Psychologists’ readiness for professional interaction with clergy: conditions and barriers

Introduction. The article focuses on analyzing the readiness of practicing psychologists and psychotherapists for professional collaboration with clergy. The relevance of this study is determined by the significance of religious worldview for certain clients and the necessity of considering it when providing psychological and psychotherapeutic care. Despite acknowledgment of the potential for collaboration between psychologists and clergy in serving the interests of religious clients, the actual forms, conditions, and barriers of such interaction remain inadequately explored. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe typical positions held by practicing psychologists and psychotherapists concerning professional collaboration with clergy, including their understanding of its objectives, conditions, role distribution, potential forms, and barriers.
Materials and methods. The study employs a qualitative methodology. The empirical basis comprises data from 22 semi-structured interviews with practicing specialists (psychologists and psychotherapists) with professional experience ranging from 2 to 34 years, utilizing various therapeutic approaches. Data were processed using thematic analysis with inductive logic, which allowed for the identification of typological groups of respondents.
Results. Based on semantic codes, five types of specialists’ readiness for collaboration were identified: realized, interested, conditional, uncertain, and detached. The study reveals a lack of institutionalized forms of cooperation despite high self-reported readiness, a personalized nature of contacts, and the dominance of a «parallel» rather than «joint» care model. The separation of spiritual and psychological spheres is reinforced by the principle of «working within one's scope of competence», which simultaneously ensures professional safety and hinders integrative formats of cooperation. The primary barrier is not mistrust, but rather a lack of awareness regarding possible forms of interaction. Additionally, a normative image of a «compatible» priest (open, non-dogmatic, ready for dialogue) was identified.
Discussion and conclusions. The study concludes that the psychological community is in a state of post-secular search, where the readiness for dialogue outpaces the development of institutional forms of interaction, while the well-being of the individual remains the key guiding principle for collaboration.

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