Reflecting on the Intersection of Human Psychology and Religion

Posted by: Jessy Alam on February 14, 2014 3:05 pm
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If I could title a passion that I have pursued consistently for the last 10 years it would be: The Intersection of Human Psychology and Religion.  And yet, that title would be very much inaccurate. In fact, I want so much to find an apt and concise description for the phenomenon that I have witnessed in every individual that I have ever encountered as well as with every client I have ever treated. But I can’t. This dilemma is both a hindrance and a revelation to the issue I have brought forth.  These two things, the human mind and all that is contained by the term “religion”, are both by their nature limitless. I would like to commit to writing about this topic in upcoming articles—not only because there is so much content to be covered, but to relieve myself of the weight I feel every time I try to approach this enormous subject. At times it can be too much for words.

Faith, or lack thereof it, in anything supernatural plays a role in how individuals make meaning of life’s most minute details. What we believe about ourselves, the world and those around us has been marinated in existential wonder about the spiritual world.  But many seasoned clinicians have a hard time with this topic during sessions, especially when the client shares a different set of beliefs. I face this struggle, so have my colleagues and so have my own therapists when hearing me share about my own experiences. So how do we effectively create the space for dialogue on this issue with our clients? (In another article I also what to discuss why I believe it is of critical importance to touch on this subject with each of our clients.) The first step is investing time and getting our own therapy where we can discuss the evolution of our spiritual and religious beliefs (or lack thereof) and actually experience this discussion through the eyes of a “client”. I think this is paramount – we just cannot afford to skip this step. The second step is examining multiculturalism in therapy and what sensitive and ethical practice looks like. I will write separately about these in following entries. I think these two first steps of self-examination create the foundation necessary to help our clients in fundamental ways.

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Increasing Marriage Success Through Education

Posted by: Hailing Huang on January 20, 2014 3:21 pm
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The Future Trend: Combine Online Dating With Counselling Service

According to consumer rankings data (consumer-rankers.com), 17% of couples married in the last 3 years, met each other on an online dating site. 1 out of 5 single people have dated someone they met on a dating website. More than 20 million internet users visited the matchmaking sites in December of 2011. This number is going to increase in the next 20 years.

In 1998, with the release of the movie “You’ve Got Mail,” internet dating become an accepted cultural phenomena. Though the movie didn’t focus on internet dating, it did put meeting someone on the Web in a positive light. It showed that the Web can be used as a tool for bringing people together, whether through matchmaking sites, or traditional social networks. Finding a significant other online is no longer the unusual access as it once was; it is becoming increasingly common.

After 12 years of internet-transformed dating, we would like to know more about online dating. For example: Do we know who goes on dates with whom and how these dates turn out? What is the success rate of internet marriages? Are these couples living happily ever after, or are they more likely to meet with divorce lawyers?

Martine Zwilling from  the Forbes Insititute (2013) pointed out that the success rate of online dating  is a mere one percent. However, Science Resources (2005)  indicated that internet dating is much more successful than had been thought. An online survey was carried out by Dr Gavin and Dr. Scott by the University of Bath, says that of 229 people interviewed, 90% go on for the first date, of which 94% go on for the second date.

According the Canada’s statistic data: in 2011, 46.5% of the population, age 15 and over, were legally married, while 53.6% were unmarried (never married, divorced, separated, widowed). Compare within 1981, 60.9% of the population aged 15 and over was married, while 39.1% was unmarried. Within 30 years the marriage rate decreased about 14% and each year more than 70,000 people are divorced.

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Diversity Wheel

Posted by: Priya Senroy on December 6, 2013 4:15 pm
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Who can even believe that 2013 is nearly over, we are shoveling snow here in Toronto and life has come to a full circle….speaking of circles,  I would like to share a tool that I recently came in contact with while attending seminar on cultural competences. It’s called the Diversity Wheel. Many  of you might be familiar with it and for those who are not, it might be an useful tool/activity/exercise to incorporate in our interactions with our clients. I have come to realize that all of us are multicultural counsellors working within the melting pot context of diversity.

So the purpose of the Diversity Wheel can be twofold, first it Can be used to educate and inform about the  different levels and types of  diversity; and  secondly to begin the self-assessment process in developing cultural competence with diverse groups. Sometimes called as the Four Level Model, The “Dimensionsof Diversity”wheel shows the complexity of the diversity filters through which all of us process stimuli and information. That in turn leads to the assumptions that we make (usually about the behaviors of other people), which ultimately drive our own behaviors, which in turn have an impact on others.

I would encourage that if interested you can try this out with a group of peers for self learning and then try to incorporate in that whatever areas that you can practice in.

