alexandru neagoe, phd the west university of timisoara, romania
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Developing Spiritually Sensitive Social Work
Education and Practice in Romania
Alexandru Neagoe, PhDThe West University of Timisoara, Romania
I. Integrating spirituality and social work: a general framework
II. The case and the context for spiritually sensitive social work in Romania
III. A pilot project in the West University of Timisoara: a master’s program in values, spirituality and social work
Outline of the presentation
I. Integrating spirituality and social work: a general framework
Secularist approaches, arguing for the exclusion of any religious elements in the social work practice
Integrationist approaches, arguing for the value of paying attention to religion and spirituality in the study and practice of social work – see the growing amount of literature addressing this issue
Current tendencies
The historical role of religious communities and individuals in providing social care
Religiously-oriented institutions as the cradle of professional social work initiatives and schools
The role of religion as a motivating factor for many social care providers
The social care incentives of many foundational texts of world religions
Historical connections
The importance of systemic approaches in social studies and social services
The resulting duty of the social worker to see the client’s needs, beliefs and concerns in a systemic way
The importance of spiritual matters for many clients strongly recommends the attention of the professional towards such spiritual factors
The practitioner’s sensitivity to the client’s spiritual needs and concerns
“Strengths-based approaches” in social work are becoming increasingly popular
Such approaches suggest that the social worker must identify and build on any “strong points” of the client’s system (i.e. any points which can act as a resource for the client’s resilience)
Religious beliefs, spiritual practices and faith communities provide in many cases such strong points on which the practitioner should encourage the client to build
Strength-based approaches
The call for social care providers to be “culturally competent”
“Cultural competence” is regarded as essential in matters related to race, gender, sexual orientation, minority groups, etc.
Religion and spirituality are closely connected with the client’s culture and must therefore be of interest to the professional
Cultural competence
A good professional should be attentive not only to the belief-system of the client but also to his/her own
The assumption that the professional can be neutral in his practice (in the sense that she does not allow her personal beliefs to influence her professional practice) is a delusion, if not a sign of naivity
Critical self-awareness implies that the professional be aware and critical of the way his may influence his professional practice
The practitioner’s need for critical self-awareness; the delusion of neutrality
Any plea for the integration of faith and social work must not assume that such a venture leads automatically to a “happy marriage”
Some of the most common pitfalls are perhaps◦ Religious proselytism◦ Blackmailing: conditioning certain benefits on the
client’s acceptance of the social worker’s faith ◦ Manipulation: exploiting one’s position of power in
relation to the clients as a means of influencing their choices
Warnings and pitfalls
II. The case and the context for spiritually sensitive social work in Romania
The whitewashing of all social probelems and the anti-capitalist propagands (cf. images of capitalism on TV). ◦ The communist regime kept its promise of eliminating class
distinctions between educated and uneducated, between rich and poor: everyone became uneducated and poor!
If there were any people in difficulty (orphans, elderly, people with disabilities etc.), the state took „good care” of them, so that there was no need for the civil society to get involved. The quality of that „care” was revealed to the word after December 1989
Religious/spiritual institutions and ideas were particularly exlcuded from social involvement – in case they mentioned God and thus created competition for the „god” from Bucharest (Ceausescu). ◦ The Romanian communist regime could easily have competed for the
most militant monotheistic religion in the world at the time
Social life under communism (1944-1989)
The high expectations and enthusiasm immediately after the revolution
The gradual discovery of existing social problems, followed by◦ An initial sense of major disappointment◦ The discovery of the need for the civil society to
share the burden of social care◦ The understanding of the need for specialised
professionals (such as social workers)
The 1989 revolution and its aftermath
Almost immediately after the 1989 revolution, virtually all major universities in Romania created a social work department
These departments were soon to become some of the most popular departments of these universities: the abundance of social problems suggested good chances of jobs for the social work graduates
The social work departments became particularly attractive for religiously oriented students
Faith communities started generating a vast number of social work projects◦ As social departments of religious institutions (spanning
Orthodox, Chatholic and Protestant denominations)◦ As independent but faith-based NGO’s
The birth and development of modern social work in Romania
Western identity versus indigenous identity◦ The input of Western models through specialised
literature and personal contacts ◦ The developing sense of need for indigenous
models, to address specifically Romanian issues Dilemmas related to moral and professional
values (typical to the social work profession): issues of confidentiality, self-determination, directive versus non-directive counseling, the rights of the professional versus the rights of the client, etc.
