A NIKOM-Based Conceptual Framework for Spiritual Counseling Services in Turkey: Toward an Intervention Model

Spiritual counseling has expanded rapidly in Turkiye over the past two decades. Hospitals, prisons, family guidance offices, eldercare facilities, disaster-response systems, and addiction recovery programs now host spiritual counselors as part of routine care. The methodological foundation of these services, however, remains underdeveloped. Using a conceptual review and theoretical integration approach, this article proposes-but does not empirically test-a framework that links spiritual counseling practice in Turkiye to the Intention Code Model (NIKOM), a recently formulated cognitive model that conceptualizes mental life through if-then schemas (codes), their activation, and their alignment with bodily systems. The article reviews the institutional landscape of spiritual counseling in Turkiye, situates NIKOM among adjacent cognitive models, and shows how core Islamic concepts-tawakkul, ṣabr, shukr, tawba, and dhikr-can be interpreted as functions relevant to counseling practice. A standardized five-stage intervention template is proposed and applied to six service domains. The article closes by offering five testable propositions, considering ethical limits, and articulating concrete referral criteria. The proposed framework is theoretically grounded and empirically testable; clinical efficacy is not claimed.