ASPIRES Complete Training Manual

This manual is for participation in a 4-hour training session aimed to introduce participants to the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIES) scale. This is the first measure of spirituality and religious sentiments (what is referred to as the Numinous) that is derived from the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality taxonomy. The ASPIRES captures a unique psychological dimension that reflects individuals’ higher existential functioning. The training seminar is aimed at providing participants with information on the conceptual foundation to the numinous, the measurement model used in constructing the instrument and the important value this methodology holds for creating a clinically useful, interpretively deep assessment of this personality dimension. Also included in the seminar will be interpretive examples of how the scale can be used with clients from diverse social and clinical backgrounds. At the end of this seminar, participants will have a sophisticated understanding of what the Numinous is and is not. Further, participants will have a strong conceptual foundation of the origins of the numinous and its role in the psychic system. Of course, upon completion, participants will have the basic interpretive competency to use the instrument with clients.