Call for help: Attending to the idea

The call for help came from the social worker involved with the CCPP³¹ in the Franschhoek community³² – requesting worksessions focussed on inner healing to precede personal capacity building and community facilitation sessions.³³ The request originated from the CCPP, but was shaped by the social worker’s explorative investigation in the Franschhoek community. This indicated that the breakdown in community development services did not occurred because of lack of leadership or services. Rather, it could be ascribed to burn-out of people involved in community projects; their being over-burdened (by their responsibilities in their family or community situation); or their believe of being incapable – an attitude most often linked directly to their experience of inner hurt, pain and unresolved past emotional issues.³⁴ Therefore, to enable them to sustain their involvement and contribution to their communities, they needed the opportunity to work through their personal issues and to be equipped to help others similarly.³⁵ It was agreed that the inner or spiritual healing-focus – i.e. working through their inner hurt, pain and unresolved past emotional issues during retreats³⁶ – would precede the capacity building sessions.

31 The Community Care and Protection Plan (CCPP) were initiated during 2002 by the (provincial) Department of Social Services and Poverty Alleviation. The government’s expected outcome for the programme focused on “building families and communities in order to eradicate the root causes of social problems … [by] support[ing] families and communities to take primary responsibility for the care and protection of its vulnerable members through the development and utilization of internal strengths and the elimination of negative factors” (CCPP 2004:2). It was envisaged that this would be obtained in part by assembling community members in action committees representative of the Greater Franschhoek community with the purpose to develop an integrated strategy for addressing child care and protection (Swart, 2008b:1).

32 Franschhoek is a semi-rural town nestled in the mountains of the Western Cape’s wine country.

33 The project manager of the CCPP, Heidi Swart (a social worker).

34 Personal exploratory conversations with the social worker, conducted prior to our direct involvement, Stellenbosch. September, 2006.

35 Cf. the reference to the initial expectation outlined in February 2007: “These workshops should address the obstacles identified in phase 1 (such as traumatised, burnt-out service providers, lack of motivation to work together, etc.)” (Swart, 2008a:5).

36 Inner healing retreats refer to small group worksessions conducted by experienced facilitators over an extended period (usually a weekend) and in a setting that is conducive to silence, relaxation and healing, such as a nature reserve (cf. section 3.4.4.3).

Action research requires alertness – the ability to think differently in the light of changing expectations and needs (cf. Wadsworth, 1998:4). Thus, when faced with the reality of providing an intervention focused on healing within the context of a community, it was clear that the current approach needed to be expanded and refined. For this purpose, a three-pronged approach was followed: reviewing existing information sources (in particular practical theology-literature);³⁷ the study of natural examples (e.g. attendance of experiential workshops); and the identification of functional elements of successful models (cf. De Vos, 2002:405–407).

The researcher’s attendance of various conferences and training opportunities focusing specifically on material for spiritual assessment;³⁸ as well as ‘self-experience’

– going through a series of inner or spiritual healing sessions³⁹ – provided invaluable

‘new’ information, skills and insights. The experiential learning opportunities, such as Grief Recovery⁴⁰ sessions, were deemed essential, since it enabled the studying of natural examples and the familiarisation with the methodology to be utilised during the retreats. Indeed, having undergone an inner healing process, the researcher (and co-facilitators) was better positioned to evaluate the material she encountered and, more important, to relate openly to the participants by means of self-disclosure (cf. De Vos, 2002:406; Staral, 2003:48). With these experiences came an awareness of the sacredness of being allowed into other people’s spaces of inner pain, and the need for treading with the utmost sensitivity and respect, as echoed in these words:

It was very difficult to share – to find someone to take into confidence, but today I felt I could use this group as an opportunity.⁴¹

The initial capacity building interventions were based on a community enrichment practice model, adapted from Lewis and Lewis (1990).⁴² The gradual modification of

37 Cf. Chapter 5 for in-depth discussion of the integration of literature of the disciplines of practical theology, spirituality and social work community development resulting from the literature search.

