- Hi, welcome to our Monday night lecture this evening.
Tonight we have joining us Abraham Jared Long,
who's a professionally trained chaplin
with experience serving in health care,
educational and correctional institutions.
Currently, he provides spiritual care services
to the patients, family members, and staff
at Hamilton Health Sciences in
St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton,
where he won the Angel Marie O'Connor award
for his exemplary integration of
clinical work, academics, and research.
Abraham received his graduate certificate
in Islamic Chaplincy and Masters of Arts in Islamic studies
and Christian Muslim relations from Hartford Seminary
and his BA in Humanities and Religious studies
from California State University, Sacramento.
His chapter, Carrying for the Muslim Soul,
approaches to the spiritual care of Muslim patients,
was recently published in a book titled
Psychotherapy Cure for the Soul.
In addition to his academic education
and professional training, Abraham studies
Islam Law, Theology, and Spirituality with a variety
of traditionally trained Muslim scholars.
Abraham has an active and fascinating blog,
which I encourage you all to visit.
I have spent some time on it recently
and found it very informative.
And it's at abrahamlong.com, so I encourage you
to welcome Abraham Jared Long.
(audience applauding)
- I begin first in the name of God,
the most gracious and the most merciful.
Thank you so much for coming out this evening.
For some in the community, it is Eid
which is celebrating just after the completion of Ramadan.
For some Muslims in the community,
it is the day before that (chuckles),
because there are some differences
even within the community about when Ramadan ends.
And I wanted to draw attention to that right away
because as I'm about to discuss Islam and Muslims
within the Muslim-American society or community
here we already have an example of diversity.
And if there's something that I would like
to have come across, or at least one of the points,
is that it's a very diverse community.
Now, this evening, we have some learning objectives
and they're slightly modified from what
you might see before you from the
literature that's been handed out.
I've decided to actually include
one more aspect up at the top.
That familiarity with essential aspects
of Islam and American Muslims.
With all that is going on I thought that,
in addition to talking about approaches
to the care of Muslim clients,
it would also be essential to at least know some
aspects of what Islam is and what is that faith
that informs your potential Muslim client.
I would also like to draw attention to the title.
It is caring for Muslim clients.
It is not caring for the Muslim client,
as in there is no essential version of a Muslim client.
There's a wide variety, actually.
And so, I've broken this presentation up into three parts.
The first of which is Muslims in
America, a basic introduction.
Here I'll just introduce for you
a little bit about the Muslim community and demographics.
And as social workers, as caring professionals,
what sort of a central point should you know
when engaging with the Muslim population.
Secondly, I'll be addressing reccommdend
approaches for the care of Muslim clients.
Now, as you heard from my introduction, I'm a Chaplain.
My care comes from a faith-based perspective,
comes with a spirituality in focus.
I should declare that, and make clear that,
most of my patients come from a wide variety
of different faiths, not necessarily Muslim.
I care for Catholics, Protestants, Jews,
Muslims, Muslims of different faiths, even.
But that is my profession, so I'm a caring
professional in that way.
And so I'll be speaking from that perspective
but tailoring it as best as I can for the social worker.
And the third part is open discussion.
Now, before I even enter into the first section,
the first portion of tonight's presentation,
I'd just like to ask for you to just think for a second
of whatever questions you hope get addressed tonight.
Just have in mind what you would like me to discuss.
If there's something clear in mind that you have,
just take note of it mentally or write it down.
If I do not address it in the first two sections,
I hope we can have an open dialogue
during the third portion of this presentation, okay?
So let's go ahead and begin.
So, Islam sees itself as part of a group of
traditions that are called Ethical Monotheisms.
Now these Ethical Monotheisms are joined
together with, so Islam is included,
but also Judaism and Christianity
and all their variant forms.
The essential aspect that is important to
keep in mind concerning Ethical Monotheisms
is not just the Monotheism aspect,
the belief in one central creator God.
But also the idea that there's an ethical system
that this creator God has passed down
and encouraged human beings to follow.
In a way, I like to kind of think of it this way.
That, just like how there are natural laws
that govern the plant world, like a tree,
and how a tree grows, this creator God
has also laid down governing laws
and practices for human beings to follow.
But, human beings have been given free will
to choose whether or not to follow them or not.
And this is an essential way of understanding
these three traditions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Now, from an Islamic perspective,
and you can actually see this picture, pardon me,
right, I'm going the wrong direction, pardon me.
If you see this picture right here,
this is actually, it's a little bit unclear,
but you get the idea that it's a tree.
This is a very typical, traditional way of
looking at the history of prophets in history.
Those that most Christians or Jews are familiar with
would be these prophets, primarily right here.
And then the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,
Muslims see him as actually a descendant of the children
of Abraham and that's the connection right there,
that's the historical connection right there.
And for Muslims, they see that the Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him, is a guide.
Is not just a prophet, but someone
to be emulated in one's practice.
And that's an important part of Islamic spirituality,
the idea of emulation to the best of one's ability.
Now, just like other traditions,
there have been different ways of manifestations,
of how to understand the emulation,
of how to understand that practice.
And, I find this way of dividing it up
actually a little more useful than
what you typically find in the literature.
There are three main divisions that we could talk about.
There's traditional Islam and traditional Islam,
we could say, is a type of Islam that has been
passed down from generation, to generation, to generation.
