| Course | PAC 240 Helping Skills |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 6 |
| Paper type | Spirituality and coping paper |
| Length | About 1,014 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Psychology and Addiction Studies |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PAC 240 Module 6
A Higher Power He Doesn't Believe In: Spirituality, Social Networks and Coping for an Agnostic Client in Early Recovery
Student Name
Psychology and Addiction Studies Program, Aspen University
PAC 240: Helping Skills
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
A Higher Power He Doesn't Believe In: Spirituality, Social Networks and Coping for an Agnostic Client in Early Recovery
Rick is fifty-two, an electrician and the father of three grown children. He has been sober for seven weeks after twenty years of heavy drinking that worsened after his younger brother died of cancer three years ago. He attends outpatient sessions at Riverside Recovery Services, the composite program used across these papers. His counselor suggested Alcoholics Anonymous, and Rick went to one meeting. He left halfway through, after hearing a member say that recovery meant turning his will over to God. Rick was raised Catholic and describes himself now as agnostic. "When my brother was dying, I prayed every night," he said. "Nobody answered." His wife, a devout Methodist, wants him to come back to church with her. This paper examines spirituality and coping in Rick's recovery. Rick is invented for teaching, as is Riverside; the research is real.
What Spirituality Means Here
Spirituality is often defined broadly in addiction research to include a sense of meaning and purpose, connection to something larger than oneself, values and practices such as reflection, gratitude and service. It may or may not include religion, which involves the beliefs, practices and communities of a particular faith. A broad definition matters for Rick, because it allows a conversation about meaning and connection that does not require belief in God.
How Alcoholics Anonymous Works
Kelly et al. (2011) used data from Project MATCH to test whether spirituality explains Alcoholics Anonymous's benefits, as AA's own literature proposes. Participants who attended more AA meetings showed increases in spiritual and religious practices, and those increases partly explained the association between AA attendance and better drinking outcomes. The effect was more pronounced for people who began with lower levels of spirituality. Spirituality was a real mechanism, but it accounted for only part of AA's benefit.
Kaskutas et al. (2002) examined another mechanism. Following people who entered treatment, they found that AA involvement was associated with changes in social networks: members gained friends who supported abstinence and lost friends who encouraged drinking. These network changes explained a substantial part of AA's effect on abstinence. AA, in other words, works partly by changing whom people spend time with.
Positive and Negative Religious Coping
Pargament et al. (1998) studied how people use religion to cope with major life stressors and identified two broad patterns. Positive religious coping includes seeking spiritual support, viewing a hardship as an opportunity for growth and feeling connected to a benevolent God or community. Negative religious coping includes spiritual discontent, feeling punished or abandoned by God and questioning God's love. In their studies, positive religious coping was associated with better psychological adjustment and stress-related growth, while negative religious coping was associated with more distress and poorer adjustment.
Rick's experience of praying for his brother and hearing no answer is a form of negative religious coping, a spiritual struggle. It helps explain why the meeting's language about turning his will over to God felt not just foreign but painful. His drinking worsened in the same years.
Paths to the Same Mechanisms
| Mechanism | Spiritual path | Secular path | Fit for Rick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meaning and purpose | Faith community; prayer | Values work in counseling; service to others | Values work; he volunteers teaching apprentices |
| Sober social network | AA meetings; church fellowship | Secular mutual help groups such as SMART Recovery; sober activity groups | Secular group first; AA again if he chooses |
| Coping with grief | Pastoral care; prayer | Grief counseling; a bereavement group | Grief counseling for his brother's death |
| Daily practice | Prayer; reading | Mindfulness; a daily reflection log | Morning reflection before work |
| Accountability | Sponsor | Peer mentor; counselor check-ins | Peer mentor from the secular group |
Listening Before Recommending
Rick's counselor nearly made the same mistake the meeting did. After the first session, the counselor's draft plan listed AA three times a week. Reading it back, Rick said nothing, and the counselor realized that a plan Rick had already rejected would only confirm that treatment was not for people like him. The research gave the counselor a better question to ask: not whether Rick would accept AA, but which of the things AA provides, a sober network, a daily practice, a sense of meaning, he wanted and how he might find them. Asking that question turned the session from a negotiation into a collaboration, and it is why the plan below looks different from the draft.
A Plan That Respects Rick's Beliefs
The plan begins by asking Rick what gives his life meaning now. He named his grandchildren, his work and the apprentices he trains. His counselor will help him connect his recovery to those values. For a sober social network, he will try a secular mutual help group, which uses cognitive-behavioral tools and does not use higher power language, and he is free to return to AA if he wishes; his counselor can explain that many AA members understand a higher power in nonreligious ways, such as the group itself. Because his drinking worsened after his brother's death and his anger at God is part of that grief, he will be referred for grief counseling. His counselor will not try to resolve his spiritual struggle for him, but will make room to talk about it.
