Spirituality and Ethics in Social Work: Part 2

Summary

Highlights

• Social work professionals discuss the intertwining of spirituality and ethics. 🌱
• Anonymous speakers share personal experiences with spiritual integration. 🙏
• Challenges of seeking religious accommodations in the workplace are explored. 🏢
• Differences in spirituality between children and their families pose unique challenges. 👨‍👩‍👦
• The importance of cultural and spiritual competency in social work education. 🎓

Key Takeaways

• Incorporating spirituality into social work can enhance cultural competence and empathy. 🌟
• Understanding personal biases is crucial for effective spiritual engagement. 🧠
• Workplace accommodations for religious practices can be complex but necessary. 🤔
• Spirituality and religion are distinct, yet both can play vital roles in social work. 🔍
• Curriculum enhancements are needed for better preparation of social workers in spiritual contexts. 📚

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction and Housekeeping Notes The chapter begins with a warm welcome from the host, expressing gratitude for participants joining the webinar. Participants are encouraged to use the chat and Q&A functions to interact and share their locations. The webinar is the second part of a three-part series in collaboration with the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers, focusing on spirituality and ethics in social work.
• 03:00 - 06:00: Acknowledgment of Indigenous Lands The chapter "Acknowledgment of Indigenous Lands" highlights the importance of recognizing the traditional territories of indigenous peoples. The speaker, Alexandra Zannis, acknowledges the support from partners in Nova Scotia for their event series. She emphasizes that the CISW is situated on the traditional, unceded, and unsurrendered land of the Anishinabe Algonquin peoples, expressing gratitude for being a guest on this territory.
• 06:00 - 09:00: Session Overview The chapter begins with an acknowledgment of the indigenous caretakers of the land, honoring their enduring presence and contributions. It then provides logistical information for attendees seeking their certificate of attendance, directing them to the course completion tracker where it's located along with blue icons known as widgets. These widgets contain various resources such as housekeeping notes, speaker bios, an abstract of the presentation, slides, and video components.
• 09:00 - 18:00: Ethical Concerns in Integrating Spirituality The chapter discusses the ethical considerations when incorporating spirituality into various practices. It addresses the importance of customizing one's approach to spirituality based on individual needs and preferences, similar to how one might adjust the view settings during a presentation to fit personal viewing preferences. The chapter emphasizes the significance of ensuring accessibility and flexibility, allowing individuals to revisit and engage with the material at their own pace through on-demand recordings. Additionally, logistical aspects like receiving attendance certificates are mentioned, highlighting the importance of proper follow-up procedures in ethical practice.
• 18:00 - 24:00: Personal Narratives and Spirituality The chapter discusses the logistics of accessing a platform through registration email to download content. The speaker is also managing the backend, encouraging participants to use chat for general comments and a Q&A tab for specific questions. Additionally, the chapter introduces Nadia, who will be hosting a panel, highlighting gratitude for her participation and contributions.
• 24:00 - 30:00: Incorporating Spirituality into Practice The chapter discusses the importance of incorporating spirituality into practice, particularly in social work. The speaker expresses appreciation for being able to present from Mi’kmaq territory, acknowledging its significance as the ancestral and unceded land of the Mi’kmaq people. The chapter also highlights the recognition of Mi’kmaq people's inherent rights, which were affirmed in the peace and friendship treaties signed between 1725 and 1779.
• 30:00 - 41:00: Resistance and Denial in Spiritual Practices This chapter discusses the theme of resistance and denial within spiritual practices, focusing on the interaction between indigenous lands and the British Empire. Rather than surrendering their land, resources, or sovereignty, indigenous nations established rules for ongoing relationships. The chapter invites readers to consider the ways in which these lands and the indigenous peoples who lived and continue to live there are interacted with. It challenges individuals and collective bodies, such as social workers, to hold themselves accountable in their engagements with these communities.
• 41:00 - 53:00: Challenges in Multicultural Spirituality The chapter focuses on the challenges and opportunities in integrating multicultural spirituality into social work. It begins with references to reconciliation with indigenous peoples across Turtle Island and introduces a panel discussion featuring experts. The chapter is structured into different sessions, with session one covering the ethical implications of spirituality in social work from a theoretical perspective. The focus is on expanding understanding of the various ethical opportunities and challenges in this integration process.
• 53:00 - 61:40: Collaboration Between Social Work and Spiritual Care The chapter discusses the ethical concerns faced by social workers when considering the integration of spirituality into their practice. Various speakers contribute their perspectives on whether or not spirituality should be incorporated into social work, highlighting both the potential benefits and challenges.
• 61:40 - 70:00: Final Thoughts and Reflections The chapter 'Final Thoughts and Reflections' begins with an introductory note about the first speakers, who are two anonymous social workers. They have chosen to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the issue they are discussing. The chapter emphasizes the importance of their perspectives on the topic being addressed. Their presentation is likely focused on providing insights or shedding light on significant social issues from their professional experience.
• 70:00 - 72:00: Closing Remarks The chapter titled 'Closing Remarks' focuses on the impact of the environment on individuals of religious faith and their sense of acceptance. The speaker shares personal experiences, particularly highlighting instances where they sought counseling support while trying to adhere to their religious beliefs. They emphasize the importance of understanding and acceptance in therapeutic settings for people of faith.

