Spirited Practices Spirituality and the Helping Professions

by Gale, Fran; Bolzan, Natalie; McRae-McMahon, Dorothy

• ISBN13: 9781741750614
• ISBN10: 174175061X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-01
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Summary

Spirituality and religion are fundamental to all human cultures. Yet in the helping professions, whose shared objective is to promote human well being, questions of spirituality have often been avoided.

Author Biography

Fran Gale is senior research fellow in the Social Justice Social Change Research Center and lecturer at the University of Western Sydney. Natalie Bolzan is an associate professor of social work at the University of Western Sydney. Dorothy McRae-McMahon has worked as national director for the Mission for the Uniting Church, as a staff member of the NSW Ecumenical Council, and as minister of the Pitt Street Uniting Church. She is the author of Doing Leadership in the 21st Century, Everyday Passions, and Rituals for Life.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. x
Picture Acknowledgments	p. xi
About the editors	p. xii
About the contributors	p. xiii
Introduction Spiritually sensitive helping practices	p. xix
Disconnection	p. 1
Disconnection	p. 3
Helping practices within a strongly defined faith tradition	p. 9
Spirituality and displaced persons	p. 16
Guilt Dorothy	p. 23
Illness/health	p. 31
Healing in Hinduism	p. 33
Aboriginal healing Dreaming and Western medicine	p. 43
Illness	p. 51
Mental health and young people	p. 59
Loss and death	p. 69
Loss and death in Islam	p. 71
Working with children	p. 81
Buddhism, mental illness and loss	p. 92
Violence	p. 101
Working against domestic violence	p. 103
Violence	p. 113
Islamic faith-based counselling	p. 124
Stigma/discrimination	p. 133
A hidden dimension of Indigenous health	p. 135
Social work group practice	p. 142
Cycle of hopelessness/hope	p. 151
A spiritual and political practice for reconciliation	p. 153
Engaging the client through connecting	p. 165
Socially engaged Buddhism	p. 171
Wiccan spiritual practice	p. 178
Transitions	p. 187
Rituals as a support for the life journey	p. 189
Psychotherapy	p. 200
Buddhist and Christian paths to healing	p. 205
Working with prisoners	p. 215
Resistance	p. 221
Eco-spirituality	p. 223
Conclusion 'The end is where we start. . .'	p. 230
Index	p. 234
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