I was reading a novel recently and paused at the description of a character possessing a ‘nurse’s equanimity.’1 It stayed with me because it captured something that I have often felt in the presence of healthcare workers: an imprecise combination of straightforwardness, non-judgment, and fortitude. This is the archetypal strength and calm that has moved the nation throughout the pandemic.
To me, there is something spiritual about this, and I think that the therapeutic connection is made of the very same stuff. In this issue, I feel it running through Kathryn Lock-Giddy’s account of her work with students. She talks about offering ‘open curiosity’ and ‘a sense of witnessing’. She also highlights this quality in university chaplains, whom she describes as ‘...facilitators in talking about all things, including the difficult’.
Myira Khan shares how she creates the right inner environment for such work to take place with clients. She draws upon her psychodynamic training and combines it with spiritual practices, such as empathy and stillness. The client, in turn, senses this depth of presence. Because the thing about being with someone in this way is that it carries forward. I’ve been lucky to experience this with my therapist. I absorbed her equanimity, week in, week out, and at some sacred point noticed a version of my own. In Reflections, Alex Holmes shares his account of entering therapy, and subsequently training to work with others.
I repeatedly hear, and read, that clients must be able to bring their whole selves to a therapeutic conversation –and the right kind of presence enables that. But delicate work that touches a person’s spirit is less easy to substantiate or quantify. Chaplain, Philip Evans, shares the steps he has taken to change this. Informed by a previous career developing performance measurements in Whitehall, he set about creating an outcome measure to evidence the impact of spirituality on patients at the mental health charity where he works.
BACP Spirituality division is also keen to demonstrate the important role spirituality plays in counselling and psychotherapy. In May, as part of BACP’s research conference, the division invited researchers at all stages of their journey to discuss what researching spirituality is like for them. The division would like to set up regular conversations like this for the spirituality research community. Please get in touch and let us know about your research and what you would like to see in place to support you.
If you're looking for some new CPD material, check out the Thresholds podcast. Our first interview is with Cedric Speyer, who talks about his psychospiritual model. The next one, which is coming soon, features Alison Paris, who will be discussing integrating theoretical and spiritual approaches to grief.
Amy McCormack, Editor
thresholds.editorial@bacp.co.uk