It sees itself as carrying on the same
methodological approach or classical approach
that the classical scholars, for example, have carried on.
Then there's Islamic Modernism,
which is an approach to Islam that seeks to engage
the modern context in a head's on fashion.
And then Islamic Fundamentalism,
which actually I'd still see that as part of
Islamic Modernism, it's just anti-modernism, in a way.
Now, there's a lot of diversity here.
Within Traditional Islam, we could be talking about
Sunnis and Shias, which is the typical way
that's usually divided but it's more diverse than that.
And you can see that 90 percent to 96 percent
of the Muslim world are Sunni
and Shia make up about 9.5 percent of the population.
But even still, if you take a look at Sunni's,
there is a wide variety of differences amongst them.
You don't need to worry about all the details,
just know that there's a lot of words there.
(audience chuckling)
And, similarly, there's several different
branches of Shia Islam as well.
And there are also Sunni and Shia
forms of Islamic Fundamentalism.
And some of these names you see up here
will stand out, others will not.
The main point I'd like to get across
is that there's diversity, and I find this
a little bit easier to think about Islam
as divided up into these three ways
than just the Sunni Shias, it's not very helpful.
Now, moving from the Muslim majority world,
and Muslim history, to simply US Muslims,
or Muslims here in America.
Muslims have been in the US since
the first African slaves were brought here,
and there is different statistics given
about how many of the slaves were
brought here from West Africa were Muslim.
I've seen up to even like 33 percent
of the African brought here were Muslims.
However, while they did practice
and try to carry on the practice for as long as possible,
there is not evidence that the culture
has actually been passed down.
It was actually fervently stopped by slave owners
that did not want to see this type of culture
passed on to later generations.
But there was a resurgence of African American
identification with Islam that happened in the early 1900's.
And this came out in what can be described
as proto-Islamic or pre-Islamic.
This actually presents one perspective of it,
'cause their Heterodox groups from the
perspective of Sunni-Islam, but they wouldn't
describe themselves as Heterodox.
Now these groups they're most
notably known as Nation of Islam.
Most individuals when they think of
Nation of Islam they think of Malcom X.
Who here is familiar with Malcom X at least?
Okay, so initially, he started off involved
in the Nation of Islam, which is really like
a wonderful movement which attracted followers
to identify themselves religiously with their roots.
Like providing a rootedness that basically
had been stripped from African Americans.
So re-identifying with their cultural roots,
particularly in an Islamic perspective.
But after, about like the 1980's or so,
this group, Nation of Islam, started actually
coming closer to a Sunni version
or what would be considered an
Orthodox version of Islam,
and in fact 30 to 40 percent of Muslims
in America are African American.
And this is a statistic, they're the largest
cultural group, actually, of Muslims in the United States.
But, they're often, and too often, overlooked.
Simply because greater emphasis is laid upon immigrants.
But the community within the United States
is composed of a diverse population,
in addition to African Americans.
We could find religiously, ethnically,
culturally, financially, politically,
and, in regards to immigrant status, different Muslims.
Again, diversity.
Now, this map is actually from 2000.
It is a consensus map of Muslims who at least
have identified themselves across the United States.
And you can see this area right here, where we're at,
that we have, and this is based upon
percentage of population within that district.
So, you can see that in the area we are,
we can see about 1 to 2 percent of Muslims
fill up this population here.
And, depending on where you go,
you'll find varying degrees as well of Muslim population.
And they tend to congregate, or the largest centers
of Muslim population, tend to be around here
and then also you can see in California.
So, to the most popular places, I guess, in the US.
Now, Muslims in the US, just like I showed you
the diverse map earlier, they're divided up into
Sunni and Shia, but I wanna stress
that there are varying versions of these.
So, you might have one Muslim
who self identifies as a Sunni,
but their understanding of it is quite different.
They might be more fundamentalist
or they might be more traditional
or modernist in their approach.
Same thing for a Shia.
And then, actually I believe I mentioned
the latter point right there,
but I do wanna show you that this
Islamic center of Washington, DC.
I'm putting that up there as a reminder
that one of the major aspects of
American engagement in the Muslim world
has obviously been controversially
revolved around relationship will oil rich countries.
One of the reasons why this is in Washington, DC
is because we've had so many diplomats come from Muslim
and oil rich countries that the government opened up
and really wanted to make sure that they were accommodated.
This was pre-9/11 when, actually,
relationships was much better than
they are right now with the Muslim majority world.
Now in regards to being Muslim in the US,
there's a wonderful study which I'll cite
and show you in a little bit, from the
Pew Research Center that cites that Muslims
are primarily middle class and often highly educated.
Right now there's a real shift that's happened
after 9/11, that prior to 9/11 Muslims
mostly identified with their ethnicity.
So they could say I'm a Pakistani-American, right?
I'm a Bangladeshi-American, right?
But, after 9/11, there was a felt push
by outside individuals that they no longer
saw their ethnicity first, they saw their religion first.
And so the community also felt the shift.
That they were no longer looked at by
their ethnicity, per se, but they're being viewed
first and foremost by their religious affiliation.
And this really made a shift for themselves
and their own self identity.
Worth noting that it's also a community
that sees itself as under-suspicion, and rightly so.
