Hello Mike:
Carl Roger's, the father of client-centered therapy, suggests a
therapist have three qualities:
1. Congruence -- genuineness, honesty with the client.
2. Empathy -- the ability to feel what the client feels.
3. Respect -- acceptance, unconditional positive regard
towards the client.
Looking at these qualities quickly shows that the therapist must not
only respect clients' values, they must also respect their own values.
So, I see no issue with integrating personal beliefs (assuming they are
ethical) into the client-therapist relationship as long as the therapist
continues to respect the client.
Ron
p.s. difficult situation but very worthy of debate
----------
On 3/30/2001, Mike Said:
M> I've been having some interesting discussions recently with a group of
M> religious therapists who wanted me to include them in my site's links
M> page. I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions.
M> They list one of their aims as "To encourage therapists to integrate
M> their personal beliefs with their professional practice." I have a major
M> problem with this. The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for
M> Occupational Therapists (College of Occupational Therapists, London,
M> 2000) states: "Occupational Therapists have a prime duty to the client
M> and should not let this duty be influenced by commercial or other
M> interest that conflicts with this duty..." I interpret "other interests"
M> to include ideological interests. If this is the case, then it is
M> unethical for me to allow my Marxism to be "integrated" into my
M> practice, and likewise christianity, islam or whatever.
M> They argued that 'a person's belief system is part of who they are as a
M> human being and is therefore not something that is possible to separate
M> or "leave at home".' I believe we must make attempts to separate the
M> personal from the professional. Every day I work with clients who are
M> into islam, hinduism, christianity, new age nonsense, or whatever. There
M> are all kinds of anti humanist beliefs out there, but I cannot let my
M> beliefs affect my practice.
M> Inasmuch as clients raise religious issues, I believe I have a duty to
M> attempt to address them in the same way as any other belief system or
M> cultural issue. This might mean investigating ways for the client to
M> access a mosque or whatever, but therapists should have no direct
M> involvement with clients' religious beliefs.
M> Overall, I just can't see the validity of integrating religion with
M> practice, any more than I can see that I should integrate my Marxism and
M> atheism with practice. It would be idiotic to imagine that therapy can
M> be insulated from ideology -- the very notion that disabled people
M> should have access to therapy services in the first place is an
M> ideological one -- but it seems to me that to have a network of
M> therapists of any particular religion seeking to "integrate personal
M> beliefs with professional practice" is seeking to influence therapy with
M> a particularist ideology when we ought to be embracing more
M> universalist, inclusive ideologies.
M> Any thoughts?
M> Mike
M> http://www.otdirect.co.uk
M> ********************
M> Unsubscribe by sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's body,
put the following text:
M> unsubscribe OTlist
M> ------
M> OTnow messages are archived at:
M> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] (and)
M> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
M> ********rC***********
********************
Unsubscribe by sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's body, put
the following text:
unsubscribe OTlist
------
OTnow messages are archived at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] (and)
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
********rC***********
