Wednesday, October 1, 2008

World View

I recently wrote this following paper for a class in school. As it's the first time I've received 100% on a paper, I thought I might post it here:


I grew up in Northern Alberta on the same farm that my dad grew up on. Both of my parents were raised in this rural community and met when they were in their late teens. I have four siblings, and am the second born. In what was a “normal” rural upbringing in Northern Alberta at the time, my dad “farmed” and my mom worked off the farm to support the very low income of the farm. We were chronically on the financial edge, as was/is often true for the small family farm. My dad went away to work on the oil rigs in the winter, leaving my mom to look after the kids, her job, and the 100 or so head of cattle that they continually had. My dad had a problem with alcohol until I was in my mid-20's. In my family, the men worked the land and looked after the cattle. The women cooked, cleaned, and looked after the men – in all manner of speaking. We were raised to believe that males were not really capable of managing their emotions, therefore we didn't share our problems with them.

It was in this environment that my Worldview was shaped. My parents worked very hard – in fact, they continue to work very hard. My siblings and I often joke that, even with the age difference, we neither want to, nor can we, keep up to our parents' level of work. In some ways, this work ethic was reminiscent of the “Protestant Work Ethic” that they were both raised in. And in other ways it was about the survival of their family and their farm. And now, I believe they are attached to the habit of working so hard; that is, they don't quite know what to do with themselves if they aren't working. This attachment to working is one that is well ingrained within me. I, too, work hard and value and admire a strong work ethic.

In the community where I grew up, with a First Nations community only a couple of miles away, there was overt racism. As I look back, there was no sense of “political correctness” in the language and actions of the white community. When my uncle married a woman from Jamaica, she was one of the first “black” people in the community. There were Chinese immigrants in the area who did what they could to “fit in” in, but they, too, faced overt racism. As I grew into my early adult years, I started to become aware of my own racism. When I studied Social Work I became very aware of it, and began the long road of healing the racism. A close friend of mine says that, like recovering alcoholics, those of us from British descent are “recovering racists”.

As I have grown and developed both personally and professionally, I have come to see the assets that my upbringing has provided to me. My mother's strength of character was the basis for my own feminist ideals. Both of my parents always believed that their children could do and be anything they wanted to be, however they never pushed us in any particular direction. In this way, we were allowed to find our own selves and follow our own paths. My mother developed a career for herself and became a highly admired community leader – not necessarily for her business acumen, but for her compassion and understanding as well as her assertiveness in problem solving. These are values and personality characteristics that I have integrated within myself.

My dad had/has a love of, and respect for, the land that he modeled for his children. The land really became my dad's religion. When he needs to re-connect with himself and with his version of Divinity, my dad gets on his horse and rides the hills. Where my mom was/is community minded and relational, my dad was/is a loner and found his own answers within himself, trusting himself. These are also values that I have integrated within myself – the belief that I have the answers within me and that if I spend some time reflecting, I am likely able to come to some resolution. I adopted my dad's love for the land and his connection to it.

In my family, we considered ourselves “Presbyterian”. We attended church only sporadically, however. My dad often called himself an Atheist, my mom called herself a Christian. As children, we were neither discouraged from nor encouraged to follow any particular religious path. My siblings and I have all become deeply spiritual individuals associating with very diverse traditions. My own love of the land and feminist perspectives have evolved into the goddess traditions and Witchcraft.
My worldview has grown and changed as I have aged. As a very young woman I became a single parent. This created its own particular joys and struggles. But from this I developed a stronger sense of independence and belief in the power of self. I learned to value my own ability to look after myself and my child; I learned to value my ability to do things on my own. I became more stubborn about seeking out help, sometimes seeing asking for help as a weakness of character. Not for others, but for my own self.

In the struggles that I faced as a single parent, I began to develop a sense of Social Justice. I became increasingly aware of the inequities within society. I became increasingly politically active, learning to advocate for myself, my son, and then the broader community. These values and personality characteristics developed as I studied social work. The values within the profession of social work were woven into the fabrics of my own values. That is, the values of equality, of compassion, of empathy, and of action were honed and polished. I became more challenging of systems and less accepting of the status quo.

Social Work, as a career choice, became indelibly ingrained not only as a job, but as a lifestyle for me. I saw my ability to advocate for people, to influence decision makers, and to organize resistance as key personality characteristics that I honored and nurtured within myself. I became involved in union activism and then in larger international social justice issues. I continue this activism now. In this way, it's my world view that these systems are interconnected. Corey (2005) describes liberal, cultural, radical, and socialist feminists amongst some definitions (pg 343 and 344). I would situate myself with all four of these as well as with the global international feminists (pg 345) that Corey describes.

As described above, however, it is also one of my personality characteristics to resist the status quo. Although I openly call myself “feminist” and “witch” I am also fully conscious of the implications of using these very loaded words. And so I choose to use them with discernment. In this way, my use of these and other “loaded” terms is generally conscious and used as a means of impacting and/or affecting those around me. I like to push normative boundaries, so to speak. I recognize that there is a line that I have drawn around this practice, however. As a professional, I have found that I do not push these boundaries so overtly with clients as I do with my co-workers, friends, and acquaintances. I believe that this is a reflection of my understanding of the power differential between client and social worker. It is my strong belief that when I meet a client in a professional capacity, it is my role to meet their needs, not my own. I also recognize and believe that I cannot go untouched, so my client's needs and my own are not mutually exclusive (see Corey, 2005, pg 17 and 81).