This is from a protest that happened in New York
because of the NYPD's illegal surveillance
of Muslims who were just hanging out in coffee shops
and you can see these people asking, simply,
just to stop spying on me.
And one of the greatest and most difficult aspects
about being a Muslim in the US
is that the dialogue centers around
how close or not close they are to terrorism.
So, if you follow with me to the Pew Report,
which I cited earlier, this is a wonderful report
which I believe is basic reading for anyone engaged
with the Muslim-American society, this one right here.
And one of the questions they ask in this report
is, "What is the most important"
"problem facing you right now?"
They asked this of US Muslims.
What is the most significant problem facing you right now?
If you take a look at it, discrimination/racism/prejudice
is 19%, the most significant issue.
And I highlight financial problems because,
as social workers, individuals involved
in helping people maybe get back on their feet
or whatever the case might be.
Maybe even more most Americans, or many Americans,
they might say financial issues.
Right, the whole saying of why most marriages break up.
But, look at this: Racism, prejudice, stereotyping
is such a major issue for this community,
that it is number one as the perceived problem.
And if you take a look below it, everything up until
here is still related to stereotyping, prejudice,
it's just different ways of describing it.
So, if we kind of add all these up,
it's almost nearly, and if not more,
than 50 percent of Muslims say
that their most significant problem right now,
living as US Muslims, is prejudice.
Now, as a social worker, as a caring professional,
a Muslim comes into our office or we're engaging them.
The very first thing that they might
be worried about is judgement.
So we as caring professionals we have to be,
ourselves, ready for that and I hope that
the recommended approaches I provide
after this portion will help us to be
supportive and self-aware of what
we ourselves bring into the therapeutic relationship.
Now, I like this quote and I wanted to
note it before I moved to that section.
That, regarding anti-Muslim discrimination,
there's a wonderful article by Ghaneabassiri
where he talks about Islamophobia.
And he's actually a scholar of Muslim history in the US,
which there's not that many, but he is excellent.
He states, "The prevalence of anti-Muslim sentiment"
"in American politics and popular culture"
"has less to do with what Muslims believe and practice."
"For the most part, the overwhelming majority of them"
"lead regular, boring lives like other Americans."
"As TLC's reality show All-American Muslim testifies."
Before I continue, who remembers that show?
All-American Muslim.
Now, it was boring. You might have enjoyed it,
I don't wanna shoot it down if you did,
people have different likes and dislikes.
But it didn't make it past one season.
Now, if you think about it, a show about
American Muslims in a country where
they're so stigmatized, it seems like a total, stellar idea.
Wow, you know? Revolutionary.
It ended up just being boring.
Why? Because Muslims are just like any other family.
If someone came to your house and started video taping,
you might have a very pleasurable home life,
but is it necessarily worth a reality show?
And that's the problem that happened here.
And so, Ghaneabassiri says that,
"Rather than anti-Muslim sentiment being related to"
"what Muslims believe and practice," he asserts,
"That has more to do with the inability"
"of the larger American society to define"
"it's relationship with Muslim compatriots."
In general, non-Muslim Americans have a difficult
time understanding what their Muslim
neighbor means for their identity.
Not necessarily what Muslims, how difficult they're
experiencing their Muslim-American identity,
but non-Muslim Americans.
How do they understand themselves
in a country that has Muslims in it?
So, it's an identity issue.
Usually the way that this dialogue is framed
or this discussion is framed, it's usually about
Muslim assimilation or lack there of.
I love this point because he says, "It's not just that."
I believe it's part of it, but it's not just that.
It's also the other side of the coin.
How easily are non-Muslim Americans
themselves assimilated to the idea
that their neighbor is Muslim,
and what does that mean for their
understanding of being an American.
A very legitimate question.
And this is a picture of one of the families.
So, this next part we're gonna engage
some recommended approaches.
And I would like to note that these
recommended approaches were based
upon a literature search, and this is actually
based, if you want to read further about this,
beyond, you know, this presentation,
you can read this in my chapter in the book
Psychotherapy, Cure for the Soul, where I discuss this
in further length than I'll be able to today.
But, we'll talk about each one in detail as best as we can.
Now, I placed these in order of what I believe
would be most beneficial to follow.
But you might find you wanna go a different direction,
but these are in a particular order I believe
is most beneficial for ourselves as caring professionals.
So, throughout the literature,
the academical professional literature,
one of the reigning themes about how
to make sure we prepare effectively for our Muslim clients.
One of the things that comes to up is self-awareness.
So, Muslims are diverse, but there's one
person we can always guarantee will be in the room
engaging the therapeutic relationship and that's us.
So what do we bring to the relationship?
What do we bring to the conversation?
And, so, we need to ourselves learn how to self monitor.
And, while I am Muslim, it doesn't mean
I don't have assumptions as well
about other Muslims, or non-Muslims.
We each enter into a therapeutic
relationship with assumptions.
Now, that's part of being human,
but being an effective therapist entails,
I believe, that we should be aware of our
assumptions so that we don't implicitly impose them.
So, we need to ourselves be aware
of one's own perceptions, stereotypes,
and beliefs about Islams and Muslims.
And then also be aware of any personal
cultural or religious values that you may
be imposing upon your client.
So, there might be some issues that
perhaps you're very passionate about
and you really just want to help this client
see it this way, but that's not their value system.