More information can be found in the following articles:

 

http://aia.berkeley.edu/media/pdf/source_summer96.pdf

http://www2.danceusa.org/uploads/annual_conference/content/Lets_talk_about_diversity.pdf




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Psycho-Veda-Going Back to My Roots

Posted by: Priya Senroy on October 25, 2013 4:02 pm
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It was a fascinating topic of discussion….something has stimulated me a degree that perhaps I will delve into studying it. I never knew that such a term existed. So when I first heard it, my first question was what is Psycho Veda. So here is a definition. According to the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, an article on this topic describes that when we integrate the contemporary art of psychotherapy with the ancient science of Ayurveda, it becomes a powerful combination that is called Psycho Veda. Ayurveda has its own identity as most ancient and traditional System of Medicine in India. Integrating Psychotherapy and Vedic principles teaches us how to rediscover critical knowledge and awareness of the natural forces and rhythms that compliment and strengthen our human experience, through the understanding of the psyche and what our inner experiences are and also involving practical daily activities with thorough attention to our total environment to bring about radical changes in our mental outlook and improve physical health. So what does it confirm for me as a counsellor from Indian background-that it is possible to make counselling relative to the client-no matter how western the concept is, no matter how the nature of immigration is, I am sure counsellors whose background and clients are as diverse as mine, will be able to find that connection between their own culture and the modern notions of counselling/ psychiatry/ psychotherapy and integrate them into their practice-just requires going back to your roots.




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

End of Summer

Posted by: Priya Senroy on September 30, 2013 10:06 am
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Hello Counsellors….

Hope you had great summer… for me… It was a time for letting o as well as acquiring new information to sustain me during the Canadian Winter Hibernation….. I had the opportunity to attend events and workshops through-out the summer and as part of my work, I attended a settlement service event here in Toronto which was attended by service providers from as far as PEI and Manitoba.

We as counselors working with diversity are always looking for best practices that we can incorporate into our exiting work and also trying not to reinvent the wheel. In one such chance encounter, I came across the Aurora Therapy Program for Immigrant and Refugee Families, who are based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and are also featured in the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website. I got to meet eh ‘therapists;’ and was enriched by the work that they are doing.  Its a new program and this is how they describe w=the need for its existence in their website:  The new Therapy Program for Immigrant and Refugee Families came about as a result of our efforts to become more involved with our surrounding community. We recognized that there was a large part of this community that we had not been able to serve due to various obstacles, including language, cultural differences, and the stigma many members of refugee and immigrant communities associate with mental health issues (Aurora Family Therapy Centre).

I get the opportunity to work with immigrants and refugees and have often been approached to support issues like Your Family Support Counsellor provides support for:

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Counselling Obtsacles for the Immigrant

Posted by: Hailing Huang on August 30, 2013 2:41 pm
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The obstacles of receiving counselling service that many people are facing today such as high cost, long waiting list, and distant location are also the obstacles for immigrant population.  As for the immigrant population, there is another obstacle that they have to face is that  they lack of the knowledge about counselling. Most of immigrant do not receive or heard of this kind of services in the countries that they came from; counselling services are an unfamiliar term for them to grab.

During the past 30 years, counselling topics have branched out to many areas of life issues such as: parenting, communication skills, self-esteem and others. Counselling services no longer focuses on pathological issues, dysfunctional patterns, personality disorders or mood disorders, depression and anxieties. At the same time, the immigrant population does not have the same lever of understanding about counselling as North American’s populations have. 

In order to invite immigrants to receive counselling, immigrants have to be educated first.  Education also means focusing on prevention instead of intervention, with the knowledge of self care, they could integrate into local culture more smoothly with fewer struggles and become more efficient in the workforce for society.

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

‘ISMS’ of my Counselling Practice

Posted by: Priya Senroy on August 14, 2013 3:13 pm
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As summer is slowly slipping away from our hands, I have been trying to make the most of the weather, the culture as well as firing my neurons—almost like buffering up for the colder months. I have been trying to diversify my counselling portfolio, trying to work with clients from different areas and also keep my private practice alive.

One of the dilemmas that I face often-I do not know if it is self imposed or it is circumstantial …it has to  do with refusing  clients who are not able to pay my fees at all. I have often done pro bono work  on one hand  that always challenges me financially and on the other hand  I am trying to break down the  ‘isms’ and always looking at the ways in which to accommodate clients irrespective of their  socio-econominc status. I always feel at the back of my mind that financial    affordability should not stop me from offering my services.  Many clients are on welfare and some of them are just poor and I refer them to free services…. so does that mean that in some way I am biased and that I have issues with ‘classism’. There is also a vast amount of literature exploring the role of class in terms of psychotherapy. Proctor (2002) writes clients are more likely to be poorer than their therapists and from a working class rather than middle class background. Tidwell (1992) argues that crisis counselling is the preferred format of therapy for the underclass with an emphasis in therapy upon issues which she sees are significant, for example issues around low income, health problems and stressful life events. She argues it is the preferred format because it is inexpensive, brief and symptom oriented.  I do not know if that is the most appropriate way of delivering the service but if clients who really need my service and can’t pay $100 an hour, am I not  practicing what I am  advocating, that being free of ‘isms’ in my practice? Well that is something for me to explore for the rest of the summer.

