A Service Evaluation of the U.K. Spiritual Crisis Network

The Spiritual Crisis Network (SCN) provides support to people experiencing a spiritual crisis. Spiritual crisis can be defined as any self-identified spiritual experience that causes concern or distress for the person who experiences it or others around them. If responded to appropriately, it can often lead to personal growth or even profound psychospiritual transformation. Spiritual crisis sometimes overlaps with mental health issues and is part of the wider discourse about spiritual emergency in the literature of transpersonal psychology. Feedback was gathered from people who had contacted the SCN between 2011 and 2019 via an online questionnaire survey. Participants rated the SCN services and provided further qualitative data that were analyzed using Thematic Analysis. The majority of respondents (74%) who contacted the SCN found it to be helpful, while 63% were satisfied with the response they received. However, it was also clear that the SCN approach does not necessarily work for everyone. Seventy-four percent of respondents reported that their spiritual crisis caused them great distress, but 75% felt that they had now integrated their experience. The role of the SCN volunteers was highlighted as an important factor in helping people feel less alone and that their experiences had been validated and normalized.