A review of spiritual counseling services provided by the Residency of Religious Affairs for youth investigation in terms of religious education (Universty students sample)

Young people form the future of society. Raising their next generation with the appropriate moral and national values is a cruical investment for societies that think about their future. In the ever changing and developing world, different inter-disciplinary methods in corporation with various instutions are employed in educating the youth. University years are sensitive periods of youth that require special attention and effort. For this reason, the Presidency of Religious Affairs provides spiritual counseling and guidance services to university students in KYK dormitories and youth centers through religious officials. It tries to meet the spiritual needs of university students, as well as their basic needs such as education and dormitory, and to help them in their search for meaning in their lives and in solving their problems. In addition to classical practices in religious services, religious service models with social and cultural content have been implemented for different segments of society in recent years. Effectiveness in these new areas of practice depends on reviewing the studies in line with the approaches and suggestions of religious education. This research is a qualitative research that aims to examine the current situation of the spiritual counseling services of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (DİB) for youth, specifically for university students, the counseling experience of religious officials, and the students' tendency to turn to spiritual counseling for their problems, in the example of the Marmara Region. The theoretical framework of the research is based on studies in the fields of pastoral psychology, psychology, spiritual counseling and religious education. In the theoretical part, the characteristics of the youth period, the conceptual framework and historical development of spiritual counseling, and the need for spiritual counseling and guidance in the youth period are discussed. In this section, the youth period is evaluated in general and the institutional development of spiritual counseling and the fields of spiritual counseling of the DIB are reviewed. In the practical part of the research, a total of 26 religious officials from Balıkesir, Bursa, Edirne, Kocaeli, Tekirdağ and Yalova provinces and 24 university students under their spiritual counseling were interviewed with semi-structured interview questions for data collection. The findings were subjected to descriptive and content analysis. In the research, the need for spiritual counseling of university students and the need for institutionalization of spiritual counseling were determined. Keywords: Religion, Spiritual Counseling and Guidance, Youth, Religious Education, Religious Official