Reference

http://www.karunatherapy.co.uk/files/Diversity.pdf




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Tea or Coffee? Use of Ceremonies in Counselling

Posted by: Priya Senroy on July 12, 2013 1:05 pm
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The best thing about my supervision is the warm beverage that my supervisor offers and no matter how my mood is, the beverage is always comforting and an instant conversation starter. So I have been following the same ritual with my clients and its magical how tea, coffee or even hot chocolate breaks the barrier.  Doesn’t matter what the choice is, irrespective of the race, the culture, the gender, the issues….that’s the best icebreaker I have seen. I was sharing this with another counsellor who is from East Africa and she introduced me something unique that I have never heard before but made so much sense-and that is what I enjoy about practicing in Toronto, with its rich diverse background of professionals who bring with them a plethora of information. So I got introduced to the Kaffa Ceremony Intervention, which is an unique, culturally appropriate, group counseling intervention and was used for working with female East African refugees. My colleague shared that she happened to be part of the group being a refugee herself .So researching   about this intervention; I came upon an article from UNESCO. The authors describe the Kaffa or coffee ceremony similar to the traditions of the Native American talking circle. The article can be read at http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/e-forum/EbscohostTVET.pdf.  I am now more curious to find out about the different tea/coffee ceremonies that exist and also find out any underlying therapeutic content and I think when we talk about multicultural counselling, it makes sense to be aware of why we use certain techniques, where did they originate from and use it more in culturally appropriate manner when it is in a social context or in counselling.




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Report Cards – To Praise or Not to Praise?

Posted by: Hailing Huang on July 9, 2013 4:05 pm
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The end of June has arrived, and with it is the end of another school year; kids bring home their report cards with joy or with sorrow. Chinese parents, whether they are in China or in Canada, always seem attentive to their children’s report card.

A few days ago, I spoke with a friend in Fuzhou China, she said: “This is the last year of my son’s elementary school, even though he performed well during the whole school year, the last exam will determine which school he will go to for junior high.” The last exam means a lot for students and their parents in China. Yesterday, a local Chinese parent, asked me: “Do you mind if your daughter get Bs?”  It seems Chinese parents are always on the alert when it comes to their children’s grades.

This phenomenon reminds me of Amy Chua, the author of ‘Tiger Mom’, when she said, that she demands excellence from her daughters; she assumes the strength rather than fragility. We may not agree with Amy Chua’s harsh discipline, but the reason behind her action may ring a bell for most Chinese mothers: the common desire of having high academic expectations for their children.

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

RESPECTFUL Counselling Cube

Posted by: Priya Senroy on June 28, 2013 3:44 pm
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Hello readers, in my effort to learn new skills  and incorporate  that in my practice, I was recently introduced to something called the RESPECTFUL Counselling Cube.  I am still in the process of integrating it in my practice and if anyone has tried it successfully I would be interested in learning more.

The RESPECTFUL counselling framework is a model that introduces a new way of perceiving individuals who are involved in the practice of counseling – those seeking assistance and practitioners such as counselors and psychologists. This framework involves two basic assumptions. The first involves the belief that the eventual aim of counseling is to enhance and develop the client’s improvement in all aspects. The second involves the recognition of the fact that human development is complex, multidimensional, and unique. Both assumptions are essential in addressing the needs of adolescents, who are considered to be a vulnerable population in today’s society

The RESPECTFUL framework can be applied in the counseling especially because it focuses on the following factor ‘s of an individual ‘s development (R ) religious-spiritual identity (E ethnic-cultural-racial background (S ) sexual identity (P psychological maturity (E ) economic class background (C chronological-developmental challenges (T ) threats to one ‘s personal well-being (F ) family history and dynamics (U ) unique physical characteristics , and (L ) location of residence (D ‘Andrea Daniels 2000).

More information can be found in

 http://www.counseling.org/Resources/Library/VISTAS/2009-V-Print/Article%204%20LeBeaufSmabyMaddux.pdf

www.coedu.usf.edu/zalaquett/mt/Building%20Multicultural%20Allies

This video is also informative

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jYY_flbZ3o




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA