Cultivating Compassion in Counselors: The Impact of Spiritual Transcendence
Anna Lee Brown, Cyrus Williams, J. Ripley, S. Dorais
Counseling and Values June 30, 2026 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1163/2161007x-bja10043 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
Spiritual transcendence—experiences facilitated by practices like mindfulness, contemplative prayer, nature-based activities, and psychedelics—predicts higher compassion and empathy among professional counselors. In a sample of 95 counselors, spiritual transcendence accounted for 23.6% of the variance in compassion and 20.1% in empathy, beyond the effects of general spirituality and religion. The findings suggest that spiritual transcendence is a distinct quality linked to counselors' relational capacities, with implications for integrating reflexive spiritual wellness practices into counselor education and professional development.
Study at a glance
| Design | observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 95 |
| Population | professional counselors |
| Key finding | Spiritual transcendence significantly predicted compassion and empathy among professional counselors, accounting for 23.6% and 20.1% of variance, respectively, beyond the effects of spirituality and religion. |
Abstract
Compassion and empathy are essential dispositions in effective counseling, however, empirical research has not sufficiently examined how counselors’ spiritual experiences relate to these qualities.1 This study examined whether spiritual transcendence predicts compassion and empathy among professional counselors. Participants ( N = 95) reported engagement in spiritually transcendent experiences facilitated through practices such as mindfulness, contemplative prayer, nature-based practices, and psychedelics. Using hierarchical multiple regression analyses, spiritual transcendence significantly predicted compassion ( β = .27, p < .05) and empathy ( β = .24, p ≤ .05), accounting for 23.6% of the variance in compassion and 20.1% in empathy, beyond the effects of spirituality and religion. Findings suggest that spiritual transcendence represents a distinct construct associated with counselors’ relational capacities. Implications for counselor education and professional formation include the ethical integration of reflexive spiritual wellness practices to support compassion, empathy, and counselor development.