Identity issues - for a teen age profession
The current mood mirrors the ambivalent situation in the world
The reserve (or even hostility) of certain academics and practitioners, following the secularist mood in the world (especially the EU)
Others’ recognition of the need for a spiritually sensitive practice, based on a number of observations pertaining to the Romanian context
The issue of spirituality versus social work
See the statistics from the 2002 census (indicating that over 99% of the population identify themselves at least nominally with a religious group)
See the observance of religious festivals, fasting seasons, importance of religion for one’s identity
First observation: The importance of religion and spirituality within the matrix of the Romanian society
Religious communities in general and Christian communities in particular started playing an important role in social care almost immediately after the collapse of communism (even if the professionalism of the services was not always at its best)
A large percentage of social work clients resort to faith and spirituality as key resources for change and resilience
Many social workers regard their faith as a major source of motivation and inspiration for their practice
Second observation: The specific role of religion and spirituality as key resources for social change
III. A pilot project in the West University of Timisoara: a master’s program in values, spirituality and social work
The need for a thorough and systematic study of the relationship between social work and spirituality
The “double major” in theology and social work◦ Its popularity in several universities (both private
and state-run)◦ Its short history◦ Its typical limitation: studying two virtually
separate sets of disciplines, without truly integrating spirituality and social work
Recognising the need and surveying alternative solutions
In 1997, several Romanian graduates of theology (from UK universities) return to Timisoara, Romania and set up “The Areopagus Centre” – A Centre for Christian Education and Contemporary Culture
The primary vision of the centre was to become◦ a bridge between the Christian faith and the contemporary
society (after several decades of imposed separation between faith and society)
◦ a space for open dialogue among people of different ideas, beliefs and professions (like the Areopagus in ancient Athens)
The additional agenda: to promote this mentality among future opinion makers – including the universities of Timisoara
Making the first steps in a new direction
In 2000 - discussions take place between the leaders of the Areopagus Centre and the head of the Social Work Department of the West University of Timisoara (the largest university of Timisoara, state-run) – Prof. Viorel Prelici
The discussions lead to the idea of postgraduate/master’s program in spirituality and social work
October 2000 - The official start of the program
The birth of the program
Name of the program: “Spiritually oriented social work practice”, changed in 2006 to “Values-centered social work practice”
Length of study: one-year program until 2006; two-years program since 2006
Director of the program: Dr. Viorel Prelici becomes the first director and is replace in 2007 by Dr. Alexandru Neagoe (president of the Aroepagus Centre)
Curriculum: covers a variety of subjects at the junction between social work and religion/spirituality (with a focus on Christian religion, given the makeup of the Romanian society)
Teaching staff: teaching staff from the Social Work Department; several members of the Areopagus staff (mainly Dr. Alexandru Neagoe and Dr. Silviu Rogobete); visiting lecturers from other universities in Romania and abroad
Basic information about the program
Equipping social workers for a spiritually sensitive practice
Assisting church leaders to develop a socially sensitive Christian service
Encouraging young professionals (regardless of the field of their Bachelor’s degree) to reflect on the relationship between their faith and their profession
Main professional goals of the program
In 2007, the Areopagus Centre developed a “Faith and profession” project
The aim of the project is to encourage professionals from individual fields to reflect on the relationship between their profession and their faith
Means of achieving this goal: round tables, networking, publications, conferences
Some professional groups which have already taken part in the project: lawyers, teachers, university lecuters, medical doctors, psychologists, social workers, artists, musicians, taxy drivers, financial advicers
The pilot nature of the program: its relationship to the “Faith and profession” project
Like in many other countries, social work professionals in Romania are divided on the issue of the relationship between social work and spirituality
In addition to general (international) factors, the Romanian contexts indicates additional reasons for a spiritually sensitive social work practice
The master’s program in social work and spirituality of the West University of Timisoara may be regarded as a pilot project for the integration of faith and professional practice
Concluding remarks
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