Counselors in Malaysia rely on religious practices for self-care and personal growth, according to a previous study. This exploratory study used a descriptive phenomenological approach to interview four counselors with diverse religious beliefs who are engaged in crisis work. The study identified three key themes of spiritual self-care: 1) religious practice, 2) self-reflection, and 3) internalizing religious values professionally. The research suggests the need for increased religious competence among counselors and emphasizes the inclusion of religious competence as a requirement for crisis work deployment. It also highlights the importance of incorporating cultural aspects into counselor self-care education.

Due to the escalating statistical figure of divorce rate amongst Muslim couples in Malaysia, there is a need to enhance the marriage education program to be more effective in overcoming the problems of marriage, as well as to provide the knowledge and skills to the spouse and to prevent the divorce cases. Therefore, this article is aimed to explore the views of experts and couples with marital conflict on the needs of marriage education in Malaysia. This article employed an interview method with ten participants; amongst them are five Consultation Officer from the Islamic Religious Office and five people who are facing marital conflict and seeking advice from the Islamic Religious Office. The data collected between March until June 2016 and were managed and analyzed using thematic analysis approach. The findings of the interviews revealed two main outcomes (i) the views of experts and conflict people about marriage education; (ii) the views of experts and conflict people on the content of marriage education course. The findings highlight that marriage education course is important to provide a platform for knowledge and relationship skills between husband and wife. Various topics need to be included in preparing the module of marriage education, such as financial management, conflict management skills, effective communication skills, listening and express feelings skills.

The recent global health crisis caused by the rapidly spreading Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a great deal of interest and concern about the escalating burden and troubling problems of mental health disorders around the world, particularly in Malaysia. The Ministry of Health Malaysia reported a prevalence of 29% among adults, a threefold increase from 10% in 1996, indicating a high incidence of suicidal behaviour. Indeed, as the country's economic burden grows, mental illness is one of the leading causes of disability and health loss. While there have been numerous evidence-based methods of psychotherapy and counselling interventions available, including psychoanalysis, behaviourism, cognitive psychology, and humanistic psychology; all of these approaches emerged from western and secular worldviews. They refute man's dualistic nature and the purpose and reason for his creation, employ non-judgmental principles in the non-indoctrination of religious beliefs and values during treatment, are incompatible with the Islamic approach, and have been deemed ineffective. Adolescent mental health issues have made it abundantly clear that they must be addressed and resolved, and Islamic-based psychospiritual approaches for psychological psychotherapy and counselling treatments and interventions based on the Al Quran and Sunnah should be investigated further. As a result, the purpose of this concept paper is to review the literature on mental health and the impact of the most common mental issues like depression, anxiety, and stress, both globally and in Malaysia, as well as the spiritual and religious counselling treatment and interventions available, particularly in self-care counselling treatment from Islamic perspectives.