Spirituality and Ethics in Social Work: Part 2 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Hello CASW members and thank you for joining us  for another webinar i am so happy to see your   virtual names coming up on my screen as always if  you haven't yet found that chat and q a function   please feel free to give us a little note and let  us know where you're tuning in from we're so happy   to have you joining us today this is part two  of a three-part series uh that we are co-hosting   with the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers on  spirituality and ethics and social work so we are
• 00:30 - 01:00 so grateful to our partners over at nova scotia  for helping us put on this wonderful event and   series my name is Alexandra Zannis i want to do  a couple really brief little housekeeping note so   that we can get into the bulk of this presentation  uh hello everyone it's so nice to see you i want   to let you know as always that the cisw is located  on the traditional unseated and unsurrendered   territory of the anishinabe algonquin peoples and  i am so grateful to be a guest and to be able to
• 01:00 - 01:30 work play and live on these wonderful lands  so thank you to the caretakers who have been   here for time of memorial who allow us to gather  now virtually on this wonderful wonderful space   if you are looking for your certificate of  attendance that can be found at the end in that   course completion tracker at the end of those blue  and white icons um those blue icons are called   widgets you can find anything you need there  including the housekeeping notes the speaker bios   the abstract for today's presentation as well as  the slides and the and the video components if you
• 01:30 - 02:00 accidentally close them you can also take a minute  and just customize your screen so make sure it's   the best for your viewing needs if you want to  make the slides bigger go ahead if you want to   make the video bigger you can do that just take a  minute and customize it so it's the best for you   this offering will be on demand so it'll  be created as a recording so feel free   to log back on any time you can access the  handout widget or anything like that if you   want to log back on after the certificate of  attendance will only be sent to you about an   hour after the presentation has concluded  so watch your email for that or you can
• 02:00 - 02:30 always log back onto the platform through your  registration email and download it directly   with all that being said i am on the back end  today so feel free to let me know in the chat   and q a functions if you do have a q a question  feel free to use that q a tab chat is more for   general comments about the wonderful presenters  we have and the presentation we are hosting today   so with all that being said i would love to pass  it over to nadia nadia thank you so much so so   much for joining us i am so grateful to have you  here today and hosting this wonderful panel please
• 02:30 - 03:00 take it away thank you so much i'm excited to be  here as well and i'm so grateful to be speaking   to you from magma and um to be representing the  nova scotia college of social workers which is   in magma the ancestral and unseated territory  of the migmaw people and their inherent rights   were recognized in the peace and friendship  treaties that were signed from 1725 to 1779
• 03:00 - 03:30 which did not surrender indigenous land resources  or sovereignty to the british empire but instead   established rules for an ongoing relationship  between nations and i invite us to continue   to think of the to think of the ways in which the  lands territories and indigenous people who lived   and continue to live within all of the lands that  we are speaking from and listening from and how   each of us individually and as a collective body  of social workers can hold ourselves accountable
• 03:30 - 04:00 to reconciliation with indigenous peoples here and  across turtle island and i am so grateful to have   an amazing group of panelists to be joining  me so session one i talked about the ethical   implications of integrating spirituality into  social work from a very theoretical perspective   session three is going to be looking at some  concrete specific applications but today is really   about expanding our understanding of the different  ethical opportunities and challenges that might be
• 04:00 - 04:30 facing social workers as they consider this issue  and we have several different speakers who will   be joining us and the first question that we will  hear from them on is what are the ethical concerns   that you see about social workers integrating or  not integrating spirituality into their practice
• 04:30 - 05:00 and so um our first speaker is actually two  speakers and they are anonymous and i invite   them to begin sharing they've chosen to  remain anonymous but they are um social   workers who have very important perspectives  on this issue and um so i invite them to begin were you able to hear me?
• 05:00 - 05:30 so my my remarks have to do with the role of  the environment and how it affects a person   of religious faith to feel accepted with this in  mind i'm going to share two personal experiences   first there have been times when i have  reached out for my own counseling support   in all attempts i have explained what i was  tripping that i was trying to do my best to   adhere to my religious beliefs but that i needed  help in one instance a therapist immediately
• 05:30 - 06:00 immediately ridiculed my face beliefs and  discouraged me from adhering to them in another   instance a therapist who had faith-based training  was very understanding of my situation but their   faith-based intervention model was too religious  for me they started reciting from their scriptures   interpreting them recommending i write songs or  hymns or music to help me copy my life experience
• 06:00 - 06:30 in this instance the person was  a good fit but not the modality   in the end the best match was a therapist  who was open to faith-based traditions   allow me to express my beliefs and understanding  but they offered an unbiased objective and an   outsider approach because i found myself looking  internally to find the strength and motivation to   change within the understanding of my religious  beliefs a safe environment where i did not have
• 06:30 - 07:00 to be on the defensive about my faith nor be  intervened upon by different faith tradition   a second implication about  ethics in addressing spirituality   and religion for me has had to do with seeking  religious accommodations in the workplace   my religious group adheres to the concepts of  sabbath day observance and sabbath day diversion i   know that we have a constitutional human right to  be able to observe the sabbath in the way that is
• 07:00 - 07:30 stipulated by our faith's tradition and on the  day stated by the faith i have found that many   members of my faith group are either not aware  of their right to seek such an accommodation   while others are afraid to seek it because they  fear facing unemployment while others do not   believe it is fair that such a right exists for  them because it gives them access to a right which   others cannot access it is concerning to me when  a person of a religious group expresses how they
• 07:30 - 08:00 wish that they could observe the sabbath according  to their beliefs and gain all those benefits that   they believe in but they choose to forfeit their  rights either out of ignorance or out of fear   it's also been surprising to me that even  at times the faith leaders are not aware   of these rights so i have had to educate faith  leaders employment leaders and hiring officers
• 08:00 - 08:30 as well as clients at times i've also  felt the pressure of hiring managers   waiting for me to accept a job offer when  they know that the accommodation request   is still being processed i've also felt the  pressure of co-workers inquiring why i have   an accommodation when others may not so again my  my message is striving to share the example of   when i'm in an environment where i feel safe i  might feel open to discussing more about my faith