So, in a patient center, a client center,
a person center approach to the care
of our client, how can we learn from them
the best way to care for them?
And how can we learn from ourselves
the best things, or the worst things,
we should hold back?
Following this, the literature
discusses cultural sensitivity.
Now, I specifically put this as number two
before talking about Islam itself,
because I see that if we approach the
care of the Muslim client from a culturally
sensitive approach, rather than religiously sensitive,
per se, we're already widening
the scope of how we look at them.
They're not just a Muslim, they're a Muslim within a context
and we can be culturally sensitive to the individual.
And in fact, I personally believe that individuals
will find it easier to be culturally sensitive at times
and religiously sensitive particularly if
you possess a lot of stereotypes concerning the religion.
So, when you enter into a relationship
or attempt to enter a relationship with your client,
your Muslim client, they very well might
feel vulnerable to prejudices and postulation.
Now, as I mention discrimination was the number one worry.
I have a friend who is also a hospital
Chaplain like myself who works in California.
His Masters thesis was actually a study on why
Muslims in the hospital setting most often refuse to put
their religious identification in their admission form.
It's a phenomenon I've also noticed myself.
You'll see someone who looks like he would be Muslim
based upon the name, he or she,
but they have not declared this at all.
And, in fact, you go and talk to them
and they're Muslim, but they have not declared it.
Why?
His study shows that primarily because of discrimination
or worry about discrimination.
Whether it's simply perceived or real discrimination.
And so we as caring professionals,
how can we engage the client so that they feel like
we're not going to persecute them,
we're not going to discriminate.
One way is inviting the client to educate
you about his or her faith.
Now, whether or not you're sitting in this room
and you know more about Islam and Muslims
than I or anyone else in here.
Again, everyone is different,
so you can invite your Muslim client,
"Tell me about your understanding of your faith,"
"And how it is important for you."
And simply that invitation can be a great way
for them to share with you how much their
faith means to them and also open the
dialogue for discussion so they feel invited.
And, in fact, that can really help you to
create a rapport with your client.
And then, there's another point,
to be familiar with differences between
individualistic and collectivist cultures.
This changed dramatically my understanding
and my own approach when I came to this realization.
That there are, as you may already be aware,
collectivist cultures and individualist cultures.
And they emphasize different values.
I've taken this table from one article
by a social worker by the name David Hodge,
called the Social Work in the House of Islam,
which is a recommended article.
Where he notes, he says Islam here,
but he could even technically say collectivist cultures,
or he could say individualist cultures.
The idea of community over individualism,
interdependence over independence,
community actualization over self-actualization.
Now, a lot of the approaches that
we're taught from a Western perspective emphasize
self-determination, personal agency.
But for some Muslims, coming from collectivist cultures,
not all, but for some Muslims coming from these
cultural backgrounds, they'd be more attune
to approaches like family and systems therapy,
rather than the psycho dynamic approaches.
So, talking about family relationships
rather than how did that make you feel
would actually be more effective with these
individuals, 'cause typically from a collectivist
culture, one of the expectations when they're
coming to a counselor is, "Tell me what to do."
But from a psycho dynamic or Rogerian approach
or a person-centered approach, it's really like,
"You tell us, you're the expert of yourself,"
"And we're here to help you work through this."
But individuals who are less exposed to
Western psychotherapeutic approaches
are less inclined to follow you in that direction.
So, if they're not going with you it's not simply
because they're bad clients, it's that the methodology
is flawed for that particular client.
And as one therapist notes,
"Psyhotherapy is actually an encounter between"
"at least two cultures, the one, or more,"
'Cause we're part of multiple cultures,
"to which the client belongs and another one or more"
"to which the therapist belongs."
"Cultural transference and counter transference"
"takes place in this encounter."
"Each side judges the other through,"
"his or her own cultural lens."
One thing I found working in a hospital setting
as the sole Chaplain of the Muslin faith
is a certain expectation that simply because
I'm Muslim, I'm always the best person to talk to
if the client or the patient is Muslim.
I've come to discover that is not actually the case.
In some cases, an individual from one's culture,
even if they're not of the same faith,
would be more effective.
Let me provide you an example in this context.
I remember speaking with a refugee Iraqi man.
And I'm very much trained in a Rogerian
and in a narrative therapy, solution focused approaches.
He really didn't want to go there at all.
But, I found that it was more effective
when I tried other approaches,
like speaking about family dynamics,
speaking about relationships.
That's where he wanted to go, that's where he wanted to talk
Now, another individual from his culture,
or collectivist culture in general,
I found would've been more effective
than myself with him, personally.
Because I am very much a Western Muslim.
So, in a way I am a part of multiple cultures.
So, if you kind of go back to this here,
Islam and Western Psycho Liberalism,
I'm very much about self-determination,
about personal agency, that's just who I am.
I'm very individualistic, right?
But I'm also, I should say not either or,
and I'm also Muslim, I have ideals about collectivity,
about care for the common good,
so your Muslim client will also have diverse perspectives.
Be open to whatever those perspectives are and hearing them.
Another approach that's recommended within the literature
is familiarity with Islam and Muslim.
This is almost self evident.
At the very least you should have some
idea about Islam and Muslims when engaging the demographic.
Now, with this slide I would just like the emphasize
that this does not mean you have to read up
on the history of early Islamic thought and practice.