38 June 21–23, 2007: Second North American Conference on Spirituality and Social Work, Dominican University, Chicago; June 02–05, 2006: Grief Recovery, The Grief Recovery Institute, Niagara Falls, Canada; May 25–27, 2006: First North American Conference on Spirituality and Social Work, Rennison College, Windsor, Canada; and October 2004: 54th Convention and Training Conference of the North American Association of Christians in Social Work, Sheraton Reston Hotel, Reston, VA.

39 The Battle belongs to the Lord Conference, Ellel Ministries, Doxa Deo, East Campus, Pretoria, February 28–March 2, 2003. Participated in spiritual-healing sessions with both Peter and Fiona Horrobin (2003) and Christo Cloete (2003).

40 Cf. footnote 38.

41 Participant of a healing retreat, IPSO Weekend Retreat for Community Caregivers (FH2), 16–18 November 2007 at Olyfhuis, Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch.

42 Adapted by the researcher in fulfilment of the master’s degree in social work (Kirsten, 1992:66–77;

124–127).

the intervention framework – i.e. the assimilation of a healing component – was informed by insights forthcoming both from praxis and the (continued) literature review. The approach to spiritual healing (incorporated in the work with the pilot group and initial capacity building work) originated from various Christian inner healing models and approaches (cf. Horrobin, 1994; Cloete & Cloete, 2003). These models, however, had limitations in the work with communities. The growing awareness of the need for involvement on a spiritual level or within the spiritual dimension of people’s lives urged the addition of functional elements and techniques from alternative approaches on spirituality and spiritual healing⁴³ (cf. De Vos, 2002:407).

Given that social work and community development literature provided insufficient material (Ver Beek, 2000:36–39), an investigation into literature from discipline of practical theology to discover and generate new linkages was undertaken (cf. De Vos, 2002:406). Progressively the practical theological contribution, such as TAR,⁴⁴ was integrated with the existing body of theory underlying both the action research methodology (reflected in the previous chapter), and in the conceptualisation of the praxis framework (discussed in Chapter 6). Yet, very little literature on the actual implementation of spiritual healing in a community context could be found. Therefore, the researcher turned to the work of social work practitioner-researchers⁴⁵ to identify appropriate methodology to adapt for this purpose, such as the narrative framework and the spiritual (eco-)map,⁴⁶ developed by Social Work academic and researcher, professor David Hodge (2003).

Lastly, working in multi-cultural communities raised the question of cultural consciousness. Sensitivity for the African context came through working closely with

‘indigenous helpers’ (community representatives and co-facilitator Thembi Mphokeng) and sharing stories with hundreds of community members. The literature search provided information on relevant topics of indigenous knowledge and approaches to

43 The literature review of approaches to ‘natural’ and spiritual or inner healing revealed that there are many commonalities throughout the spectrum of healing approaches (cf. Sollod, 1993:3–5; Horrobin, 1994; Smith, 2002; Montgomery, 1999:3; Lane, 2006, Chapter 5, section 5.4.3). In Social Work literature applicable instruments, techniques with a specific focus on spirituality – though on an individual and group level – was found to be helpful (cf. Hodge, 2003:6–7; Staral, 2003:42–43;

Derezotes, 2006:1; Nouwen, 2006:89–95; Ver Beek, 2000:31, Chapter 3, sections 3.4.5 & 3.4.6).

44 Theological Action Research as discussed in Chapter 2.

45 Canda E. R. 2007. Spiritually Sensitive Practice Skills and Techniques; Moore D. L. 2006. The Esther Model: A Theoretical Approach to Faith-based Social Service Programming; Sheridan M. J.

2007. Integrating Contemplative Practices into Social Work Education and Collins B. J. and Laughlin T. M. 2006. The Power of Story.

46 Cf. Chapter 3, section 3.4.5.8 for discussion on the implementation of the spiritual map during the retreats. Cf. also Appendix A5.

spiritual healing, ancestral spirituality and wisdom, ‘coping know how’ and traditional African values such as inclusivity and unity.⁴⁷