• 08:30 - 09:00 even the name of it but when i'm in environments  where it's seeming to be confrontational   i'm going to keep that closed and not  express that important part of mind my experience started early on  when I was going to university   and we were asked to do a self-reflective paper  on what brought us to professional social work
• 09:00 - 09:30 and so I took the opportunity to share that and  I put in there my faith and I had mentioned god   and so did you know capital g proper noun and that  paper came back with the capital g splashed out so   as a student I remember thinking okay that's not  accepted here um it's not really self-reflective   and so when I think about those implications  and how that looks for clients I think well   if they've had an adverse religious experience  which Nadia has referred to in the past training
• 09:30 - 10:00 um could we be creating barriers among  students and also amongst our clients   that would keep them away from something that  may be very instrumental in their healing process
• 10:00 - 10:30 that's it pointing to um please  speak to this question of um how   do we um how do what are the ethical  concerns that you see about social workers   integrating or not spirituality in  their practice from your perspective so Dr. Boynton you'll need to unmute
• 10:30 - 11:00 um okay yes i hear you it was unmuted okay um yeah thank you so much for having me here  today and uh this is such a a very important topic   uh i think first we need to recognize that  spirituality has always been present and innate   within our practice it's deep in our roots and so  we really need to explicitly bring those things
• 11:00 - 11:30 forward and really understand how to best go about  addressing it both in academia and in practice   it's a diversity issue it's an intersection  of people's lives it's a social justice issue   and uh it also has uh been and can be a source  of oppression and marginalization as the   the two first speakers uh you know gave  first-hand experiences of that and i think
• 11:30 - 12:00 nadia did a wonderful job in highlighting the  last session that not including spirituality can   be a problem and it really is inconsistent with  our professional values and ethics to not at a   minimum at least assess the spiritual domain for  clients and those that we're working with and and   by doing that by by you know addressing  spirituality we first have to also be   really clear around what is it that we mean by  spirituality because many people lump spirituality
• 12:00 - 12:30 and religion together and for some people those  are very connected and for others they aren't   and so we need to be having that conversation  about you know what does spirituality mean   and and then if it's not something that a client  feels that is you know important to them in their   lives then then that is okay and we can also use  some of the constructs of spirituality like sense   of connectedness meaning making a sense of purpose  joy passion creativity and we can use their
• 12:30 - 13:00 language so i think it's really important that  we do that and not impose our language on them   so really i think um as nadia also highlighted  last session the first steps are really about   being critical uh in terms of the  awareness of your own spirituality   your own personal beliefs potential biases and  judgments and assumptions that might come up   and and then the second piece that fits with  our ethics is really to gain that awareness
• 13:00 - 13:30 and have spiritual humility right and and to gain  competence in the area and i'd like to speak a bit   about um working with children and families it's  really critical uh in the work that i've done   both in my practice and in research is that  children who've experienced trauma grief and loss   seem to be sparked and catapulted in thinking  about spiritual concerns existential concerns
• 13:30 - 14:00 thinking about the meaning and purpose of events  in life the problem is is that many adults don't   feel that children especially children you know 5  6 7 8 9 10 don't have the capacity to cognitively   um conceptualize spirituality yet in my research i  found the actual opposite i found them to be very   deep spiritual thinkers philosophizers  and so that's an issue too is that
• 14:00 - 14:30 we need to be aware that uh this is a an  important domain for children and for families   and that also my experience and in my  research indicated that children and families   often had differences in their spirituality  and so how do you navigate that that can be   an ethical concern especially when it comes down  to consent and informed consent and as you know
• 14:30 - 15:00 the the age of informed consent across canada  differs right between the provinces so in some   provinces you might be able to work with the child  as young as 12 without consent from their parents   and yet in other provinces uh you know you have a  mature minor status at the age of say 16 or 17. so   really that can be an ethical issue  when you're dealing with this area   uh as well as the differences in spirituality  for children and families because children are
• 15:00 - 15:30 integrating their spirituality from various areas  they're on social media they're you know learning   from peers they're you know learning things in in  different areas as well as from their family so   they're integrating things differently  from maybe what their parents   have thought and and myself i have encountered  that so that that can be an area that can raise
• 15:30 - 16:00 concerns for um families and then of course  children in foster care you know what what   is the impact of spirituality in foster care and  are there differences between the foster parent   and the child and the family and how do you  navigate those things and and so this leads to the   importance of consultation having good supervision  and consultation and this can be difficult when
• 16:00 - 16:30 supervisors or or clinical consultants  may not have the same level of experience   with spirituality or the same learnings  and so i think that can be an area   and then across cultures too within  cultures and across cultures can be a really   uh critical area where ethical concerns can arise  as well and and where we might make assumptions
• 16:30 - 17:00 and so that concept of spiritual humility  is really really important for us to embrace   so i think these are a lot of um ethical concerns  i also want to touch on the first speaker talked   about it practices and interventions so that's  another area where i see an issue where we need   to really think about what are the interventions  we're using what are the spiritual routes to those   and how does that fit appropriately  and effectively for the client
• 17:00 - 17:30 and so i think the negotiating of interventions  is is a really important area for us to to really   think about and how can we maybe adjust or  tweak some of our interventions so that they   are actually relevant and effective and then  i think the other piece that i wanted just to   touch on is that many individuals who are coming  for support do have issues in the same areas of
• 17:30 - 18:00 connectedness meaning making a sense of purpose  and if we can actually reframe some of the issues   that are going on for individuals as spiritual  issues as opposed to personal issues and and you   know maybe emotional issues i think sometimes  that could be super helpful uh and so we want   to be able to navigate that although we need to be  cautious there as well right so there's areas of
• 18:00 - 18:30 ethical concerns there so an area and then the  last theory i just wanted to quickly touch on was   self-disclosure and we need to really pay  attention to self decl disclosure and consider   how and why and when we would be doing that  um and you know for many clients it might be   reassuring to know about your spiritual beliefs  and for others it also might not be helpful so
• 18:30 - 19:00 how we go about that you need to take some time  considering your responses to that and develop   you know a script maybe even of how you  can share how you can disclose so so those   are just some of the things that that i've  thought about and and you know in the practice
