When working with individuals and families of faith, the perspective of the practitioner is critical to a successful outcome. The professional techniques or personal expressions of the practitioner can either hurt or heal these vulnerable participants in the counseling or therapeutic process. This book explores an approach in initiating, facilitating, and sustaining strategic change in guiding practitioners from an interactive faith-based perspective when working with individuals and families, to applied learned professional behaviors and acquired personal wisdom as therapy in a spiritual dimension of care expressed in faith. It provides some basic theory and resources for the application and improvements of therapeutic practice and approaches to engage participants in interactive faith-based processes. The terms operationalized in this book to describe the faith, beliefs, and practices in various traditions are intended to respect all faith traditions, not to promote any one faith tradition. Multiple tools are included to help guide the process and assist students and practitioners alike in implementing a faith-based approach to marriage and family counseling and therapy.
About the Author: Dale F. Hansen, PhD, DMin, ThM, is an educator, author, and consultant. He remains in private practice as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and has served as a Clinical Member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and the Arizona Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AzAMFT). He is a retired Colonel in the US Army and has served as a chaplain for several law enforcement agencies. He retired after 24 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the Phoenix Division and spent his summers as a chaplain at Quantico. Dr. Hansen attended California Lutheran University with post graduate work at Arizona State University. He holds a Doctorate in Family Counseling and a Doctorate of Ministry and a Masters in Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He completed graduate studies at the American Institute of Family Relations and Trinity Theological Seminary. Dr. Hansen currently teaches graduate courses in Family Systems and Counseling Theory at Ottawa University in Arizona.Diana Swihart, PhD, DMin, MSN, APN CS, NPD-BC, FAAN, the CEO & Managing Partner for the American Academy for Preceptor Advancement, enjoys many roles in her professional career, practicing in widely diverse clinical and nonclinical settings. She currently works as a Patient Safety Nurse Consultant with the VHA National Center for Patient Safety. An author, speaker, researcher, educator, mentor, and consultant, she holds graduate degrees in nursing and leadership and doctorates in theology and ministry. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), the Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs (NOVA), the Veterans Educators Integrated Network (VEIN), a consulting partner for the Forum for Shared Governance, and several professional advisory boards. She has published and spoken on a number of topics related to nursing, shared governance, competency assessment, continuing nursing education, servant leadership, new employee orientation, professional development, building effective preceptorships and professional portfolios, business communication, and evidence-based practice in clinical settings locally, nationally, and internationally.