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President's Message: E. Betty Levin, MA, LPC, CCMHC, NCC
It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to serve as president of NJASERVIC; to explore with members and friends the meaning of spirituality and how to bring qualities of compassion and forgiveness into our everyday lives.
Our board agreed that a teleconferencing call could be more practical than traveling long distances to meet together. At just such a call in January, our brainstorming revealed an interesting idea: that perhaps we could work more collaboratively with other NJCA divisions with subsequent cross fertilization benefits. We set as our goal an exploration with three divisions: Multicultural Counseling, Association for Adult Development and Aging and the Mental Health Counselors Association to determine if we could arrive at an idea the could enrich both. Already in place is a program with Multicultural, which they initiated is a conference on "Peaceful Living in a Troubled World" scheduled for Friday, April 23, 2004 at Rider University. Our own past president, Michael Lazarchick, will be presenting "Experiencing Spirituality in a Troubled World" which may well break new ground. I am eagerly looking forward to the conference. Check our website for more information. Also note our annual NJCA Conference, May 2,3 4, 2004 where other NJASERVIC members will be presenting. "A Cognitive Approach to Faith and Spirituality" by Dr. Calvin Chatlos is returning by request following last year's outstanding presentation. Michael Lazarchick will present "Putting Light on the Path, a Penetrating Look at Employment Counseling." I am scheduled for two presentations, "Spirituality Beyond Religion" and "Becoming an Effective Counselor."
All divisions will be meeting during the conference at 1:30 on Tuesday, May 4, 2004. Please join us for socialization and networking, You do not have to be a member to attend, but you must join if you wish to run for office or vote for our new executive board.
Finally, NJASERVIC is stretching into the international domains. My faith group, the National Service Conference of the American Ethical Union, has appointed me as the representative to the United Nations as one of the non-governmental organizations (NGO). These NGOs include almost 2000 organizations including the American Red Cross, the League of Woman Voters and Amnesty International. My faith group has had a 75 year affiliation with the United Nations. Also, NJASERVIC President-Elect Judy Harrow will be attending the Parliament of the World's Religions this coming July in Barcelona.
Please attend the upcoming conferences. I look forward to seeing you all.
Hello, everybody!
As I begin my stint as President of New Jersey ASERVIC, I'd like to introduce myself and to share a bit of my own hopes for making ASERVIC a real resource for working counselors in New Jersey.
Before even that, a round of applause and thanks for Betty Levin, our outgoing President. During her presidency, we learned about one another and about the diversity of spiritual paths within our organization. This helped us become a strong and warm group of colleagues and friends. Now it΅¦s time to show other NJCA counselors our stuff.
I am both a professionally trained counselor and a member of the clergy of my own faith group. I am also chair of the Pastoral Counseling program at our brand-new, web-based seminary, working to create a strong training program there. I've always been concerned about the ways in which a person's faith affects and is affected by all the other aspects of their lives. People talk about all kinds of life issues, not just religious questions, with their trusted clergy. Counselors, even in entirely secular settings, need to be aware of the religious and spiritual aspects of each client presenting issues. To state the obvious: spirituality is part of life.
In recent years, the counseling profession as a whole has realized the need to include spirituality in the counseling process. In 1995, the Summit on Spirituality proposed a set of nine competencies for the integration of spiritual and religious values and issues into counseling. They have been adopted by ACA and by CACREP. A list of the competencies is available on both the national and New Jersey ASERVIC web sites.
I was excited to read, in the Fall, 2003 issue of "ASERVIC Interaction" that ACA will soon be publishing a book called Spirituality in Counseling: A Guide to Competent Practice co-edited by Scott Young and Craig Cashwell. Craig Cashwell is now President of National ASERVIC. In a recent email, he wrote "The majority of the chapter authors are quite involved with ASERVIC and the royalties for the book will go to ASERVIC." You might also be interested in a monograph series, entitled What is....: A Guide to Psycho-spiritual Interventions that will be out in the summer. It will be self-published by ASERVIC and will be marketed through their website www.aservic.org .
We can facilitate this process at a grassroots level, here in New Jersey, through the workshops we offer and through cooperation with other NJCA divisions. For example, as Betty Levin mentioned, our past-President, Michael Lazarchick, will be speaking on spirituality at the upcoming conference of the New Jersey Association for Multicultural Counseling, described elsewhere in this publication.
New Jersey ASERVIC can live up to our name by supporting New Jersey's counselors, counseling students and counselor educators as they explore the many roles spiritual, ethical and religious values play in the counseling process.
warmly / Judy Harrow
judyharo@comcast.net
Three individuals have accepted nominations to date. It is not too late to nominate somebody else, including yourself. The election takes place May 4th. Please identify who you are. Only active members can vote.
“It is through our compassion that we care for the dignity, well-being and integrity of every person around us. Our capacity to embody this quality, simple as it may seem, is the strength that can change the world around us.” Thich Nhat Hahn (Vietnamese Buddhist Monk)
NJASERVIC sent out a survey to members asking what they wanted from our association. One of the options that generated significant interest was “ to help facilitate the spiritual development of my workplace. “ Fortunately, we are counselors and possess the very skills necessary to help all those we encounter make the changes that are needed to facilitate positive growth. Compassion is a trait that draws people into the helping professions. In the counseling process, we help our clients find dignity, acceptance of their circumstances. Our job is to help them use their learning experiences to help chart a path towards positive growth. Is not well-being a primary goal of the counseling process and does it not have a lot to do with helping people find integrity. Integrity has been defined as the degree to which we live in tune with our values. I have argued that optimum well being is achieved when are actions are in perfect alignment with the values we hold close to our hearts. When we act against our values we increase the experience of stress, anxiety and guilt. When we act with our values, we flow more effortlessly through the day.
While these words are easily understood when speaking of clients, they are equally important when dealing with our own personal existence and that of our co-workers. Facilitating the spiritual development of our workplace begins with how we treat ourselves. When we are compassionate with ourselves, achieve a satisfactory level of personal dignity, live our lives with integrity and strengthen our personal well being, we are bringing spiritual energy to our place of work. The second NJASERVIC president, Drew Cangelosi, once told me that “The universe says yes.” And “There are no accidents.” What you look for you will find. What you experience you have helped create. Those you encounter are there to both learn from you and teach you about existence. Those we supervise, those that supervise us, our co-workers and clients sometimes share as much if not more of our time as friends and family. The quality of all our interactions has a lot to do with what we bring to the relationship. Who we are becomes real as we act out our personal concept of existence. Michael Lazarchick
“The soul dances when we speak our truth, when we make choices based on our deeply held convictions and when we work and live in the spirit of generosity and love.” Denise Bisonnete, The Whole Hearted Journey
NJAMC has put together a wonderful one day workshop. The NJASERVIC board support their efforts and we encourage all our members to join us at the Workshop. Workshop titles include:
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