I've been having some interesting discussions recently with a group of
religious therapists who wanted me to include them in my site's links
page. I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions.
They list one of their aims as "To encourage therapists to integrate
their personal beliefs with their professional practice." I have a major
problem with this. The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for
Occupational Therapists (College of Occupational Therapists, London,
2000) states: "Occupational Therapists have a prime duty to the client
and should not let this duty be influenced by commercial or other
interest that conflicts with this duty..." I interpret "other interests"
to include ideological interests. If this is the case, then it is
unethical for me to allow my Marxism to be "integrated" into my
practice, and likewise christianity, islam or whatever.
They argued that 'a person's belief system is part of who they are as a
human being and is therefore not something that is possible to separate
or "leave at home".' I believe we must make attempts to separate the
personal from the professional. Every day I work with clients who are
into islam, hinduism, christianity, new age nonsense, or whatever. There
are all kinds of anti humanist beliefs out there, but I cannot let my
beliefs affect my practice.
Inasmuch as clients raise religious issues, I believe I have a duty to
attempt to address them in the same way as any other belief system or
cultural issue. This might mean investigating ways for the client to
access a mosque or whatever, but therapists should have no direct
involvement with clients' religious beliefs.
Overall, I just can't see the validity of integrating religion with
practice, any more than I can see that I should integrate my Marxism and
atheism with practice. It would be idiotic to imagine that therapy can
be insulated from ideology -- the very notion that disabled people
should have access to therapy services in the first place is an
ideological one -- but it seems to me that to have a network of
therapists of any particular religion seeking to "integrate personal
beliefs with professional practice" is seeking to influence therapy with
a particularist ideology when we ought to be embracing more
universalist, inclusive ideologies.
Any thoughts?
Mike
http://www.otdirect.co.uk
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