DIALOGUE AND UNIVERSAUSM

No. 5-6/2006

Maryann Krieglstein

SPIRITUALITY AND SOCIAL WORK

ABSTRACT

In discussing social work and spirituality this paper will: list social work's core val-
ues, language, and personal qualities that connect to spirituality; give a brief historical
perspective that has led to social work's struggle with the concepts of "religion" and
"spirituality"; explain the present position of social work toward religion and spirituality
and examine some of the controversies; present some current definitions of "religion"
and "spirituality"; define different types of spirituality; and end with the concept of
"relational spirituality" and its connection to social work.
Key words: religion; spirituality; relational spirituality; secular spirituality.

Spirituality is not a thing. It is not an object that can be iden-

tified as something one possesses. It is a process, a growth
experience. If someone thinks they have achieved spirituality,
they have probably lost it. One has it only as long as one is
striving for it. ...As long as we continue to improve ourselves
we are spiritual. If we lose the momentum for growth and be-
come stagnant, baser human inclinations toward gratifica-
tion and comfort are certain to arise and work against spiri-
tual life. In spirituality, the searching is the finding, the pur-
suit is the achievement.
Dr Abraham Twerske

INTRODUCTION

Before I begin this paper I wish to give my stance—a Feminist stance. I

speak my own truth based on my world view, my teaching and practice experi-
ence as a social worker in the United States and my reading of the social work
literature on this topic. As is common with a feminist stance I will often use the
first person "I". I write from the perspective of an American social worker prac-
22 Maryann Krieglstein

ticing in the United States and I understand that some, but certainly not all, of
the aspects of this article translate to social work in other countries.

SOCIAL WORK CORE VALUES

Social Work is based on 6 core values: service, social justice and a respect
for diversity, the dignity and worth of each person, the importance of human
relationships, integrity and competence (Kirst-Ashnan & Hull, 2006). All of
these enter into the present discussion of spirituality within social work.

SOCIAL WORK LANGUAGE

Social Work language is also very connected to the discussion of spirituality.

Some of the key terms are: rapport, connectedness, trust, empathy, centering,
communication, whole person, strength based. Feminism has given social work
the concepts of demystification of the process and power sharing. A constructiv-
ist approach, where it is recognized that people create their own realities, is also
very important.
In assisting clients it is important to recognize that we all do what we need to
do at any given moment in time in order to meet our needs—the concept of
"mistake" is only in retrospect. People need better awareness, knowledge, re-
sources, and skills in order to make choices that will enhance their lives. These
are what social workers try to help their clients increase.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR EFFECTIVE PRACTICE

Social workers need to be reflective when they are engaged with clients.
This is an ongoing process-engage, act/speak, reflect, engage etc. Openness and
flexibility on the part of the social vi>orker are major aspects of this process as is
the need to be comfortable with ambiguity. Social Workers need a sense of the
dialectic. Research has shown that the personal characteristics of the helper are
largely responsible for the success of the process of helping. Good communica-
tion, including active listening, is the key (Kirst-Ashnan & Hull, 2006; Wood-
side & McClam, 2006).

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

The struggle going on in social work today, in regards to religion and spiri-
tuality, has its roots in social work's early beginnings in the 19th century and its
connection- then to various Christian social movements. The friendly visitors
who wanted to help the poor improve their lives were often very moralistic and
ethnocentric in their expectations of "appropriate" behavior. Helping was often
based on categories of "deserving" and "undeserving". When social work be-
 Spirituality and Social Work 23

came professionalized in the 20th century it made a concentrated effort to leave

its moralizing Christian roots behind. Religion and proselytizing were seen as
incompatible with its new mission. Medicine and psychology, with their em-
phasis on science and empirical research, were the new standards to strive for
and religion had no place in this new perspective. What happened, as so often
does when change occurs, is that the "baby was thrown out with the bath wa-
ter". Anything related to religion was seen as bad and to be deleted from social
work. It was a secular profession and religion had no place. As social work
"grew up" and moved away from trying to copy medicine and psychology it
began to realize that this "hands off stance on religion was incompatible with
what social workers were actually doing in the field and definitely no longer
compatible with its current mission and philosophy (Kirst-Ashnan & Hull,
2006; Rice, 2002; Woodside & McClam, 2006).
Individual social workers in their daily jobs realized the importance of religion
and spirituality in the lives of many of their clients. Those who worked in hospice
care, nursing homes and hospitals were especially cognoscente of this. On a daily
basis crisis workers dealt with death and grief, yet their social work education had
not prepared them to address the religious/spiritual aspects of these processes.
This is where we are today in social work—trying to sort it all out.

