Social Work & Spirituality

1. Social Work & Spirituality Marjorie Sokoll, M.Ed. & Rabbi Karen Landy JF&CS Jewish Healing Connections

2. Spirituality Universal Transcendence beyond oneself Awareness of relationship with all of creation, connectedness to others Transcendent questions about purpose, search for meaning, and hope “Inner Journey” is defined by the person Holistic quality of being human Dangers: Ungrounded, self-involved Differences between Spirituality and Religion

3. Religion • Particular – a social institution, may have • spiritual leader as authority figure • Ethical codes and worship practices • Rules for living a good and moral life • Cultural and communal • Provides continuity, wisdom, morals/ethics • Source of comfort & hope in times of • suffering • Dangers: rigid, dogmatic, lacks inspiration

4. Differences and Similarities between Psychotherapy, Pastoral Counseling, and Spiritual Direction Psychotherapy • Therapist helps client explore obsessions, compulsions, depression, or fears. • Therapist helps client gain a stronger sense of self and adjust to the dynamics of regular living.

5. Psychotherapy • Transference – client projects wounded feelings from earlier relationships onto the therapist to work them through in a healing environment. • Objective is to resolve problems, at least in the short term, and achieve a more healthy integration into society.

6. Pastoral Counseling Similarities to Psychotherapy • Pastoral Counseling also helps people adjust to life’s challenges, focus on resolving problems, particularly in the short run. • Addresses questions of relationships and uses transference.

7. Pastoral Counseling Differences with Psychotherapy “While therapy primarily focuses on the individual’s development, pastoral counseling seeks to connect the individual to the traditions and practices of a faith community for wisdom, celebration, and comfort…psychotherapy seeks to alleviate the suffering that interferes with one’s happiness…pastoral counseling also seeks to allay distress but views suffering as inherent to our human condition, providing opportunities to grow in faith, sustain hope, and find comfort.” Breitman, Barbara, Jewish Lights, Life Lights

8. Spiritual Direction Spiritual Direction is a process to help us recognize God’s guidance, which is there if only we are open to it. It is a relationship through which a guide helps a seeker discern how the Source of Life might be calling the seeker to greater meaning and growth, to help the seeker appreciate the divine that might underlie the seemingly coincidental occurrences of life.

9. Spiritual Direction Questions • Where is God in your longing? Your success? Your pain? • What new realms of spiritual insight are being revealed through your relationships? Your work? • Where might you sense the presence of the One inherent within the multiple roles and conflicting demands of your life?

10. Spiritual Direction Questions • Who are you now, and who are you being called to become? Addison, Howard. (2003). Finding the Help You Need: Psychotherapy, Pastoral Counseling, and the Promise of Spiritual Direction. Vermont: Jewish Lights Publishing.

11. Strengths Perspective in Social Work “Strengths-based social work means that people are viewed as whole beings, with inherent capacities for resilience and creativity. When they seek help for problems, they are never reduced to those problems…these inner strengths and environmental resources need to be the focus of helping…we focus on the strengths and resources available by incorporating spirituality and religion into social work practice.” Canda, Edward, Furman, Leola. (1999). Spiritual Diversity in Social Work Practice: TheHeart of Helping. New York: Free Press.

12. Text Study • Hevruta/Dyad Text Study • Centrality of text study in many traditions • Sacred Dialogue • Argue with text, springboard

13. Forms of Religious Expression • Behaving – actions, lifecycles, holiday celebrations, mitzvot (“good deeds”), tzedakah (charity/justice), chesed (lovingkindness) • Belonging – connected to community, culture, history • Believing – faith, meaning-making, theology • Being – experience of transcendence and being in the flow of life, life is a blessing (Based on Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan) Rabbi Elisa Goldberg, Joan Grossman Center for Chaplaincy and Healing, JFCS Philadelphia

14. Therapist’s Spiritual Practice “The spiritual dimension cannot be ignored, for it is what makes us human.” Viktor Frankl “To heal a person you must first be a person” Abraham Joshua Heschel to the AMA in the 1950’s