• 19:00 - 19:30 and I will pass it to the next person  yes dr Delores Mullings i invite you to   please unmute and share a  few thoughts about this topic i thought okay am i unmuted i'm nude   you're perfect yeah let's go for it okay thank  you thanks so much so i'm at um i'm in st john's
• 19:30 - 20:00 newfoundland um at memorial university and  so i'm acknowledging that the lands on which   memorial university's campuses are situated is in  the traditional territories of diverse indigenous   groups and i acknowledge with respect to diverse  histories and cultures of the biafic mi'kmaq and   inuit of this province i also want to acknowledge  my African ancestors whose shoulders i stand on
• 20:00 - 20:30 and who's paved the way for me to be here today uh  so thank you for the opportunity to share um some   space with you and um i will sort of look at this  um question in three ways um denial resistance and   not knowing and maybe i should probably start with  the not knowing part but i'll just start with a   story um in another lifetime when i worked  in hostel shelters and sexual assault centers
• 20:30 - 21:00 i accompanied a woman to um to have a procedure  that in her mind she felt that was against god   that those were her words against gods and  against her own um principles and um at the time   i you know was doing a lot of exploration  and questioning uh my own spirituality and
• 21:00 - 21:30 i remember she and i had this  conversation about how she felt   and the level of betrayal  she felt to her faith um and as i was trying to support her   I felt that there was nothing else i could do but  find um a bible verse to support her to remind her
• 21:30 - 22:00 of you know what what the god that she was  speaking about so i actually called my mother   who was who was very strong in her faith and  she gave me bible verses to read to this person   now i know that sometimes there is and that  really helped her really helped her even though   I must say I didn't necessarily believe that  way but I didn't think it was my job to decide
• 22:00 - 22:30 how that person should behave or believe or  not my job at the time regardless of what   my personal beliefs are um was to support  this person and I appeared as i did that   so where i go with that is that sometimes you know  in the social work profession we don't know um we   enter the profession with spirituality and as  our speaker before it says we put spirituality
• 22:30 - 23:00 and religiosity together and sometimes they  mean different things for different people and so sometimes people really just don't know  they don't know what to do they don't know how   to behave but they have their own spirituality  and we know that in certain parts of canada   formalized or traditional religion such as  christianity and islam are the things that we   see most often in some spaces not to suggest  that it is they're the only ones but those
• 23:00 - 23:30 are some of the pieces we also know that all  our institutions are at the foundation of uh   uh christianity um just you know the holidays  we get off those are just basic things that we   don't really speak about um you know whose ways of  beings and knowings are celebrated or accepted and
• 23:30 - 24:00 so sometimes people just don't know but what  i want to say is there's a wide um variety   of spirituality spiritual practices amongst  people of african caribbean and black descent   across canada and across the globe and  if we bring begin with the fact that our   religions and spiritualities we believe predates  christianity although a lot of african black and   caribbean people are of the christian faith  um many of her own peoples don't know about
• 24:00 - 24:30 those practices and reject them when they  become aware of these ancient practices   and this is influenced by white supremacy  and colonization that marked our black bodies   uh marked our black bodies as not having spiritual  connections with deities or anything for that   matter with outside of an organized religion  that is known so in the new world the new world
• 24:30 - 25:00 black people embrace christianity but meld  christianity and with meld christianity   with different spiritual practices coming  from the continent so research is now showing   pew center did some research a while ago on and  found that eight out of ten african americans
• 25:00 - 25:30 we tend not to have those kinds of data data  in canada so i use the african-american data   um self-identify as christians but many of those  young people say that they're not affiliated   with any um one religion but african caribbean  and black people are observing many spiritual   practices in combination with organized religious  practices and other not so well known practices so
• 25:30 - 26:00 organized prac religious practice would be  rastafarian rastafarianism islam christianity   judaism and so on so forth and those spiritual  spiritual practices that spiritual practices from   continental africa people who were  enslaved brought them with them   um and felt the need to practice while under  enslavement and the only way they could have   practiced their spirituality was to blend it  with christianity and organize religion so
• 26:00 - 26:30 as a result we have a number of different  spiritual practices amongst our people   now because social workers may not know about  these practices or they may see them on tv and they're vilified in particular kind of way  or stereotype they may think that these spiritual
• 26:30 - 27:00 practices are wrong or bad or and i'm using  the term specifically um deliberately they may   think that they're bad or wrong and so people  might not get the support that they need so   from an ethical point of view that's pressing  because regardless of where the individual is   they need to be supported in the way in which  they need to be supported regardless of what   any of us think if you i bring you back to  the story that i um shared with you before
• 27:00 - 27:30 and so along this line there is increased  awakening amongst african black and caribbean   people about what spirituality looks like for  us and what it needs to be when we are receiving   services no matter where the services are so  from an active from an ethical point of view   when people are refused service or quite  often we'll hear social workers say that   they can't practice with this person or that  person because it's against their religion
• 27:30 - 28:00 um so the question i like to ask from an ethical  point of view is where do we draw the line with   um social work practice and personal practice  and are they intertwined are they connected   are are they not connected and  how do we reconcile this tension   because you know i've seen it in social work  classrooms we've just heard one of the speaker   speak about it um in in the practice and  so how do we reconcile um those pieces um
• 28:00 - 28:30 uh so regardless of what they do  it is important that social work   practitioners work with themselves not necessarily  with the people that are coming to ask the   support or the people that they're working  with but they need to work with themselves   to understand how they i guess to understand  how they see social work practice exactly what
• 28:30 - 29:00 is social work practice quite often we think well  social work practice is helping other people well   sometimes it's not necessarily helping other  people it's helping yourself to understand   the work that you need to do or we  need to do in order to support people's agency so i leave you with this question i'll  leave you with with this first question i'll
• 29:00 - 29:30 leave you with this to ponder is by what means do  we practice social work and from whose perspective   and how do we reconcile that with ethical practice when we look at  these different perspectives thank you   much doctor Ifeyinwa Mbakoguum thank you for  being our next speaker on this question and just a
