Episode 18: Role Play – Faith in the Process

Have you ever had a client ask you to reveal your particular faith or religious practice as a condition of continuing to work together? How do we as therapists navigate the awkward moment when the client makes a demand to disclose our personal beliefs?

In our latest unrehearsed role play, our therapist (played by Barbara Pfingst) keeps that ball of contemplation aloft with client “Jean” (played by Bill DeSiena), when this uncomfortable question invites self-disclosure of religious values and morals. Our client enters this session wrestling with their sister’s recent nonconforming behavior and distancing from a shared religious community, and whether it’s ok not to have a relationship with the sister because of it. What develops in session is our client considering whether other important relationships should be renegotiated, or even ended – including the reveal that the deepening relationship with therapist Barbara is on the chopping block too, should she either choose to withhold this information, or reveal values incompatible with Jean’s.

In Episode 18, we watch the unfolding angst between therapist and client, and we sense that yielding to the demand for self-disclosure is precarious at best. Our client effectively hangs in with an inner conflict of how their tenets of faith and moral compass should affect decisions about whom they love and connect with. We witness our therapist working cautiously to just be with the client, without succumbing to the client’s wishes. In the aftermath, Barbara de-roles and reveals how her own inner struggle with worthiness affected her as the therapist, while Bill as himself shares how his own past experience with dogmatic faith and codependency impacted the role of client Jean.

We invite you to share with the PI community how you’ve dealt with faith-based values when they’ve entered the room with your client.