Missouri State booted student from counseling program over Christian beliefs, says lawsuit

[doggie]

 

as far as I can tell this guy wants to get a real counseling license but push his faith into his counseling. 

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/05/03/missouri-state-booted-student-from-counseling-program-over-christian-beliefs-says-lawsuit.html?ICID=ref_fark

 

Quote

Should Christians who oppose same-sex marriage based on religious beliefs be allowed to obtain degrees in counseling?

That’s the question at the heart of a lawsuit filed in federal court by a former student at Missouri State University who claims he was kicked out of a master’s program in counseling  because of his religious beliefs.

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Andrew Cash claims he was “targeted and punished for expressing his Christian worldview regarding a hypothetical situation concerning whether he would provide counseling to a gay/homosexual couple.”

MSU spokeswoman Suzanne Shaw told the News-Leader that the “university strictly prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion or any other protected class.” She would not comment on specifics of the case.

According to the lawsuit, Dr. Kristi Perryman, the counseling department’s internship coordinator, confronted Cash about his views toward counseling gay people.

Cash told her he would counsel them individually on a variety of issues but not as a couple. He said he would refer them elsewhere.

 

[JesusCampSongs]

As someone who works in the mental health field-- though I'm a clinical social worker, not a counselor--anyone who thinks that they, as a therapist, should be allowed to pick and choose who they work with based on their delicate religious sensibilities is in the wrong field. 

It sounds like he did or said something really inappropriate in the internship, his internship supervisor complained to the school, and the internship coordinator confronted him. End result: dismissal. There's almost certainly more to this than him just being persecuted or whatever. 

[Mercer]

I work in mental health too, and I'm fairly confident he was not removed from the program due his "Christian beliefs." There are plenty of practicing Christians in the mental health field, including myself. 

It sounds like he was removed from the program because of an unwillingness to take a client-directed approach, to refrain from personal judgment of his clients, to engage in strength-based work, and possibly to avoid proselytizing. 

I have little doubt that when the school's side of the issue is revealed, he's going to look a lot less like a victim and a lot more like a political grandstander. 

 

[lawlifelgbt]

I think that counselors shouldn't necessarily have to work with certain people on certain issues; mainly because counseling is so personal and the last thing a counselor should be doing is judging or arguing with the client. But, I don't think someone with these views should be working in the counseling field. Because, let's say, even if the person never works with a same-sex couple, they will inevitably end up seeing an LGBT person in their practice. And being LGBT is so central to one's identity that I just don't think that a counselor could help an LGBT client with any real issue, unless they were able to at least not judge and get hung up over the fact that the client isn't straight, and to be open to talking about the client's identity and relationships as they relate to the issue at hand.

I had a counselor and a person for meds at one point. I didn't talk a lot about being a lesbian with them because it wasn't that relevant, but at least I could mention my partner without worrying about being judged. (Actually, meds doctor was originally from Iceland, and in typical Scandinavian form, didn't even blink when I said I was gay).

[FloraKitty35]

Persecuted my ass, he probably said something totally inappropriate and called out for it.  

[Aine]

I'm in a Clinical Psychology PhD program and have worked as a registered Psychologist in my home country for 3 years prior to this. While we're always cautioned that if we can't be objective in a case, we should refer on if there is other suitable care, we also need to be able to put our own values at the door all the time. No one has identical values to ourselves. No one makes all the same decisions that we would make in their shoes. It isn't our job to give advice or to tell people what is a right or wrong way to live their lives. Our job is to give them skills to cope and manage their lives with as little impairment as possible and to give them the space and ability to practice and develop those skills. That's also a counsellors job. I guess my job is additionally to provide quality evidence-based mental health assessment too. 

Anyway, point is that your values shouldn't enter the room. I've had a pedophile referred to me from another clinician because she couldn't stay objective- fair enough. She recognised it and referred on. I could handle it as I had done half of my internship in a prison. I haven't come across a client that I couldn't be objective with while in the therapy room. Maybe the day will come but not yet. I can say that I have had 90% of my clients who have lived their lives in ways that conflict with the values that I adhere to in my own life and that is OKAY. I see their strengths, I see their value as a human, and I do my job. 

My PhD is being done in the Deep South. We have Christians in our program. I'm not sure anyone that dogmatic would get through the extremely rigorous interview process for Clin Psych PhD programs but if they did, it wouldn't be looked on kindly if they suddenly decided to be a "Christian therapist." We're health providers. We're scientists (well...counsellors less so but they should be taking a scientist-practioner basis). You don't get to put your values onto people.

I also think he must have done something more inappropriate than simply saying he didn't want to do couples counselling for gay couples. I outright say I don't do couples counselling for *any* couples- that's my idea of hell. Done it once and never again. That's fine with every advisor and supervisor I've ever had. You get some choices in who you see but you don't get to discriminate.