• 29:30 - 30:00 gentle reminder because I know we are all here for  one hour and we've got several speakers including   our speaker that was missing at the beginning so  we're looking for so if thank you for speaking can you see my video? Hello can you hear me and can you see yes we can  yes we can hear and see you okay so um thank you
• 30:00 - 30:30 very much i'm from dalhousie university and i want  to acknowledge that we i'm speaking on meek mark   territory and we're all treated people and um like  um the previous speaker i also acknowledged that   this is also the land of the African nova scotians  where they've lived for over 300 years and um the
• 30:30 - 31:00 when we talk about spirituality and social  work i would want to talk about the fact   that we should not always acknowledge  that there is a multicultural explosion   in um in canada and the diversity that we we talk  about has to be recognized as more and more people   coming that have experienced diverse trauma and  um that are often not acknowledged and so the
• 31:00 - 31:30 where we should actually begin is with the um the  curriculum where many of us are only introducing   um spirituality as probably one week of our course  content and so the curriculum has to actually be   looked at and when we have these conversations on  spirituality we always seem to talk about their um   clinical engagement and that always  other practitioners that are working
• 31:30 - 32:00 in the community because i consider myself  a community based um social worker or do um   considering their the type of work that i do since  i work with displaced people um people might think   differently so i always look at it as a social  work interaction so where does spirituality   come in so when we talk about spirituality  we always link it with cultural competency   so if we're talking about cultural competency  we should actually be talking about spiritual
• 32:00 - 32:30 competency as well that makes us understand  the diverse people that we're working with   and also acknowledge their their needs and we it  would be very difficult for us to even talk about   um spirituality and ethical issues where we  always have so much power as social workers   and we always consider ourselves as the unknowing  social workers um and you could see that from the   anonymous contribution which i actually  um acknowledge and so when we talk about
• 32:30 - 33:00 spirituality whose spirituality are we talking  about is it my spirituality as a social worker   or that of the client and if we understand um  the spiritual um makeup and what spirituality   actually means because sometimes as other speakers  have said there's a confusion between spirituality   and religion if we understand what um spirituality  actually means then we'll actually be able to
• 33:00 - 33:30 engage in that initial self-awareness to  understand ourselves and our beliefs i don't   see it as um really taking on um understanding  so many religions but that self-awareness that   allows you to recognize the other person's  um humanity and then their their rights to um non-discriminatory attention to their problems  so i also see social work students and even
• 33:30 - 34:00 practitioners coming in not prepared to attend to  the needs of their clients and so and that also   leads us to the curriculum as well and then when  we talk about um students feel that the best place   that they learn about practice is in the field and  that is always considered the signature pedagogy   and so what are the insights that are provided  in the field for understanding how to deal with
• 34:00 - 34:30 spiritual issues when they come come about and  i experience that in my social work classroom   where students talk about supervision um they  meet a client and then the clients request for   some spiritual intervention they're not ready for  it because the curriculum does not provide them   with the assessment tools that  integrate biosocial spiritual   assessments and so when all that is missing and  also we bring that into into the field placement
• 34:30 - 35:00 and supervisors are resistant because  they don't have adequate training   to support a spiritual intervention that becomes  a problem for the client because we're denying the   client what they need and then that client might  go on being traumatized for several years moving   on from one place to the other to get the right  services that they that they require and um so i would also look at it as  a person of African descent
• 35:00 - 35:30 and knowing that spirituality is an  important part of who we are what we do   and how we approach different problems and that  is often denied within the curriculum itself   as well and within practice where we talk about  spirituality spirituality spirituality also aligns   with our healing it also aligns with our form surf  um practice it also a forms with how we look at
• 35:30 - 36:00 things and how we approach our different problems  and i know that recently uh more and more social   work classrooms are integrated in Afrocentricity  but the problem again with introducing such ways of knowing is who are the students or  who are the practitioners that we're training   to actually um practice those and i take for  example when i teach afrocentricity in my
• 36:00 - 36:30 classroom and i tell ask students um would you  actually apply an afrocentric framework for a   client who actually comes to you and needs it  and i would say that while so many of the um   students that are of african descent would say yes  that they're able to use it i would always have
• 36:30 - 37:00 my um white students say that they don't um they  don't find themselves capable to apply this and   then there becomes um debates within the classroom  why is it that you can apply another centric   practice when students are in the classroom  learning within eurocentric frameworks and being   able to adapt to this even when it doesn't align  with who they are and and their ways of knowing so   all this resistance within the classroom within  social work practice is is a problem that um those
• 37:00 - 37:30 are ethical concerns as well and and then i know  that one of the previous speakers talked about um   spirituality in terms of who should we be applying  spirituality with and that often happens because   most of the time i worked with children i worked  with traffic children i worked with displaced   children and several times they have come in to  request a spiritual intervention they don't have
• 37:30 - 38:00 to say it but they tell you and the thing is how  do you discern it you have to have the skills to   discern what they're saying and what because the  fact that their children doesn't mean that they   don't know what they actually need the the thing  is that as social workers we come sometimes with   um ideas about what our clients should  actually be requiring and no matter how much
• 38:00 - 38:30 they say it we do not hear it so do we have the  skills and the potentials to actually be silent   and listen to our clients to hear what they say  different from what we feel that they're saying   and what we feel that they need um so i would  just say that denying the client spirituality and   its needs are it's really a big problem in social  work practice and what should be done is actually
• 38:30 - 39:00 um engaging in more practice interventions  within the classroom and also linking up with   agencies that our students are going to be working  with because those agencies have been people   that are trained in certain institutions and so  they carry on what they have learned into those   agencies if we do not have spiritual um horses  or causes that integrate spirituality within our
• 39:00 - 39:30 programs then we'll just be um replicating  the circle forever and we'll keep on having   these conversations about spirituality without  really enforcing it within um the classroom or   practice certainly so in summary what i'm  just going to be saying is um it's actually   um part of our social justice obligations um to  include spirituality when our client knows it when