You don't need to read about the crusades.
You don't even need to necessarily read up on
all the current conflicts necessarily going on
unless that demographic is within your community.
But simply being aware of Muslim-Americans.
It almost seems so simple.
If you have a particular group of Muslims
within the community that you're placed at,
that you're working for, that you're caring for,
find out about what their life is like here
in this community or that community.
What are the difficulties that
they're facing in their community?
It may have and likely has nothing to do
with necessarily what's going on
back home for them, or at their prior home.
It'd be useful also to be aware of some religious terms
and practices relevant for the care of your client.
For example, just knowing "Allah" means God.
And I tend to do this whenever I give this presentation,
'cause I can do it, because I've got the mic,
that some individuals they are unsure
with their non-Muslim whether they
should use the term "Allah" when they're
talking to a Muslim client,
and so there's different ways about it.
So sometimes I've experienced care providers
who say, "Oh, I don't say it 'cause I don't want"
"Them to think I'm belittling or I'm a hypocrite,"
"Or I don't want to confuse them"
"About my own faiths, traditions,"
whatever the case might be.
For me, I don't have any advice for that.
It's based on your own comfortability,
but if you decide to say it, you'll impress them
if you can pronounce it correctly.
So, the word for God in Arabic is not "Ella",
with a light L, it's actually with a heavy L, "Allah".
And in fact, to me, it sounds more dignified.
And so, if you are going to use the name of God,
as used within really the Arabic language,
but also mostly identified with Islam, use it correctly.
So, for those who wish who would like to,
let's all say it together as a group.
Alright, it's a heavy L, so, "Allah".
(audience all together "Allah")
So, don't worry you haven't automatically
converted to Muslims or anything like that.
(audience laughs)
But, now you know how to say God in Arabic.
Other terms or concepts that'd be useful
to be familiar with is Ramadan.
I have been asked, you know work in a clinical setting,
to care for Muslim clients who have eating disorders.
And Ramadan certainly poses a certain complexity
for an individual recovering from an eating disorder.
And so understanding that and how to work with that
and not against their faith is a way of actually helping
them more successfully get through it, quite honestly.
If they can see the recovery plan as part of their faith
and not leaving their faith aside,
I can almost guarantee you that
you'll be more successful at it.
The Quran which is the Muslim scripture, the holy book.
Prayer itself, so five times a day.
So, for example, your client is kind of looking at
his or her watch 'cause, you know, the sun's
starting to go down and you're kind of like,
"What's going on with you?"
"I have other places I could be too."
Or whatever the case might be.
Like, they might simply be looking to see
that, hey, they have to prayer.
So, Muslims have five prayer windows throughout the day.
I don't need to get into the specifics,
but if you want to I will at a later time.
So, there're really five prayer windows
and the observant Muslims will seek
to pray within these prayer windows
and they do end at a certain time.
So, just being aware of that.
And it's worth noting, and I'm just going to
talk briefly about this, the word Sheria.
It actually means the way to the water well.
Which, in a way, it entails guidance
on how one lives their life.
Now, within the United States,
it's very interesting that this particular practice
or religious practice has been identified
and banned in certain states across the US.
Which really speaks to significant aspects of persecution.
Because the fact that I pray five times a day,
that's because I follow the Sheria.
That's the guidance, that's because I'm trying
to walk to the water well.
The fact that I fast Ramadan, that's part of Sheria.
The fact that I try to be nice to my parents
as best as I can, that's part of Sheria,
but the thing is it's become sensationalized
into particular extreme examples.
Which we could discuss further perhaps
during open discussion if you'd like.
I've stressed, I think, several times of diversity,
so being aware of diversity culturally and belief.
And also be aware that their are popular views
or Islamic ways of understanding mental illness
that you might want to understand from your client.
How they might religiously understand
what is going on for them if you're dealing with someone
with a mental illness, or even any sort of ailment.
An individual, for example, loses their job or an arm
or whatever the case might be, they might attribute it
to a sense of guilt that they're carrying.
And if you don't address that guilt,
you can't help them do anything, right?
Now, these two books are the ones that I would
significantly recommend for yourselves as social workers
and those engaged in the carrying profession.
Counselling Muslims would be number one
and what it does is it provides guidance
and a look at different demographics
within the Muslim-American community.
And then it also looks at methodological
approaches to caring for them based upon evidence.
Really, this is the best book that's out there right now.
But this is also good.
In fact, if you're really interested in learning more
about differences between the collectivists
and individualistic approach, then get this one right here.
Now, as care providers, another way of caring for
your Muslim client is integrating into your care their own
methods for recovery, their own methods for wellness.
One easy way of doing this, prayer beads.
Now, I work within a hospital setting
and based upon the common protestant model
that's still being mimicked for other faiths,
it's commonly thought that, just like for Christians,
a Muslim would want a Quran when they're in the hospital.
So, we have a shelf in our spiritual care office
with Qurans on it that the expectation is
give out a Quran to a Muslim just like you
would give out to an observant Christian.
Well, that's actually not really the case,
because for observant Muslims,
touching the Quran when you don't have a ritual of ablution,
just like how I would wash for prayer, or someone else would
wash for prayer, it's actually a no-no.
You only touch the Quran if you're even in
the same state you would be in for prayer.