His wife's faith is a strength in their marriage, and she can support his recovery without his sharing her beliefs. A joint session can help them talk about how she might support him and how he might sometimes attend church with her as a family occasion rather than a treatment requirement.
Conclusion
Rick walked out of a meeting over a higher power he does not believe in, but the research shows that recovery's mechanisms are broader than one language. Kelly and colleagues show that spirituality partly explains AA's benefit, Kaskutas, Bond and Humphreys show that social networks explain it too and Pargament and colleagues show why Rick's spiritual struggle after his brother's death matters for his coping. A plan built on meaning, a sober network and grief counseling lets Rick reach what helps through paths he can believe in.
References
Kaskutas, L. A., Bond, J., & Humphreys, K. (2002). Social networks as mediators of the effect of Alcoholics Anonymous. Addiction, 97(7), 891-900. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2002.00118.x
Kelly, J. F., Stout, R. L., Magill, M., Tonigan, J. S., & Pagano, M. E. (2011). Spirituality in recovery: A lagged mediational analysis of Alcoholics Anonymous' principal theoretical mechanism of behavior change. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 35(3), 454-463. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01362.x
Pargament, K. I., Smith, B. W., Koenig, H. G., & Perez, L. (1998). Patterns of positive and negative religious coping with major life stressors. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37(4), 710-724. https://doi.org/10.2307/1388152
What the PAC 240 Module 6 instructions ask for
Spirituality enters PAC 240 in the sixth module, and the assignment there commonly asks you to explain how spirituality and religion relate to coping and recovery and to apply the research respectfully to a client. Go by the Module 6 wording in your Aspen classroom; Rick is a composite. Define spirituality broadly enough to include clients who are not religious. Present research on how mutual help groups work, including spiritual and social mechanisms. Distinguish helpful from harmful forms of religious coping. Apply the research to a client's actual beliefs. Offer options that fit those beliefs, and cite every study in APA 7 without promoting or dismissing any faith. Consider family members whose faith differs from the client's.
How this PAC 240 Module 6 example is built
Rick, raised Catholic and now agnostic, left a meeting after hearing he needed to turn his will over to God. His wife wants him to return to church. Kelly and colleagues' Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research analysis of Project MATCH data shows spirituality partly mediating AA's effect. Kaskutas, Bond and Humphreys's Addiction study shows social network changes mediating it. Pargament and colleagues' Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion article supplies positive and negative religious coping, including Rick's sense that God abandoned him when his brother died. A five-row table maps mechanisms to spiritual and secular paths. The plan offers choices, refers him for grief counseling about his brother and respects his wife's faith through a joint session.
Where the marks sit in the PAC 240 Module 6 rubric
Spirituality papers earn credit for broad definitions, accurate research on mechanisms and respectful application. This example presents both the spiritual and social mechanisms of mutual help, which allows options for a client who rejects religious language. Pargament and colleagues' distinction explains why Rick's history with religion matters for coping. The table shows that the same mechanisms can be reached through different paths. The plan neither pushes Rick toward faith nor dismisses his wife's, keeping the choice with him. The paper describes AA accurately, including its openness to varied understandings of a higher power, and presents its evidence fairly, without overstating it. Grief is treated as part of the coping picture.
PAC 240 Module 6 help from the desk
Spirituality papers often either promote religion or dismiss it. Define spirituality broadly, as meaning, connection and purpose, so that it applies to religious and nonreligious clients. Present research on how mutual help works, including social mechanisms, which offer options for clients uneasy with spiritual language. Distinguish positive from negative religious coping, since some religious experiences add distress. Ask about the client's beliefs rather than assuming them. Offer choices among groups and practices. Respect family members' faith without imposing it. Describe groups accurately rather than from stereotypes. Avoid presenting your own beliefs as the client's answer, and record the client's own words about faith. Look for grief or loss behind spiritual struggles.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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PAC 240 Module 6 questions, answered
What does PAC 240 Module 6 usually ask for?
Aspen's PAC 240 covers spirituality and coping in this module, so applying research on spirituality, mutual help and coping to a client's beliefs is typical. Read your Module 6 prompt.
Does spirituality explain why AA helps?
Partly. Kelly and colleagues found that increases in spiritual practices explained part of AA's benefit for drinking outcomes.
Can people benefit from AA without being spiritual?
Kaskutas, Bond and Humphreys found that changes in social networks, more sober friends and fewer drinking friends, also explained AA's benefit.
Where can I find a free PAC 240 Module 6 sample paper?
The paper above is free: spirituality and coping research applied to an agnostic client in early recovery, with spiritual and secular paths compared.
What is negative religious coping?
Pargament and colleagues' term for religious struggles, such as feeling punished or abandoned by God, which were linked to poorer adjustment.