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