Growing as Good Practitioners--3. Developing Guidelines for Good Practice

Lecture Three

The Pearls and the Perils:

Developing Guidelines for Good Practice

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Stay tuned for more information on the free lecture articles and videos that will be on-line.

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Here is a summary of the third lecture.
Developing Guidelines for Good Practice

“I believe in discretion, not confidentiality.” “I’m too busy to follow-up that difficult matter—give me a break!” “This mistake must not discredit us by coming into public view.” Member care is a broad field with a wide range of practitioners and perspectives on what is ethically permissible. As this field continues to grow, it is important to offer guidelines to further clarify and shape good practice. In this presentation we will explore several ethical principles and human rights commitments to upgrade the quality of the supportive care that we offer mission/aid staff. We consider five types of guidelines: member care worker commitments, sending group principles, ethical rationalizations, specific ethics codes, and human rights principles. Ethical care is a mentality, a practice, and a commitment, based on moral law.

Growing as Good Practitioners--2. Promoting Health and Managing Dysfunction

Lecture Two
The Pearls and the Perils:
Promoting Health and Managing Dysfunction
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Stay tuned for more information on the free lecture articles and videos that will be on-line.
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Here is a summary of the second lecture.

Promoting Health and Managing Dysfunction

“Yesterday he prayed for me, today he preyed on me.” This presentation explores two important and overlooked areas for health in mission/aid. They are the role of human dysfunction (problems from significant weakness/wrongness, e.g., leadership abuse, psychological disorders, moral failure, harassment) and the role of discipline (correction to restore people/organizations which violate others e.g., independent reviews, counseling, recovery programs, remedial training, and dismissals). Further developing our capacity in these two areas is fundamental for safeguarding workers/senders and maintaining effective operations. We will look at five essential resources for personal/organizational health: conflict resolution guidelines, discipline/restoration procedures, organizational assessments, human resource departments, and whistle-blowing protection. We will also reflect on ways to upgrade friendships/trust among colleagues as we review perspectives from Sirach, Francis of Assisi, Machiavelli, and Orwell.

Growing as Good Practitioners--1. Staying Healthy in Difficult places

Lecture One

The Pearls and the Perils:

Staying Healthy in Difficult Places

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We want to dedicate the next three entries to the many graduate and undergraduate students that we recently met, while teaching in California in February. We are writing this after the fact, in March, as we were way too busy to keep up with the weblog while in California. How neat to meet and interact with so many students from Fuller Seminary, St Thomas College (Houston), Rosemead School of Psychology, Azusa Pacific University, and Bethel Seminary.

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May you find the clear way, with God's help, through the deserts and fertile plains of higher education, as you head towards work as mental health profesionals. Stay tuned for more information on the free lecture articles and videos that will be on-line.

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Here is a summary of the first lecture.

Staying Healthy in Difficult Places

Opportunities, danger, duty, hell. Staying sane—and alive—in unstable, crazy places is a serious challenge for mission/aid workers. In this presentation we’ll explore how the member care field helps workers manage such challenges. The foci include: an historical overview, struggles of workers, supportive resources, and future directions. We’ll look at how mission/aid personnel, like many of the people with whom they work, are exposed to malaria, land mines, natural disasters, debilitating relational conflicts, and the ongoing experience of human misery and poverty. We’ll examine how mission/aid workers and their sending groups must cooperate together in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance: adequate preparation, positive health behaviors, support for workers’ families, debriefing, crisis counseling, and training opportunities. We’ll review some personal accounts by mission/aid workers from around the world, and consider how best to practice member care in light of future realities, including the development of psychosocial/health skills to work in complex humanitarian emergencies and training member care workers from around the world.

GP2: Good Practice by Good Practitioners

Growing as Good Practitioners

We think that our goal as good practitioners is not primarily growth.

Rather the goal is doing what is helpful in a "right" way.

Here's a few final thoughts on GP2.

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As Christian practitioners, doing what is "right" is intertwined with our desire to be pleasing to God. And doing what is "right" is in line with clear, solid ethical commitments and one's sense of "duty". See some of the earlier blog entries for more information/discussion about ethics. Plus stay tuned for an expanded article on "ethics and human rights in member care."

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We know so many mission/aid workers and member care practitioners, who in their commitment to please God and serve humans, end up in some dire straits. They seem to "bear on their bodies the wounds of Christ," as Paul said of himself in Galatians 6: 17. And so many bear wounds on their souls too.

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Well-done.

Thank you for your examples of good practice!

We are heading to California now to talk more about such things.

GP2: Good Practice by Good Practitioners

Growing as Good Practitioners:
Practicing Positive Psychology

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On-line Tools

Here is a link to some on-line tools from the field of "Positive Psychology".

http://www.authentichappiness.org/

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These tools are free, and mostly include self-report inventories. One of our personal favourites is the "VIA Signature Strengths Questionnaire". The link for this tool is found on the home page. It measures 24 important character strengths, categorised in terms of six "virtues."

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These tools are easy to use and can be quite enjoyable! They can help you in our self-understanding and hence personal growth. They can also be used as part of our member care work with mission/aid workers. Note: You need to register on the site in order to have access to these tools. Registration is quick and easy.

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Articles

Also on the home page of the above site, you will see a link to some articles.

1. One article reviews some research on the effectiveness of "Positive Psychology". The quote below is from this article and it briefly describes what this field is about.

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2. This field or "Positive Psychology" ("the science of happiness") has also been featured as a cover story on Time Magazine (January 17, 2005). We are grateful to Dr. Martin Seligman and his colleagues who have heped to pioneer this new and devloping field in psychology.

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Quote:

"Positive psychology is an umbrella term for the study of positive emotions, positive character traits, and enabling institutions. Research findings from positive psychology are intended to supplement, not remotely to replace, what is known about human suffering, weakness, and disorder. The intent is to have a more complete and balanced scientific understanding of the human experience—the peaks, the valleys, and everything in between. We believe that a complete science and a complete practice of psychology should include an understanding of suffering and happiness, as well as their interaction, and validated interventions that both relieve suffering and increase happiness—two separable endeavors."

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Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions

Selgman, Steen, Park, and Peterson

American Psychologist, July-August 2005, p. 410

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Reflection and Discussion

1. Visit http://www.authentichappiness/

Take an inventory, do it with a friend if you want, discuss it, and grow!

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2. Read one of the articles mentioned above.

How could you use some of the perspectives/approaoches of the Positive Psychology in your member care work?