Chapter 7 — Responding to questions from Rwanda, India and Brazil
In this chapter, practitioners from Rwanda, India and Brazil, pose a series of questions to Tamailieutu Kiwi Tamasese and Charles Waldegrave and they respond.
The first question relates to spirituality.
Spirituality from the perspective of the Family Centre
Spirituality posed a considerable problem for us at The Family Centre. We had formed a cultural partnership of Māori, Pacific Island and Pakeha (European) workers and developed an agency that was determined to honour the cultures, address our colonial history and develop new expressions of equity. Spirituality posed a major problem for us, because in the European world it is largely viewed as a personal matter that has no role in the work place. Whereas for our Māori and Samoan colleagues it was inconceivable to consider health and wellbeing as ever being disconnected from overt expressions of spirituality.
In the following video, Rwandan practitioner Kalisa Joseph asks the Just Therapy team about their perspective on spirituality and Tamailieutu Kiwi Tamasese responds.
Photo credit: Kasia Waldegrave
Further reading:
- Grappling with a contemporary and inclusive spirituality by Charles Waldegrave
- A spiritual prison tale by Warihi Campbell
How can we move therapy beyond beyond individual considerations?
Indian practitioner, Maya Sen, asks ‘What are some small actions that we can take as mental health workers that widen the scope of therapeutic interventions to include structural considerations? What are some small steps we can take to move therapy beyond individual considerations?’
Photo credit: Kasia Waldegrave
Belonging, sacredness and liberation working together
Lúcia Helena Assis, from Brazil, asks about how the Just Therapy principles are relevant when working with communities of multi-ethnicities, spiritualities and cultures. Tamailieutu Kiwi Tamasese and Charles Waldegrave respond in relation to the significance of belonging, sacredness and liberation always being considered in relationship to each other.
Photo credit: Kasia Waldegrave
Chapter 7 references
Campbell, W. (2003). A spiritual prison tale. In C. Waldegrave, T. K. Tamasese, F. Tuhaka & W. Campbell (Eds.), Just Therapy – a journey. A collection of papers from the Just Therapy Team, New Zealand (pp. 167). Dulwich Centre Publications.
Waldegrave, C. (2003). Grappling with a contemporary and inclusive spirituality. In C. Waldegrave, T. K. Tamasese, F. Tuhaka & W. Campbell (Eds.), Just Therapy – a journey. A collection of papers from the Just Therapy Team, New Zealand (pp. 161-166). Dulwich Centre Publications.