• 39:30 - 40:00 our client story requires it and giving them what  they want instead of um what we want and if we do   not understand what they need and how they need  it engaging in them in ways that are respectful   to understand how we should be applying it  effectively so i would just end there because   i'm conscious of the fact that i have just um five  minutes thank you yeah i think we need a day-long   conference or two and i'm grateful to each of  you for helping us want to dive even deeper into
• 40:00 - 40:30 this topic i want to invite major ian easter  now to offer his reflections on the question Hello everyone it's nice to be here um thank you  for inviting me i'm coming from edmonton alberta   for just for context for the last 13 years  i've been a chaplain in the canadian forces
• 40:30 - 41:00 and since 2015 i've been a mental health chaplain  so specializing in uh treating mental health and   in that capacity i've had a number of professional  colleagues who were social workers uh within the   military i've also been a patient of a  number of social workers so i have an   extremely high regard for your profession and i  thank you for the opportunity to speak here um
• 41:00 - 41:30 i'm going to try and keep this brief but um  in terms of kind of the ethical concerns i i   would say there's a a couple that i identify  um one is has to do with your own boundaries   um keeping within your scope of practice  um ensuring that your don't if you're not   a theologian if you're not uh clergy if you're  not a religious leader or professional uh then   make sure that uh you don't act as if you are um  and that would be uh please you know be careful
• 41:30 - 42:00 to respect other people's beliefs and spirituality  and uh don't feel like you have to uh enter into   theological debates or uh some forms of  um that can often be misunderstandings   uh the other thing is to be very aware of your own  biases we've spoken about this already but just   uh be aware that your job is not to defend your  views or to put down uh your clients uh views uh
• 42:00 - 42:30 their beliefs their their um understanding i think  it's also important to realize that spirituality   uh can both be a positive force in people's  lives but it can also be a negative force   and i think being open and willing to explore both  the positive side as well as the negative side   and i think finally um recognize that one of  the areas that we have not really engaged um
• 42:30 - 43:00 or identified within mental health treatment is  the reality of spiritual and religious trauma   and so i think it's very important to do  some under research and understanding that uh   that a lot of people carry within  themselves traumatic experiences   and it um regarding the religious practices  or their their faith their experience of um of
• 43:00 - 43:30 faith um and there needs to be an awareness that  um talking about spirituality can be a trigger   and we need to be prepared to recognize that  when we're dealing with someone who's triggered   it's often uh a traumatic reaction and so using  all our skills of trauma treatment uh in engaging
• 43:30 - 44:00 with um helping the the client to process and  work through the the trauma of their religious   experiences but uh thank you very much and i'll  pass it off to the next person thank you so very   much um chaplain kirsten wells i invite you  to now share some reflections on this question
• 44:00 - 44:30 thank you very much Nadia i am also in Halifax  under the same acknowledgements as the previous   speakers from this part of the country  thank you for inviting me to be here   i am a healthcare chaplain working in nova  scotia health i am also an Anglican priest and i   am a certified spiritual care specialist with the  Canadian association for spiritual care and i want
• 44:30 - 45:00 to acknowledge that i am not speaking on behalf of  any of these organizations today but on behalf of   myself and the topic at hand so um i want to just  say i'm so pleased to hear the level of dialogue   and the great questions and concerns being put  forward from the social work community uh i   wish i could talk for half a day about everything  that you've said but i'm gonna try and talk about
• 45:00 - 45:30 but thank you concerns a summary that i  was thinking of um i was thinking about   spiritual care practitioners perhaps being among  the most misunderstood health care professionals   uh going um you know people assume we might  be witches or proselyte bible thumpers or a whole bunch of things and some of the  comments raised by speakers today indicate why
• 45:30 - 46:00 people are wary of spiritual care practitioners   because sometimes people are  practicing without enough competence their own self-awareness and the boundaries  between their beliefs and their clients and this   is an essential ethical concern for spiritual care  practitioners when thinking about our colleagues
• 46:00 - 46:30 amongst our own profession but also social work  health care we work side by side social workers   constantly and in my experience it's healthcare  has this binary attitude where it kind of pits   a spiritual care professional against a social  worker like which one is going to be the best   one to deal with the spiritual concerns  and this kind of attitude it's a cultural
• 46:30 - 47:00 experience in general right now and I really  think that I'd like to see what I hear today   a more robust conversation around scope of  practice um appropriate interventions um   and collaboration and Crawford between these two  professions in the best interest of the client
• 47:00 - 47:30 I think that those are my primary  reflections on ethics i mean   everything has to be focused on the care  of the client recognize here to help not um i think it might be helpful for you to know  that um a lot of you have made comments about   education and the need to incorporate spiritual  uh theory and practice into your education
• 47:30 - 48:00 modules and experiences if you're wanting to check  out your local spiritual care practitioner and   find out you know how they how they fit in terms  of their qualifications and education i can tell   you that those of us who are are certified with  our association as spiritual care specialists   have approximately at least nine  years of education in this area
• 48:00 - 48:30 three of those uh involve a master's degree in  some form of religious education or profession   so although not all chaplains and spiritual care  practitioners are clergy almost all of them have   the same education as clergy in terms of divinity  or theology and then we have two extra years of   exclusively clinical training in um  institutional setting like a hospital prison
• 48:30 - 49:00 our colleagues in the military uh we  train hands-on under supervision in   a residency type model for two years  um at the end of that we get tested   to determine if we do have the appropriate  skills to provide spiritual care competently   and carefully in a way that does not harm other  people and that certification is reviewed every
• 49:00 - 49:30 five years in order to keep certification  so the results of this are you end up with   a highly trained religious leader of some ilk  who is intensely self-aware of not only their   own religious beliefs and values and practices but  the limits of that and the ability to assess and   with the religious ideation of their clients  there's a saying in spiritual care education that
• 49:30 - 50:00 we are the living human document this applies  to practitioners as well as our clients   our job is to be the sharpest good copy of the  document that can be and we are held accountable   for that and um i really it was difficult uh to  listen to um the first speaker speak about um
• 50:00 - 50:30 that experience of not being seen uh maybe as much  by that practitioner who was although recognizing   they were doing a good job but they they didn't  uh they missed the point in terms of what would be   good for you as a client and this is an essential  ethical concern of us in this field so again
• 50:30 - 51:00 i'm just reviewing my notes because i get  off-topic and then i keep on talking um oh yes i think i'll just conclude by saying  i did i work with social workers currently   um in my present position and i asked them you  know tell me about spirituality in your practice   and what you feel competent and confident  about and what what worries you and um the
