiatric nurses, lay counselors, students of mental health, and others who are aware of the growing need of clients to include spirituality in their quest to bring meaning and order to their lives and their need to know how to do it. Through numerous real-life case studies, the author shows how practitioners can assess the spiritual practices of their clients and be more creative and accurate with referrals.

Practitioners also learn ways to improve their ability to evaluate participation in organized religion and how it reflects and fortifies base beliefs and promotes psychological wholeness.

Taggart examines methods for eliciting religious and spiritual content in various stages of therapeutic treatment to help mental health professionals explore clients' belief systems. She proposes that therapist transparency can help clients broach sensitive and frightening material - such as religious faith or death - without fear of rejection or ridicule. She describes how love and metaphor can be powerful intervention strategies that reinforce and unveil belief systems.

And she explains how to use methods such as journal writing, meditation, dialogues, and retreats to enhance both spiritual life and mental health treatment.