And so, trying to hand someone a Quran
who's lying on a hospital bed who has
a catheter or whatever the case might be,
if they turn you down or feel kind of awkward
that they're turning you down,
it's partly because of the fact that they
don't feel comfortable touching the Quran in that state.
So, one wonderful way is giving out prayer beads.
This is something I've actually encouraged
Chaplains to do, but certainly even you as
a social worker in different clinical settings,
you could just even make these yourselves.
And if you like, I can tell you how perhaps later.
And then also being aware of when to consult
other individuals within the Muslim community.
Now, I would like to note here that
studies actually show that many Imams
do not have former counseling training.
So, while you can contact and use Imams
as resources, they're not necessarily the best trained
person for consultation, depending upon the need.
If it's more informational, certainly, absolutely.
But if it's something related to counseling
and a specific aspect of counseling,
I'd prefer other individuals within the community,
which I'll talk about later in this presentation.
You might also wanna consider incorporating sacred texts.
Now, as social workers, the role of spirituality,
you yourself might define how much spirituality
is incorporated actually into the care that you provide.
But just be aware that Muslims view the Quran
as also a book of healing and, in fact,
traditionally certain chapters are read
when Muslims are in the hospital.
In fact, it's quite common working in a hospital
setting myself, that when I go to visit a Muslim,
they have an iPad playing the Quran on it.
So, they like to listen to the recitation of it.
And it's actually very calming, very soothing.
Kind of lost my train of thought there.
And so, I would actually recommend
of even having some sort of copy of that,
if you'd like, or just be aware of what's happening.
Oh, now I remember what I was going to say.
That the Quran itself, the word Quran
actually means the recitation.
And so, for Muslims, the book the Quran,
is technically just a recorded version of the recitation.
The Quran is what is spoken, okay?
So, there's something that's believed by Muslims
to be very special about the spoken Quran.
And it is worth noting that there's a greater expectation
from Muslim care providers that they incorporate this.
So, if you're a Muslim caring for a Muslim client,
like myself, there'd be a greater expectation for me,
"Oh, you don't know this verse?"
or, "You don't know this?" You know, so be aware.
Be aware that whether or not you know these
aspects of care of the Muslim client,
there'd be a great expectation perhaps.
And, one way of incorporating this,
whether you're Muslim or not, is perhaps having
little cards that you can give to your client.
And, in fact, if you go onto my website,
I have about 13 or 14 small little prayers
that you can copy and paste, just make sure that
the Arabic is in the same direction.
Because sometimes people just copy and paste
and it messes up the Arabic.
But, this is a very common prayer that, again,
this can help you to create rapport with your client.
That you can pass out this prayer to them,
maybe even help them to read it.
Encourage them just to find solace
in their own faith tradition.
And so this is (speaking Arabic)
which is a call on God to simply provide you with mercy.
Very simple prayer, very simple prayer.
Now the sixth point, and there are eight,
so we're almost concluding this portion,
is the levels of Western acculturation
may determine ethicacy of Western based
spiritual care or social work.
So, bascially, one of the recommendations
within the literature is to be aware
of how Western your client is.
Those who are more Western would
likely be more inclined towards the
Psycho Therapeutic, Psycho Dynamic,
Rogerian approaches, but those who are non-Western,
you know, you have to tailor to meet their needs.
And in fact, I'm gonna just move forward real quick.
Some of the approaches that are proposed
within the literature for Muslim clients,
just across the board, include
solution focused brief therapy,
narrative therapy, metaphor therapy,
and family therapy, but these two
in particular if they're less Westernized,
these bottom two right here.
For those who are not as familiar with metaphor therapy,
Adwari speaks about it in this text
and basically it's a wonderful way
of getting the individual client to talk
about their problems, so for example,
someone says, "You know, I feel like"
"I'm just stuck in a wall." "Can you describe the wall?"
You know, "What's making this wall for you?"
"Well, it's this, it's because of"
"what my family's saying about this."
Okay, "So, they're saying about this,"
"How is this creating a wall for you?"
"Well, because I'm feeling like,"
And so run with it, be very creative.
And in fact, through metaphor,
they're actually talking about their feelings, right?
So, if they're coming from a culture that's
not used to speaking about their feelings
so specifically, metaphor is a wonderful way
of getting them to go there.
What did I have here? That's basically the same thing.
Seventh point is generate awareness.
So, seems almost obvious, but it's not often
a priority to simply let Muslims know in the community
the type of services that you provide.
So, when they enter into a therapeutic
relationship with you, when you meet them,
they already know about what you're about to offer them.
It's already a step in the door, alright?
So you can almost that much more quickly engage
in a more effective therapeutic relationship.
So, let Muslims in the community know,
so there's some advocacy, there needs to be awareness
about what you do as a social worker, okay?
And this can be obtained simply through
going to Muslim events or simply talking
to the Muslim leader in the community.
Say, "Hey, just wanna let you know that"
"I'm in the community providing social work"
"at this particular organization."
"We do get a lot of Muslims from your particular"
"Mosque or your particular community,"
"And I just wanna let you know what we do here."
"And is it possible that perhaps I could speak sometime,"
"Or you could tell your congregation sometime about our"
"specific services, so they know when to call on us?"
Very simple and also creates relationships.
You might even find someone there who would
be a good resource for you should you ever need it.