• 51:00 - 51:30 answers were like i'm comfortable assessing i am  comfortable supporting i'm comfortable you know um   when things are going well and and and  talking about it what makes me comfortable   is uh issues of trauma religious abuse uh requests  for interventions around religious healing
• 51:30 - 52:00 and leading prayer and ritual ceremonies and i  think these are all um really in intersection   because many of us have personal competency  and or professional competency and our ability   to reflect on our own situation professionally  and decide am i competent to provide   what this patient needs or not and  if i am not who to get this need
• 52:00 - 52:30 met so my colleague said that's why i like working  with a couple of uh spiritual care practitioners   because when this comes up i say great i'm  gonna refer you to them and we collaborate from   social work to spiritual care to meet the person  appropriately but i i'd like i'd be interested in   your reflections of what makes you feel um  uncomfortable what makes you feel worried um
• 52:30 - 53:00 what are the what are the times in practicing  spiritual care interventions where you think   not quite sure where to go with this and and  what do you do in those situations so i will   i will leave it there and thank you very much for  your attention and dialogue thank you so very much   um our last speaker for today is Fatima rasti  and um fatima actually has a powerpoint that she
• 53:00 - 53:30 prepared for us and um there was actually a second  part to this panel where i was going to ask all of   our speakers to share some final words of advice  but i'm aware of the time and that we probably   won't get to it um so what this does inspire  me is i think we need to have maybe a day-long   session because there's so much more that  we could dive into with each of the speakers
• 53:30 - 54:00 um and i'm sorry that we can't go deeper but  it's it's certainly a great first step into what   should be a much richer dialogue so with  that Fatima thank you for closing us out um and thank you for so much for having me  um i really i'm very grateful uh and to you   nadia especially you and alexandra for making that  happen for me and um actually everything already
• 54:00 - 54:30 been said uh what i put on my powerpoint i would  be echoing what i heard already from my fellow   presenters and it's been a great experience being  here so what i did in my powerpoint i'm a big fan   of powerpoints so guys you know just i added  few things together so what i try to do is uh   you know put some thoughts together what i think  um about spirituality but you know my stance is
• 54:30 - 55:00 not very different but i already heard from  presenters and nadia did a beautiful job in the   last um in the first part of the series  um and then i i brought some because i   might you know i have a clinical experience i've  totally experienced working with clients in family   16 but in clinical setting it's been 11 years so  i thought i just put a few case vignettes for us   to discuss uh some of that how does it look like  spirituality looks like in the clinical setting
• 55:00 - 55:30 so that was the reason behind putting those  vineyards together for us to have those questions   um to think about some ethical considerations  when issues come up some ethical issues come   up regarding them and then i put together  a tiny tool kit for us so we'll see how it   goes because i'm very mindful of the time  we have just five minutes if i skim through   uh the slides and and i don't know if i  change the slides or how how does that work
• 55:30 - 56:00 um Alexandra hi do you see the  button that says next above   on the on the bottom um yes so you can just  click that next button and it should switch   oh okay there you go perfect oh it moved  really fast i'm sorry oh sorry guys
• 56:00 - 56:30 i think okay so i just put together i'm just  going to skim through those slides because   that's been already that's already  been said you know the spirituality was   an imperative component in the beginning of social  work profession right 1950s and 60s it was all um   so it shifted towards secretarial but past  two decades they're more uh you know talk and   some research not enough research  at this point but there is research
• 56:30 - 57:00 um um you know uh indicating that uh there's some  evidence you know this is research evidence that   it is beneficial or it's um you know it's uh  important component within social work practice sorry I'm moving this yeah okay yeah that's a  that's the right one okay so um food for thought
• 57:00 - 57:30 so these are just questions for us to think um  um is it appropriate for us as social workers   to incorporate spirituality and religion in our  practice because these terms in interchange is   if yes what is the significance of spirituality um  to me special beliefs can be a strength it gives   purpose and meaning individuals may have strong  moral code based on religious-spiritual beliefs it   gives a sense of community and support which can  be a support in terms of in times of trouble and
• 57:30 - 58:00 prayer and spiritual practices help individuals  go with physical and mental health issues and and uh spirituality is a human experience of  oh sorry um you know a sense of connection   to something bigger than themselves and  discovering meaning in life purpose and   values with or without god a broader and  more comprehensive term than religion
• 58:00 - 58:30 um so i thought i put some um case vineyards  together and they are a constellation of working   with different clients and some of them they're  coming from my um colleagues um i i want to   thank hannah rashid the social worker wonderful  social worker mentor to me uh so some came from
• 58:30 - 59:00 from hers the first one is um you know you're a  social worker who identifies as person of color   you you cover your head as part of your culture  and religions believe he's going to see a client   with the family for the first time the users  so it is the question of how if they ask why   family asked you questions about your religious  beliefs and your culture um you know how much you   do how much the use of self-closure how much you  disclose about your culture and beliefs right
• 59:00 - 59:30 and um so it again it comes down to what is  beneficial for the family uh clinically speaking   that if you believe that your disclosure would be  helpful uh to the client uh but it's totally your   clinical judgment or your um yeah sorry i uh the  powerpoint is it's not there anymore but okay um   the second one is um you know you're you're  working with um you're working with a young
• 59:30 - 60:00 child um client who who is an inpatient unit  and has serious mental health issues and   sorry physical health issues and during a session  he expresses his desire to practice smudging as   part of their spirituality and your organization  policies have certain rules around fire safety   besides there's no sweet grass available for  smudging so what role would you play to make   smudging possible for that client and what are  some of the ethical considerations you would um
• 60:00 - 60:30 consider in this situation um so the first one  came to mind was right away was respect for   the inherent dignity and worth of person and  client's right of self-determination but then   it's a child um and again it was it was said  before they're different you know age of consent   is different different uh provinces um but as  part of you know as best social work practice you
• 60:30 - 61:00 want to incorporate you you want to provide that  opportunity to the child as well as the family   to make that decision so you would you would  consider that as well their age of you know   um consent and their ability to consent uh and  then the advocacy piece because you are working   with an organization with with certain policies  so how you make it possible for your client let's quickly the third one is
