FUNCIONES ESPECÍFICAS DE LOS CARGOS

When completely assembled, the category of activating/actioning reattunement separated into four dimensions, representing four broad attunement strategies that misaligned practitioners appropriated. The four dimensions were: building bridges,

finding common ground, guarding against religious legalism, sharing own humanity/vulnerability. Despite being conscious of the need to work in a

collaborative, client-centred manner, the feeling of being trapped, and the competing pull towards self-containment, was very strong. Participants’ reported that one way they moved back towards attunement was by looking for commonalities between themselves and the client, a connection point to build a bridge between therapist and client. Practitioners’ accounts implied that this was an important element for re- aligning themselves with their clients and moving back towards attunement:

“In a sense we were both speaking different languages but we were finding common ground. So words like love and compassion were common ground… things like that we could join together on.” (P10: 64-66)

“My attunement I think helped in my work because I was able to respect there were times when she was able to challenge her belief, and I didn’t feel the need to repair that.” (P3: 344-346)

This process of attunement is crucial with regards to if or when a practitioner discloses their religious affiliation or talks about their religious beliefs, because when a clinician gets it wrong, it can negatively impact the client, by making the client feel inept, as P3 describes below. Awareness of the practitioner “getting it wrong” is essential for re- alignment:

"Well often I’d share with him…and he wouldn’t like that. But then I realised…it’s not about you helping somebody else by saying, look how good I do this because that to them makes them feel inadequate, it doesn’t help them." (P3: 432-440)

A fifth category, of being contemplatively aware connected all these dimensions; reflecting the finding that closing the gap in understanding required intentional and purposeful watchfulness of emerging themes in the therapy, involving a

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thoughtful/creative blending of the religious and professional self. This ‘watchfulness’ and ‘creative blending’ quality was first captured and coded as ‘watch the cues’ and

‘combine the two’ using in vivo codes in the next excerpt by P1, who described her

out-of-the-ordinary response when encountering a patient’s reluctance to engage with her because his parent had requested counselling:

“I wasn’t going to be put off by that. I don’t know why. Normally, I would have said, okay, I’m not going to take up your time, but I explored a bit more about his Mother sounds quite anxious... so finally we had a discussion about his anxiety and what he could do about that. And I thought, okay, that’s a spiritual intervention…that’s not religious, I’m not saying a prayer over him. So that’s where I learnt you can combine the two, you just have to be very alert and watch the cues.” (P1: 205-212)

The effect of this practitioner’s watchfulness had an unexpected effect on the client, turning an out-of-reach moment into an attuned memorable experience for the client:

“He was so glad by the time I left… lunch came so we had to stop and he said, “oh damn”, you know.” (P1: 214-215)

As participants experienced shifts at the junction of personal/professional positioning, they also tended to experience shifts in moving towards attunement. The four dimensional categories of client re-alignment, and the connecting category of being

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Figure 5. The Dimensional Categories and Supporting Factors of Re-attunement and the connecting category of Contemplative Awareness.

The study found that there were strong links between the themes of activating

attunement and intuitive seeing. For participants who were consciously aware,

reattunement was possible. The early moments of trying to reattune were described as careful steps of faith. Participants spoke of considering the consequences of reducing interpersonal distance within the therapeutic dyad, requiring courage to step

into the unknown while renegotiating attunement.

An important task in re-attuning was seen as embracing vulnerability. Embracing

vulnerability could involve holding religious doubts near and far, being brave, acknowledging limits of own understanding, reflecting on own suffering and unique learning. Embracing vulnerability also crucially meant improved rapport/communication. Improved rapport tended to include any type of

communication that halted the distancing backlash of a widening and deepening

communication gap, where the non-verbal played a significant role. The findings

showed that the substructure of improved rapport was based on the proficient execution of foundational therapeutic footwork incorporating person-centred

communication shifts such as being authentic. This however, could require dropping the professional guard:

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“In that respect allowing yourself to be vulnerable when the client talks to you about things that are outside your frame of reference… I wonder if I’m a braver therapist sometimes, with things that might seem out of my comfort zone.” (P12: 269-279, 572- 575)

The study found that the consequences of engaging fully with clients’ religious material could be deeply felt and far-reaching for clients. P4 spoke of being approached by clients at conferences and the personal joy and surprise concerning the powerful legacy of some client interactions that were out of his awareness – responses that, with full immersion, could have a lasting effect on the client over time:

“They always seem to remember me fondly and are very appreciative of the time that I spent with them, so it’s a bit mysterious to me, that side of things. I wonder if you pray for people, maybe God just gets in their lives… and that sometimes I don’t have to speak in order for that to happen.” (P4: 269-274)

There was considerable variation in the degree to which participants felt they were continually blending their religious and professional selves. In the following excerpt, P11 gave a revealing sense of how blending was experienced as an ongoing process, requiring constant attention:

“I’ve incorporated it…that’s been really important– it’s who I am and I think this is the most important thing in psychology, it’s not just a profession, it’s personal development as well. You have to tag the two along and bring them together… it’s a constant kind of reflection that I have.” (P11: 303-312)

The findings suggested that closing the gap in understanding could require continual

balancing/modification in the domain religious self and professional identity. Within

this domain, balancing was experienced along a continuum, moving from avoidance,

uncertainty and unresolved impasses at one end, to spiritual growth, integration and security at the other. The balancing domain of religious and professional self, with

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Figure 6. The Balancing Domain of Religious and Professional Self and Influencing Factors.

As seen from the mid-range component descriptions in the table a number of intrapersonal and interpersonal factors influenced participants’ own experience with religion and, consequently, their experience of working with a client’s religious beliefs. Some of these factors could be considered qualities of a transpersonal therapeutic relationship and soulful awareness as defined by Rowan (1993).

Factors supporting the experience of spiritual growth, integration and security were identified. In addition to those in the table, these included: gaining new insights,

sharing clients’ vulnerability, finding connection in clients’ experience and being moved by the inexplicable. Several of these factors were illustrated in the next extract,

where P10 described how she conceptualised a therapeutic experience, through vulnerable connecting and sharing with a client from a different faith tradition to herself:

“I said there is a sense there, of whilst you have been changed, I too have been changed by your valuing of me and your regard of me as someone who is able to contain your feelings… this man was grounded in his own faith, I’m grounded in a very different faith… and yet he said that he had learnt so much about the reality of

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grace and compassion and love that for him previously had been quite a cognitive, theoretical or a theological exercise. And so the fact that I in a sense personified that, I’ve been quite life changing for him.” (P10: 249-260)