And then, a structural point, increase the
diversity of the care providers.
If you are caring for primarily a dominant
Muslim population, see if you can either bring in
some Muslim staff or at least Muslim volunteers
that can help bring in that aspect of advocacy
that may be lacking from the structural point of view.
And, finally, engage Muslim specialists.
I mentioned earlier that Imams may not be
the best person all the time to connect with,
that doesn't mean don't connect with them,
but if it's a specific counselling issue,
I would actually more recommend
engaging professional Muslim Chaplains.
And that's not just a personal plug,
I'm a professional Muslim Chaplain,
but it's been my experience that Muslim Chaplains
have the faith base and also the social science background
to really help integrate counselling issues.
Especially ones that are compex like the one I mentioned
concerning the individual who was unsure
about whether or not to fast and she had an eating disorder.
So, Muslim Chaplains are uniquely trained to
care for and educate others about the
spiritual needs of Muslim clients.
And I have here an individual I was speaking
very highly of earlier, this is Dr. Nuziale Iskanderova.
Who is just an inspiring figure for me, personally.
She teaches right now at a manual college
which is part of University of Toronto
and she has just done so much amazing work
in regards to contributing to the research
and understanding of the care of Muslim clients.
So, really, a great person to connect with.
So, after all that being said,
it's a lot to take in, it is a presentation,
you knew what you were getting into.
I would like to now enter into
the open discussion part of it.
Okay, so we've got a good amount of time now,
where I hope we can engage in some of those
questions that I asked you to think about beforehand.
And any sort of questions that have come up
during the course of this presentation.
And, I'm just gonna put a summary of these
points up, just so they're there for reference, okay?
So, yeah?
- [Woman] I thank you, I liked the way you organized
it, it was easier to follow. - Excellent.
- [Woman] My question is in regards to when
you mentioned asking the client how
they identify in their personal connection
to the culture, to the religion.
And I was wondering since you said
there's a higher expectation of your
personal knowledge, if it ever comes across
in a way, from the client's point of view,
like, "uh oh", I have to explain it
in a good enough kind of way.
I'm just imagining, you know,
because of your knowledge of it,
I don't know if I'm being clear with that.
- Are you speaking about a Muslim, non-Muslim
relationship or a Muslim, Muslim therapeutic relationship.
- [Woman] Muslim, Muslim, like with you specifically.
Like, when you ask them, "What's your way?"
I almost feel like that, for a client,
I'm wondering if this has ever been the case,
in a way, you put them on the spot.
So, now you need to respond in a way
that, you know, holds true for somebody.
- Well, and perhaps you're hinting at this as well,
is there's perhaps a power dynamic.
Whether we like it or not, there's a power dynamic
within the therapeutic relationship.
We could be as patient centered as possible, as we'd like,
but ultimately, we're the professional,
they're the client, right?
Now, there's another dynamic that comes into play
when the person shares the same faith as you.
That's different, I think is what you're getting at,
from when someone shares a different faith.
The idea of, can they feel comfortable
enough to disagree with me, right?
So, you know, I express a particular faith perspective.
Another individual who's Muslim presents
a different faith perspective.
Do they feel comfortable enough
to tell me that different faith perspective?
Do they feel comfortable enough to tell me,
"Actually, no I don't really believe that."
And I think that's something that has to be
negotiated within each individual relationship.
That the individuals who I've provided care for
I try to be always aware that if I come in
and they are Muslim, that I make sure
that I'm not in the advising mode.
In fact, that's my approach generally,
but my own particular approach
is more relational, so I try to create rapport,
and then if they ask me, "What do you think?"
Well, actually, what do you think? I turn it right back.
Because I recognize that dynamic.
An individual might look to me
and say, "Okay, you've studied Islam,"
"you probably know the answer to this question."
Well, that's one of the reasons I love Chaplaincy work.
It's because I'm not here to define
what is or is not Islam for this person.
I'm here to help them recover from ailment
physical, medical, social, spiritual is ailing them.
And yeah, that's my dynamic there,
there's no way around it, you just have to
be as understanding as possible.
Does that answer your question?
And, before we continue, did everyone hear her question?
Was it loud enough? Okay, thanks.
And feel free to raise your hand,
whoever else wants to, yeah?
(Audience member incomprehensible)
- [Woman #2] And you can tell me if it doesn't apply
to what we're talking about.
- Well, if I can't answer it I'll tell you that.
- [Woman #2] It's more about talking with people
who aren't as familiar with Muslim cultural
and helping them (continues incomprehensibly).
But you touched a little bit how
Muslim clients so often feel they're
included in the perception of possible terrorists
and, you know, so many examples of the
discrimination that Muslims face.
So what I find tricky when talking with
people about that and about what they face,
is this sort of duality that (incomprehensible).
And they're not separate from that,
because they're all apart of it.
And, I guess, my question would be how you
would frame that for somebody,
even though that's not really not about Muslim clients,
but I guess it sorts of helps us to have a framework,
for how you would frame that for somebody that just
because they come out of this culture, doesn't mean that
everybody represents that same fundamentalism.
- So, I'm just a little bit confused about how you're using
fundamentalism in conjunction with collectivism.
Can you just differentiate a little bit clearer?
- [Woman #2] Well, because I think there's a lot of
suspicion amongst Americans, non-Muslim Americans
with the collectivism ideas that I think that means.