15. Therapist’s Spiritual Practice “Today, like every other day, We wake up empty and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down the dulcimer. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” Rumi

16. Reflection on one’s own spiritual practice

17. Brief Assessment Model that Conforms to Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations Assessment Recommendations • I was wondering if spirituality or religion is important to you? • Are there certain spiritual beliefs and practices that you find particularly helpful in dealing with problems? • I was also wondering if you attend a church or some other type of spiritual community? • Are there any spiritual needs or concerns I can help you with? Hodge, David. (October, 2006). A Template for Spiritual Assessment: A Review of the JCAHO Requirements and Guidelines for Implementation. Social Work, 51(4), 317-326.

18. Spiritual Assessment Questions Provided by JCAHO • Who or what provides the patient with strength and hope? • Does the patient use prayer in their life? • How does the patient express their spirituality? • How would the patient describe their philosophy of life? • What type of spiritual/religious support does the patient desire? • What is the name of the patient’s clergy, ministers, chaplains, pastor, rabbi? • What does suffering mean to the patient? • What does dying mean to the patient? • What are the patient’s spiritual goals? • Is there a role of church/synagogue in the patient’s life? • Has belief in God been important in the patient’s life?

19. Spiritual Assessment Questions • How does your faith help the patient cope with illness? • How does the patient keep going day after day? • What helps the patient get through this health care experience? • How has illness affected the patient and his/her family? JCAHO, 2004

20. Therapist Intervention Techniques • Meaningful music, pictures, religious objects • Prayer • Mindful Meditation • Guided Imagery • Breath Work • Intentional Focus on Nature • Journaling • Ritual • Referral

21. How Prayer May Work • Prayer may work in that we may have asked God for something which indeed came about. • Prayer may work by invoking a greater sense of God’s presence. • Prayer may work by way of distraction, momentarily pulling us out of pain or discomfort into a place of beauty or transcendence. • Prayer may work by deeply grounding us as we focus mindfully on our present moment. • Prayer may work by quieting and centering the self.

22. How Prayer May Work • Prayer may work by connecting us with the wider Jewish community and with traditions that may provide additional strength. • Prayer may work by helping us connect to a deep level of the self which is already healed and whole, reminding us of our essential wholeness. • Prayer may work in focusing us, the pray-ers, on the blessings in our lives, enabling our sense of gratitude to blossom. Rabbi Amy Eilberg

23. Spirituality and Religion: Potential for Healing Potential for Harm Griffith and Griffith caution that religion and spirituality can be destructive with clients when it “violates the relatedness on which spirituality is based. Spirituality comes into being as one’s commitment to relatedness – to other people, the environment, one’s God or the numinous, one’ s heritage.” Griffith, J., Griffith, M. (2002). Encountering the sacred in psychotherapy: How to talk with people about their spiritual lives. New York: Guilford Press.

24. Possible Reasons for Referrals • Spiritual crises due to illness, loss…. • Issues of relationship to God • Positive transference with clergy representing the Jewish/Christian community • Provide healing with religious tradition they grew up with • Address issues of suffering

25. Referrals to Jewish Healing Connections • Kol Isha, Holocaust, CERS, Geriatric Mental Health & Care Management, CFA, Disabilities, Adoption • Provide Prayer & Ritual – Yahrtzeit (Anniversary of death), holidays, mikveh (ritual bath) to mark transitions • End-of-Life, Bereavement

26. Society for Spirituality and Social Work http://ssw.asu.edu/spirituality/sssw/ The SSSW is a network of social workers and other helping professionals dedicated to spiritually sensitive practice and education. We seek to encourage, honor, and nurture the diverse spiritual paths, resources and traditions which offer meaning and support to people, including ourselves. We recognize the sacred nature of our healing work.

27. Society for Spirituality and Social Work We are committed to justice and respect for those of diverse religious and non-religious spiritual identities. Our events and materials are designed to promote research, development of theory, and dissemination of innovations and best practices related to spirituality in our professions. In our gatherings, we celebrate the values of dignity, interdependence, compassion, respect, peace, justice and connection with the divine.