Spiritual and Religious Competence in Couple Therapy Training: A Relational Spirituality Perspective

Abstract Despite evidence that spirituality and religion ( sr ) are significant dimensions of human diversity with relevance for mental health treatment, therapists often report feeling under-trained for sr engagement in psychotherapy. The emerging literature on sr competence and humility ( src / h ) predominantly focuses on individual treatment with less attention to expanded direct treatment approaches, such as couple therapy, where relational dynamics are the focus of formulation and a target of intervention. This paper offers a perspective on src / h in couple therapy training and draws from the Relational Spirituality Model ( rsm ; Sandage et al., 2020), a theoretically and spiritually flexible framework for engaging clients’ diverse sr values and concerns with attention to spiritual, existential, and relational development. We introduce central tenets of the rsm , engage systemic therapy principles relevant to src / h in couple therapy, and provide recommendations for therapist training that are congruent with the rsm ’s relational framework.