SOCLiiL WORKS' POSITION TODAY

Today these issues are being address in schools of social work and in the
field in general. In 1994, after much debate. The American Council on Social
Work Education (CSWE) included religion as one of the dimensions of human
diversity that needs to be addressed in social work education. The National As-
sociation of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics also supports this stance in
its statement that social workers are to be sensitive to diverse religious and
spiritual traditions and beliefs (NASW, 1999). CSWE's revised curriculum
policy statement (2003) strengthened the need for social workers to include a
person's religious and spiritual dimensions when doing an assessment. Many
American schools of social work now offer classes on spirituality and religion
and the connection to social work practice (Miller, 2001). Several professional
associations have formed to address these issues in social work including The
Society for Spirituality and Social Work. The Journal of Spirituality and Social
Work; Social Thought was begun as a means of furthering the discussion of this
topic. The holistic approach of looking at the whole person, including religion,
is a standard in today's social work education.
Just because the profession is addressing these concepts, however, does not
mean the conflict within the profession has gone away. In 2001 an article in The
Chronicle of Higher Education ,debating whether Social Work should include
education about religion and spirituality in its curriculum, engendered heated
debate both pro and con (Miller, 2001). How these terms are defined, how ad-
24 Maryann Krieglstein

dressing them actually works in practice and the connection to the individual
social worker's belief system are still open to debate. The old fear of proselytiz-
ing is still evident in the discussion as is the concem about being "professional"
and basing treatments on evidence-based practices rather than beliefs that can-
not be proven empirically (Rice, 2002; Miller, 2001). The remainder of this
paper will address these issues.

RELIGION

Religion, for the most part, is seen as a structure—a set of formal beliefs and
doctrines—mles and regulations of what you need to do to live a good life—to
be "saved". These are proscribed by others; do's and don't often attributed to a
divine being. The control here is external to the person. Canda & Furman
(1999) connect religion to spirituality in defining it as "... an institutionalized
pattem of beliefs, behaviors, and experiences, oriented toward spiritual concerns
and shared by a community and transmitted over time in traditions" (p. 73).
Many people enter social work with strong religious beliefs. This is often what
draws them to join a profession whose main purpose is helping others. The
question then arises as to whether a social worker can maintain their own reli-
gious beliefs while being open to the religious worldviews of others. Social
work answers this with the idea that the helping process "is not about you", it is
about the individual or group you are working with, that you are serving. This
does not mean you have to believe as others do it just means that you under-
stand and respect their beliefs and you never proselytize. You understand that
the "dignity and worth of each person" includes their religious beliefs and that
you have to take these into consideration as you work with them. CSWE's 1994
and 2003 statements discussed earlier added "religion" to the aspects that define
"human diversity" making this part of social work's core values.
Because religion often has such passionate followers, however, questions
still remain. What about when your religious beliefs go against the very tenants
and values of social work? A current topic where this comes up is that of sexual
orientation. Many religions condemn anyone who is not heterosexual and many
social work students who follow these religions struggle with this. The profes-
sion points to its core value of "social justice and respect for diversity" as well
as the many statements it it's code of ethics that social workers cannot discrimi-
nate against people based on sexual orientation and indeed, are to educate them-
selves about this and other minority populations and work toward reducing dis-
crimination (CSWE, 2003; NASW, 1999). Because religion is a stmcture with
extemal rules and regulations, and social work is a secular profession it is not
expected that these conflicts will go away any time soon. Social Work as a pro-
fession, however, is very firm in its commitment to social justice and anti-
discrimination. Being a social worker is not a right given to all. It is for those
who can agree to follow its core principles and code of ethics.
 Spirituality and Social Work 25

Jaffer (2003) describes one's belief system from a social constmctivist

stance. "We are all on the same road—just riding in different cars. It does not
matter which road you are on as long as the path moves you forward and allows
you to live a good moral life from your perspective of these concepts " (p. 147).
This stance is much better suited to spirituality than religion and we will see
that the above mentioned stmggles with religion and social work do not neces-
sarily apply to spirituality and social work.

