Criteria, Competencies, Duties, and Responsibilities for Therapist Directory Clinicians

1. Professional Psychological Criteria and Competencies
1. Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Marriage and Family Therapists, Licensed Social Workers who are holders of a current professional license in good standing and able to provide assessment, diagnosis and treatment. (Application Documentation)
2. Willing to adhere to ethical standards of their respective licensing boards. (Application, Interview)
3. Provides evidence of clinical training with diagnostically and culturally diverse populations and demonstrates cross-cultural sensitivity. (Application, Interview)
4. Possesses proper assessment skills for determining appropriate diagnosis, treatment and referral. (Application, Interview)
5. Demonstrates clinical facility in treating a variety of emerging clinical issues, i.e., suicide, substance abuse, gender issues, etc. (Application, Interview)
6. Grounded in a variety of psychotherapeutic approaches and psychological theories. (Application, Interview)
7. Indicates that they’ve had or are currently engaged in personal individual psychotherapy. How long? (Application, Interview)
2. Spiritual Criteria and Competencies
1. Demonstrates significant and sustained involvement and commitment (minimum of 5 years participation and three years of sustained and continuing daily practice) in a spiritual and or religious tradition, or sustained involvement in a personal spiritual process that lies outside a formal tradition, and can clearly articulate their particular understanding of, and orientation to, the process of spiritual unfolding. (Application, Interview)
2. Demonstrates conscious engagement in personal and professional psycho-spiritual integration for at least three years. (Interview)
3. Demonstrates knowledge of, respect for, sensitivity to, and acceptance of the variety of spiritual and/or religious expressions of clients. (Interview)
4. Possesses and demonstrates the integration of a variety of firsthand spiritual and/or religious experiences in order to work effectively with the client population that ISP serves. (Interview)
5. Ability to assess the presence of, and value to the client of their spiritual, religious, transpersonal experiences, and non-ordinary states of consciousness. (Interview)
6. Ability to differentiate the variety and spectrum of spiritual experiences. (Interview)
7. Ability to acknowledge, accompany and respond to the client in their spiritual, religious, and non-ordinary state experiences as they appear in the clinical moment. (Interview)
8. Ability to address the unique ethical issues associated with spiritual, religious, and non-ordinary states of consciousness, e.g., the ability to differentiate difference between being a therapist and a spiritual or religious teacher in the therapeutic milieu. (Interview)
9. Demonstrates sensitivity to the fact that the cultural context within which a client lives informs and shapes his/her spiritual and/or religious practice and experience. (Interview)
3. Integrated Psycho-Spiritual Competencies for Clinicians
1. Demonstrates the ability to understand and articulate the differences and similarities between spiritual, religious, and psychological experiences and issues. (Interview)
2. Demonstrates the ability to understand, differentiate, and manage transference and counter-transference dimensions that arise from psychological, spiritual and/or religious experiences. (Interview)
3. Demonstrates the ability to address spiritual and/or religious issues in therapy as evidenced by:
   1. Ability to a) take a spiritual/religious history, and b) assess the spiritual and/or religious dimension of presenting issues, and c) formulate interventions accordingly. (Interview)
   2. Ability to a) identify the limits of their understanding of a client's spiritual and/or religious expression, and b) demonstrate appropriate referral skills. (Interview)
   3. Demonstrate sensitivity to, acceptance of, and ability to engage the client in their particular manner of linguistic and or metaphoric spiritual and/or religious expressions. (Interview)
   4. Ability to utilize the client's spiritual and/or religious beliefs and practices in working with the client's therapeutic goals. (Interview)
   5. Ability to recognize and explore spiritual and/or religious-based beliefs that may be negatively impacting the client’s issues. (Interview)
4. Clinicians Duties and Responsibilities
1. a) Interview and assess referred clients, b) provideg psychotherapy for appropriate referrals, c) refer clients back to ISP Therapist Directory or other appropriate clinicians when a referral is inappropriate.
2. Participates in a) bi-annual consultation group/salon focused on the clients the ISP referral system serves, and b) is willing to present cases at peer consultation groups. (Interview)
3. Gives feedback to ISP Referral System as part of evaluation/quality control process. (Interview)
4. Willing to document therapeutic results of each referral for use as research data by ISP as established by the ISP Research Committee. (Interview)
5. Participates in training on research ethics as developed by the ISP Research Committee, and adheres to those ethics in their clinical practice with ISP referred clients. (Interview)
6. Maintains current license and shall be in good standing with their licensing board. (Interview)
7. Agree to inform ISP of any changes of licensing/insurance status or lawsuits pertaining to their clinical practice. (Interview)
8. Shall maintain $1M/$3M malpractice insurance. (Documentation, Application)
9. Willing to consult with and/or refer to other ISP clinicians when their ISP client’s spiritual development or experience moves beyond the therapist’s professional, or spiritual training, or experience. (Interview)
10. Inform ISP when they are not able to accept referrals (practice full, extended leave, etc.) (Application, Interview)