In my family of origin, formal education was not valued. Neither of my parents graduated high school. We never discussed secondary education as a possible path for me or any of my siblings. I learned, however, as a young woman, that education was a way out of poverty for myself. When I first attended school, I also learned that actually I was quite smart and appreciated as an adult learner. There developed, for me, a love of education for its own sake. In this way, one of my values is that of a model of life long learning. I see the ability to continue to educate myself is a privilege within my society and culture, as well as the broader international communities. I recognize that by the grace of being born in this country, education is made available to me. Given my own experience it seems logical that I would believe that education is an important way out of poverty for others, as well.

Implications for the Practice of Pastoral Counselling
Currently I work in the field of Child Protection as a social worker. I have been able to observe my own self as a professional within my practice. My values of deep compassion and willingness to witness people's life situations are present. I believe that as I begin a practice as pastoral counsellor, that I will continue with these values. I think that they are strengths within my personality; they allow me the patience to support people through the telling of their stories to the degree that they think they need to tell them. It is my belief that the telling of our stories begins the journey to healing the wounds accumulated along the path of our lives. It is in this way that I find myself situated on a continuum that supports longer therapy. I realize that this is not something that's available to everyone.

As I answered the prechapter self-inventories in the Corey Student Manual (2005) I found myself reflecting on my counselling biases with the following types of questions: “The key to understanding human behaviour is understanding the unconscious” (pg 37); “Although we are not determined by our past, we are significantly influenced by our perceptions and interpretations of these past events” (pg 51); “We are not victims of circumstance, but we are what we choose to become” (69); “The primary responsibility for the direction of therapy rest not with the therapist, but with the client” (pg 82) and “It is important that clients tell their stories and give voice to what they are experiencing in the present” (pg 161). These statements are revelatory to me in that I recognize a distinct theme within myself about the role and goals of therapy.

Consistent with my feminist belief system, I believe that we are deeply influenced by our childhood and our relationships with our families of origin, as well as with the culture that we grow up in. I believe that early childhood experiences imprint themselves on our unconscious. In this way, we begin to move unconsciously in the world, reacting to our shadow selves and our projections, (Sharp, 1998 pgs 45 and 59). I believe that it is my role, as therapist, to assist with making the unconscious conscious. Another of my biases became evident to me through the Corey Student Handbook (2005) and that was that I believe strongly that the relationship with the therapist plays the primary role in the therapeutic process. I believe that this is part of my personality characteristics – I build relationships with people quite effectively as I am compassionate, caring, kind, and interested in them.

I believe that people absolutely have the capacity to change, however I think that (in true social work fashion) they have to want to change, first. It is my sense that once someone makes a decision to change, the role of therapist becomes one of guide as opposed to expert. In this way, and consistent with my spiritual beliefs, the individual is their own authority and expert on their own life.1 It is my very strong belief that people do not have to be victims in their lives. My upbringing instilled the value of self-sufficiency in me, and so I believe that it's valuable work to support people to become self-sufficient.

Through my life experiences I have developed a deep spiritual connection to and love for life – my own and the lives of others. This has evolved into a powerful sense of optimism and hope in and for the world and humankind. I consistently receive feedback that I radiate this optimism and hope. Along with being a value and worldview, my optimism and hope are also in tune with my spiritual beliefs. I was delighted to be trained in Solution Focused Counselling and Motivational Interviewing techniques through my employment; this model and technique both fit well within my practice and values.

Hoffman, Kolevzon, and Sowers-Hoag (1989) wrote about the apparent evidence that an individual's personality characteristics determine whether a certain counselling model or techniques will be a good fit for that person. This perspective makes logical sense to me; it seems like it is a bit like meeting a new person when I learn a new theory. I play a bit, and learn a bit, and eventually decide whether that person can fit into my life. A theory offers information and techniques; I can try them for a bit, play with them, and eventually will find what is most comfortable based upon my personal characteristics and values. One of the risks I see for myself, in this process, is becoming too comfortable in a certain style (contrary to my belief in challenging the status quo) and not trying other theories or techniques as they evolve and develop.

Corey (2009) says:
“The person and the professional are intertwined facets that cannot be separated in reality. We know, clinically and scientifically, that the person of the therapist and the therapeutic relationship contribute to therapy outcome at least as much as the particular treatment methods used” (pg 17).

This is my lived experience. The person I am is the social worker I am is the therapist I will be. My experience is that the most important part of this discussion is my own self-awareness about these values, beliefs, and personality characteristics. So long as I know where I stand on these parts of myself, I am able to be better aware of the impact I have on the client. And ultimately, what I hope for is the best therapeutic outcomes for my clients.














References
Corey, Gerald. (2005). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 8th Edition. Belmont, California: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Corey, Gerald. (2005). Student Manual for Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 8th Edition. Belmont, California: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Crook, Kenneth H. and Truscott, Derek. (2004). Ethics for the Practice of Psychology in Canada. Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta Press.
Doherty, William J. (1995). Soul Searching Why Psychotherapy Must Promote Moral Responsibility. New York, N.Y.: Basic Books.
Hoffman, Cheryl, Michael S. Kolevzon, Karen Sowers-Hoag. (1989). Selecting a Family Therapy Model: The Role of Personality Attributes in Eclectic Practice. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Vol. 15, No. 3, 249-257.
Sharp, Daryl. (1998). Jungian Psychology Unplugged My Life as an Elephant. Toronto, Ontario: Inner City Books.
Starhawk. (1990). The Spiral Dance A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins.

1 comment:

Pixie said...

I can see why you got 100%, that was well thought out and put together. Thank you for sharing :)