SPIRITUALITY

Spirituality is not connected to extemal control—it is self defined. Canda

and Furman (1999) explain it as a sense of meaning, purpose, and connected-
ness. It cannot be contained within any specific ideological system but is rather
an essential aspect of being. Spirituality is existentially subjective, non local,
and transrational by its very nature (Cowley and Derezotes 1994). Even an athe-
ist can have a profound spiritual life because "being spiritual" is neither a state-
ment of belief per se nor a measure of church attendance (Bloomfield, 1980).

Spirituality is the Gestalt of the total process of human life and development,
encompassing the biological, mental, social and spiritual aspects. In particular,
spirituality is concemed with the distinctively spiritual aspects of human ex-
perience as it is interwoven with all the other aspects. The spiritual aspect refers
to experience of a quality of sacredness and meaningfulness in self, other peo-
ple, the nonhuman world, and the ground of being (as conceived in theistic,
nontheistic, or atheistic terms) (Canda, 1988, p. 43).
Abels (2000) defines spirituality as a desire for social justice and respect
for all persons regardless of their circumstances. She connects it to the social
work concepts of equality, autonomy, human development and privacy. Harries
(1998) also links spirituality to social justice and views it as the driving force
that sustains her social work practice. Vaughan (1991) sees spirituality as en-
hancing the social work concepts of self esteem and personal responsibility.
Social Work is also beginning to address the spiritual relationship between
worker and client as well as the religious/spiritual needs of the client. Canda
(1997) describes a spiritually sensitive practice as a helping relationship in
which the worker links personal and professional growth, engages in dialogue
with clients about their frameworks for meaning and morality, appreciates di-
verse religious and nonreligious expressions of spirituality, supports creative
resolutions of the crisis, and connects with a variety of spiritual resources as
relevant to the client, (p. 299).
The interest in including spirituality into social work practice is definitely
there but the concems about its compatibility with social work's focus on social
justice and the impact on social work's scientific professionalism continue to
influence the debate (Rice, 2002).
26 Maryann Krieglstein

TYPES OF SPIRITUALITY

We can speak of different types of spirituality as part of this discussion.

Some people cannot conceive of spirituality disconnected to religion while oth-
ers see spirituality as an entity in and of itself with no connection to religion.
Because of social work's historic distancing from organized religion, this blur-
ring of boundaries between religion and spirituality becomes problematic as the
profession tries to sort out its present stance (Cascio, 1998).
Most people, when thinking of spirituality, think of a connection to a higher
being; to a deep peace that comes with meditation or to those encounters with a
force large than the self that often seems transformative. I have experienced this
and would definitely call it a sense of spirituality. This can be a solitary experi-
ence, as so well described by Thomas Merton, but there are also the special
moments with others as experienced by the hospice worker at the bedside of the
dying client. While these various aspects of spirituality are certainly being dis-
cussed in social work today there is also another aspect, one that is entwined in
the very nature of social work. This is called Relational Spirituality.

RELATIONAL SPIRITUALITY

Relational Spirituality draws on the social work concepts of working with the
whole person and building empathy (Heron, 2006; Forge, 2002). The whole
person includes their bio-psycho-social-cultural and religious/spiritual aspects.
Empathy is described as entering into the world of those we wish to help. If we
want to understand something we cannot stand on the outside and look in.
When we do this all the knowledge we gain is from our own perspective. When
we view the world from our own paradigms, with all our ethnic and cultural
filters attached, we miss a large part of the client's world. We need to enter
deeply into the lives of those we work with; to become one with them as much
as we can in order to understand their world from their perspective. We need to
leam what words and actions mean in their world. We must really apply the
social work value of "starting where the client is".
Relational spirituality derives from feminist theories of psychological, moral
and spiritual development (Faver, 2004). From this perspective relationships are
the central focus of the helping process, not individuals. It is not our credentials
that mean the most but our ability to form a trusting relationship. Feminist phi-
losopher Carol Ochs (1986, 1997) speaks of the insight of interconnectedness
and the understanding that, in reality, we are all connected to everything. It is
this interconnectedness that relational spirituality draws on. John Heron, (2006),
in describing relational spirituality, talks about the connection between empow-
erment of self and others as part of the development of a moral life. This is in
contrast to the usual focus on spirituality as an individual act of inner transfor-
mation. Here it is the interconnectedness, the relationship between people, that
 Spirituality and Social Work 27