• 61:00 - 61:30 so you're working with the you know fifth client  in two months period who represents a minority   religious group who have different beliefs and  spiritual practices which you have very little   knowledge and information about you are seeing the  client for the first time for an intake session   and the presenting problem is anxiety and  ptsd client is very friendly and you build a   rapport with them with no problem they are one of  those clients who offer more information than us   due to their friendly nature and willingness to  give you information you have a strong desire
• 61:30 - 62:00 and urge to get information and knowledge about  their religious beliefs and spiritual practices   what would you do would you turn that  session into a teaching opportunity for you   um so what are some of the ethical considerations  right so what jumped to me was integrity in   professional practice so social workers establish  appropriate boundaries and relationships with   clients and ensure that the relationships are  the needs of clients this is what already been   said and religious spirituality exploration would  only be discussed should the client elect to do so
• 62:00 - 62:30 so this one i know uh miss Kristen Wells already  talked about working with social workers closely   um so this is something i i just because  most of us we in social work practice we um   we work on interdisciplinary teams we work with  our colleagues from different disciplines so this   is something i put together um and again in this  scenario where you know it didn't work for the
• 62:30 - 63:00 family the spiritual care service it could be  number of things i'm quickly just going to read   it so you're part of the multi-disciplinary  for trauma response team trauma response   team is called in for a patient who went  through a serious accident patients family   members immediate and extended family members are  present to support the patient while patient in   india in icu your role as a social worker is to  provide resource provisions to the family the   child is called the spiritual care team services  and a member from the spiritual care team is
• 63:00 - 63:30 already present before you came the spiritual care  member is chanting humming with their eyes closed   you can see the family members facial expression  body language which is making it clear for you   to see that they are not comfortable with  the chanting and humming um how would you   support the family at the same time support  your multi-disability team because you know   you have to balance that that you are providing  the best care putting them the client and their
• 63:30 - 64:00 family in the center and at the same time you  are balancing it with your team cohesion your   professional relationship um so what jumped to  mind was respectful and inherent dignity and   worth of person code of effects interdisciplinary  team team cohesion advocacy for patients family uh so the last but not least is even  as social workers when we are working
• 64:00 - 64:30 with with a family or client um you  know who identifies as if they are   open to talk about their religious beliefs or  their spiritual practices or their face-based   beliefs and if you feel connected because you  have the same similar beliefs and religious   background or you know but at the same time if  they're language barriers right so what would be
• 64:30 - 65:00 uh you know some of the ethical considerations in  that case you would have in terms of you know if   they're declining uh are translator so um and  how do you even you felt connected with them   uh because of your you know the  spirituality of religious beliefs   but at the same time if their language barrier  how you feel connected with your clients so what is our responsibility as social workers  um you know for me it's been said already
• 65:00 - 65:30 you're expanding our knowledge base about uh  you know the negative and positive impacts of   spirituality it can be different it can be  on a case-to-case basis and learning about   human diversity in the concept context of  religious spiritual beliefs uh I heard um   I'm sorry if i'm not pronouncing your name right  of Ifeyinwa uh she talked about multi-purpose ex   multi it's a multicultural explosion in terms of  in Canada people from diverse groups they are here
• 65:30 - 66:00 different religious beliefs and um in that  last but not least is seeking supervision   safe social work platforms like today i'm  very grateful for that platform today that   we are opening that discussion so we can  easily or you know feel by feeling safe to   discuss ethical issues regarding spirituality and  practices um you know in our social work practice
• 66:00 - 66:30 so the toolkits um you know what comes to  mind from my clinical experience is you   know engaging the client rapport building that  transparency what you're doing uh that's that's   been already said the holistic approach um include  incorporating religion and spirituality and and   seeing the person environment right and it's  extending your bios like a psychosocial model
• 66:30 - 67:00 to their religion and spirituality as well um  and then doing some strength-based work with them   and listen to those client stories that's  the first and foremost to me personally   that i have genuine curiosity i want to understand  their narrative deeper meanings which are attached   to their story and their trauma because  individuals seek for a story that helps   make sense of the word how they fit into the  world um and also uh i'm also a big fan of um
• 67:00 - 67:30 you know evidence-based practices i know ever not  every practice can be evidence-based or overnight   uh but you know what came to mind when i was  putting those slides together is marsha lena   has memoir she um she learned dbt or her blur  bdbt mindfulness skills or some of the dpt skills   are based in you know her experience at buddha  buddhist monastery and she went to a catholic
• 67:30 - 68:00 church in germany so um you know so the evidence  practices um so information about spirituality   and religious beliefs came into the conversation  organically like ask them open-ended questions   who or what provides you with strengths or hope  what gives you life meaning and purpose what   is your greatest source of strength what gives  meanings to your life how do you understand hope   what do you hope for what gets you through the  trouble uh turbulent times um so that is it um
• 68:00 - 68:30 you know it was all again uh i put together those  um slides just based on my experience i'm not   representing any group or my hospital where i work  full time here in nova scotia halifax nova scotia   um so yeah thank you so much for for inviting me  and giving me that opportunity i appreciate that   thank you so very much fatima thank you to all of  our speakers for sharing some perspectives and you
• 68:30 - 69:00 know envision i initially envisioned this panel as  diving deeper to inspire us to want to learn more   and hopefully that certainly has been achieved  there's been lots of different perspectives and   then some echoes which only further reinforces  the need to dive deeper and learn from one another   um and session three is going to focus upon some  concrete skills but i i feel like i'm already
• 69:00 - 69:30 thinking of a session four or maybe a series on  education um so stay tuned i appreciate all of   you for um being here and alexandra thank you so  much for guiding us through the end of this panel thanks, Nadia I don't have much else  to say actually what a wonderful   uh opportunity we have had uh with the CASW  to be able to partner on this series so thank   you to everyone all of our members who have  attended as always I love seeing your names
• 69:30 - 70:00 please let us know when the survey comes up  at the end of this presentation how we did   I read all of your comments and i appreciate  them coming in your certificate of attendance   will be available about an hour after this  presentation has concluded you can go to the CASW   webpage the webinar continuing education  section to see part three as well as some of our   other webinar offerings so feel free to go  there and yes just thank you for spending   this time with us we are so happy to see  you and we will see you soon thanks everyone