About BACP Spirituality
Honouring spirituality, belief and pastoral care in counselling and psychotherapy

I qualified as an integrative therapist in 2001, and as a clinical supervisor in 2006. Although I've worked in a variety of settings, including youth offending, substance misuse and at a women’s centre, most of my career has been working for a mental health trust within the NHS, both in primary and secondary care settings. Working with individuals, couples and families, I now work in private practice offering therapy and supervision.

My work is underpinned by a transpersonal philosophy, recognising the whole of the person. I'm interested in how spirituality connects people and our shared commonalities, while still respecting differences. I also have a curiosity about how spirituality can enhance wellbeing, which is the motivation for my current doctoral research around spirituality, counselling and psychotherapy.  

I'd like to promote conversations around spirituality in all its forms and help therapists feel more comfortable working with it.

I am excited by the prospect of joining the spirituality executive at the BACP. I originally trained as an integrative therapist at Manchester University. During my training I remember making connections between spirituality and counselling. On reflection I sense my training was in some ways a spiritual process. My personal development, in all its turbulent glory, could be likened to an awakening, a dark night of the soul or even a re-birth of sorts. If training was partly about what Carl Rogers describes as “becoming a person”, then for me, this holistically included facets of mind, body and spirit and has been a valuable aspect of my awareness as a practitioner.

For me, spirituality can have a multiplicity of meanings and many experiences could be described as spiritual; from meditative practices or physical exercises to playing music or being in nature. Therapy itself can at times, be compared to, or experienced as, a spiritual pursuit. Spirituality can also be an aspect of religion, faith and beliefs. It is important to recognise this and whatever these areas may mean (or not) to clients, especially if we are to embrace a global perspective and diverse approach within our work.

I value the work of the spirituality division and I hope that I can play some part in raising the awareness of spirituality within counselling. I bring a range of experiences to the role; I come from a mixed cultural and multi-faith background, being of dual Turkish and English heritage. My continuing explorations into my own faith and beliefs are an important aspect of my development. I am currently studying for a PhD at the University of Warwick using autoethnographic and biographical methods to explore the experiences of students coming from mixed cultural backgrounds. I have a passion for the expressive arts and spent some years working as a school music teacher. I am also interested in martial arts, qigong and yogic practices.

I am currently senior lecturer and programme leader for the MA in Clinical Counselling at Chester University. I believe in the transformative potential of education and seek to include spirituality in the educational and training work I do. I have recently co-authored a chapter with William West on religion and spirituality in counselling and psychotherapy:

Egeli, C., & West, W. (2023). Religion and spirituality. In T. Hanley & L. A. Winter (Eds.) The SAGE handbook of counselling and psychotherapy (5th ed., pp. 62-66). Sage.

I’m an integrative counsellor, trainer, researcher and academic and work as a Joint Programme Leader for the BSc and MSc Humanistic programmes at Metanoia Institute in West London. I  joined the Executive in June 2019 and have been asked to take a lead on promoting a continuing research culture and network for the division.

I've been involved in training therapists in the university sector for the last fifteen years and have particular research interests in exploring the relationship between psychotherapeutic theory and religious constructs, as well as considering how well therapeutic training programmes train therapists to work with spirituality, religion and mental health.

As a profession, I believe, we need greater research and training on the interface between spirituality and therapy, from defining the terms we use to understanding the associated benefits and problems for our clients. I look forward to hearing about research members are involved in and exploring ways of sharing relevant research.

Email: jane.hunt@metanoia.ac.uk

I'm the editor of the BACP’s spirituality journal, Thresholds, and a counsellor working in private practice. I started out as a bereavement worker with Cruse.

Spirituality is a rich and often integral aspect of self. Yet it can sometimes be the quiet, if not silent voice in a therapeutic exchange. As the editor of the journal, and as a human being with a soul, I am aware that it is very hard to apply a quick label or to sum it up in a few words. That is one of its challenges. It is also one of its wonders.

Throughout my career in communications, I have worked with voluntary and community sector groups to build links, develop networks, and connect people. I would like to draw upon those experiences in my work as an executive member.

Please get in touch if you would like to talk about how we can work together to do this: thresholds.editorial@bacp.co.uk