is the key to the inner transfonnation of consciousness for both the client and
the social worker. Spirituality is the process of coming into relationship with the
reality of the other (Ochs, 1997).
Relational spirituality is useful not only for a better understanding of clients
but also for giving the social worker a sense of purpose. Social workers work
with clients who are experiencing very difficult situations, often in great physi-
cal and/or psychological pain. This can take a toll on the worker. Ochs (1986)
suggests that strengthening one's relatedness to others and to sources of mean-
ing beyond self interest increases one's capacity to care and supports both the
social worker and the client through the helping process. She calls it social work
sustained through relatedness rather than through success
As humans, our perspectives are limited by our life stories. Each of us needs
the perspectives and contributions of others because we are all radically interde-
pendent. Entering into relationships—into the reality of others—involves recog-
nizing our need for other people whose perspectives compliment, challenge, and
expand our own. Spirituality requires openness to others' reality, others' perspec-
tives, which entails honesty and non-defensiveness, and a commitment to ongoing
self-awareness and value clarification (Ochs, 1997; Rice 2002). The worker client
relationship is the key to promoting a spiritual connection. It involves "... inclu-
sivity, creativity, ethical practice, respect and acceptance, client self-
determination and starting where the client is (Rice 2002, p. 311).
This process of interconnectedness in working with clients is a dialectic one.
The social worker must focus on both the relationship with the client and the
information received in the process of forming this relationship. We do not want
to lose the client by focusing solely on the problem (Noddings, 1984) nor do we
want to focus totally on the relationship and miss the opportunities within to
assist the client. It is this back and forth balance between receptivity and analy-
sis that is a powerful force in the empowerment of clients. Within this process it
is the openness and receptivity to the other that sustains the worker and the cli-
ent through the process of helping. This connectedness is the spiritual and can
take place in spite of the circumstances of the client or the worker. It is the
dance that is important.
A relational spirituality perspective is in tune with social work's emphasis on
non discrimination and respect for diversity and refiects the reality of today's
struggles for social justice (Smith, 1996). If you regard spirituality primarily as an
individual endeavor "... such as meditative attainment, then you can have the
gross anomaly of a 'spiritual' person who is an interpersonal oppressor, and the
possibility of 'spiritual' traditions that are oppression-prone" (Heron, 2006). Heron
describes relational spirituality as developmentally, psychosomatically, epistemo-
logically and ontologically holistic. As such it allows the social worker great
latitude in building relationships with individuals from diverse walks of life. It
keeps us away from the dogma and moralistic judgments of traditional religion yet
opens up the space to meet the "other" on their own religious and/ or spiritual path.
28 Maryann Krieglstein

Relational spirituality gives us an inclusive, non-sectarian, secular conceptu-

alization of spirituality. It helps us move away from the historical debate of
religion/spirituality as the imposition of an external moral doctrine and into a
dialogue of spirituality as a way of being that infuses the entire social
worker/client relationship (Canda & Furman, 1999; Rice, 2002)
Relational spirituality gives us hope for the future in spite of the many con-
flicts we see around us. It challenges us to develop and use our interpersonal
skills to engage others in dialogue and to use this dialogue, these connections, to
transform ourselves, others and the world (Faver, 2004, Heron, 2006).

CONCLUSION

I will close by bringing the discussion back to the feminist personal. For my-
self, my spirituality is the bedrock of who I am. It developed from religion but
soon outgrew it. It does not have a specific ideology other than openness to the
present. It is a process and not an end in itself. It is continuously challenged and
strengthened by encounters with others, especially those who are significantly
different from myself in some way. It requires a constant introspection and ac-
tion and is an incredibly joyful and rewarding journey.
Jaffer (2003) in writing about her long struggle to regain her sanity from a
place of deep depression resulting from her torture under apartheid writes:
I find it odd that intelligent human beings are entirely comfortable with the
notion of making time for intellectual development through study, playing
sports or exercising for physical development but question the need to dedicate
time to nurture and develop their spiritual dimension (p. 147).

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR — a Ph.D. in Social Worker from the University of Illinois at
Chicago; presently Assistant Professor in Human Services at the College of DuPage in
Glen Ellyn Illinois. Prior to this she taught in the BSW and MSW programs at Aurora
University. She is a certified Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis counselor and has
worked extensively in these fields. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Women and
Gender Studies and has worked for many years with sexual minority populations. She
has published several articles and presented at many conferences. Her passion is work-
ing on issue of peace and justice and those of concern to women and children. She and
her partner Werner have raised five feminist sons.