There has been little Australian research on the religious and spiritual values of counsellors � one study only, published by Cross and Khan in 1983. However, this issue is an important one, as counsellors' values may influence their clients and the need of clients may require the attention of the counsellor to religious and spiritual issues. This study consisted of two surveys in which the religious and spiritual beliefs and values of Australian counsellors were examined. The first study addressed some root questions concerning the relevance of religion and spirituality to psychologists and therapists in the counselling situation. The queries concerned (a) the recognition and acceptance by counselling practitioners of the religious/spiritual dimension of a person, (b) whether religious issues, values and beliefs were seen as an integral part of psychotherapy and (c) the degree to which these practitioners saw themselves as religious or spiritual. To answer some of these root questions, the initial objective of the field study was to survey psychologists and therapists in Canberra using the Batson and Ventis (1982) Religious Life Inventory, because this was a framework for identifying the ways in which a person was religious. Added to this were some demographic questions and questions regarding the relevance of religion to work. A poor response rate led to the surveys being sent also to Sydney and Melbourne. Results from this first survey were limited. The term "religion" was found to be far more complex than at first realised, and hence objectives were modified for a second survey. The second survey focussed on perceptions of spirituality of Canberra counsellors. The survey questions were based on the studies by Shafranske and Gorsuch (1984) and Shafranske and Malony (1990). Added to these questions were demographic questions and open questions dealing with personal insights, experiences with symbols, rituals and myths. Ideas for questions were also taken from studies on religion in Australia, including Bouma and Dixon (1986) and the Australian Values Study Survey (1983). The data was analysed first by tabling frequencies, then by cross-tabulating selected variables and computing the chi-square statistic for each cross-tabulation to determine whether the relationship was significant at the 0.05 level. Results suggested that the majority of Canberra practitioners not only perceived spirituality as important to their personal life and clinical work, but also regarded themselves as spiritual people and believed in a transcendent Being and Life Force. Most saw their spirituality as entirely personal and had little connection with organised or traditional religions. Within the counselling relationship approximately half of the counsellors were willing to discuss religious issues, and nearly 90% to discuss their clients' spirituality. Female counsellors were much more likely than male to discuss a client's religious beliefs with them; other differences between the sexes were less marked. The high response rate in this study together with the significant findings indicate the value of further research in this area on a broader scale.