How can you separate out that not everybody
is a terrorist that everybody thinks of Muslims?
- Well, I think that it's perhaps we have
a different understanding of collectivism here,
and let me clarify how I understand it
and see if that helps you at all.
Collectivism in this sense that,
(stammering)
let me put it this way, a collectivist
would look at their identity as part of a whole.
Whereas an individualist would focus on their
identity as one within, and so greater focus on
personal agency over community agency.
The way you're talking about it,
I'm just a little bit confused about how terrorism
or how that's related to a collectivist culture.
(Woman rephrases question incomprehensibly)
- The way I'm hearing your use of group,
I'm hearing it more in the sense of stereotyping.
- [Woman #2] Yes, yes.
- Okay, so you mean it more in the sense of stereotyping.
- [Woman #2] Yes, but how do you break that down?
- So, how do you break the stereotypes?
You know, again I think it comes down to
really being open to the individual themselves.
But, before that, first go back to the first thing,
what do we bring into the conversation?
Before dealing with the stereotypes that the client
might have, what do we bring into the conversation?
I think that there's a real legitimate cause
for discussion about how we as care providers
understand and our impact by the world around us.
I think, in fact, that perhaps as a necessity,
if not definitely a necessity, that we as care providers
for any significant issues that are impacting upon ourselves
and potentially impacting upon the therapeutic relationship,
we become self aware of how we might be implicitly imposing
that upon individuals from that culture.
- [Woman #2] I guess what I'm talking about then
(incomprehensible) how you talk to other care providers
when you feel that what they bring is
perpetrating some of the stereotypes.
- So when they fit the stereotype,
is that what you're saying?
So, when they fit the stereotype, what do we do?
- [Woman #2] No, no, (stammers) when the care providers
are stereotyping their clients.
How do you point that out?
(incomprehensible)
- [Woman #3] I think the question,
if I can rephrase it correctly, let me know if I'm not,
is almost how to be a good ally?
- Okay.
- [Woman #3] So how, when you see something
going on that looks problematic,
you bring it up in a way that somebody else understands.
- Is that?
- [Woman #2] I didn't hear what she said.
- She said how you can be an advocate
for the individual, an ally for the individual.
I think, either way, and forgive me for
not fully understanding your question at first.
Hold a second, something just happened.
Oh, my prayer just went off, which means those who
are fasting today, you can break your fast right now.
So, the end of the day, sunset has just come in.
I was gonna try and let you listen to
the call to prayer, but it stopped.
So, again back to your question,
I'm gonna admit that I'm having a difficult time
understanding it and I don't know quite
how best to answer it.
- [Woman #3] Your slide on differentiating
between collectivist cultures and individualist cultures
I think is very important and much more important
to American born and bred students of social workers.
While I was studying social work (incomprehensible)
Mexican-American culture compared to
general United States (incomprehensible) culture.
This issue between collectivist culture
and American individualist culture (incomprehensible)
and if you think about certain Latin American countries
(incomprehensible) there's some similarities.
So, I think that the really important lesson here
is the fact that people growing up in the United States
have been swimming in this individualist culture.
Too much, too deeply, we don't even understand it.
We are so individualists, we don't understand
a culture (incomprehensible).
Maybe there are people here who are better
informed than I am on this point,
but I think it's very important when you talk about
American social workers needing to get
informed about who they are.
We can help each other with this.
(incomprehensible)
- I think your point, and thank you for raising it again,
relates to the, what I would consider to be,
the most essential aspect for the caring professional.
Is you have to be self aware.
There's the term, safe and effective use of self.
- [Woman #4] But you can't do it if you're--
- If you're ignorant.
(Woman #4 incomprehensible)
I'm talking about just the therapist by him or herself.
That if you're walking into any therapeutic relationship
or attempting to have any therapeutic relationship
and you're not aware of what prejudice is,
of what assumption, what judgements,
you bring into that relationship,
then yes, as I'm hearing you say,
you could be doing harm, you're not even aware.
That's why I, and from what I understand,
there's an emphasis within the program here
upon self awareness, take it seriously.
- [Woman #4] Understand what collectivist culture
is like and look at it, not just with Islam,
but with many different cultures
and what individualist culture is.
Got to apply it academically because
too many American social workers
grew up as an individualist.
- Yeah, I think we can even have a further
discussion just about the lack of awareness
about our assumptions as Americans
that we place upon the rest of the world,
no matter what our own personal background is.
There's a book which I'd recommend,
Oh, so two points, I'll come to you in just a second.
That talked about how often times
American foreign policy and perspectives on the world
seize America, the United States,
as almost like politically neutral.
We have no ideology, we're neutral ground here.
We're the exception to the ideologues.
So, it's always about what makes them different,
rather than what differences we bring.
So, this is kind of like taking the whole
therapeutic relationship, but on a global scale.
So, we as United States need to
become self aware as well.
I saw your hand first.
- [Woman #5] This might be a very (mumbles) question,
but as someone who educated myself (incomprehensible),
I'm just wondering if it's appropriate to (incomprehensible)
To wish someone a happy Eid al-Fitr
or something or even greet someone in a traditional way.
I don't know if this is the best for that,
but I worked with a client this past term
who, this is something we talked about a lot,
so I'm wondering if you've seen working
with Muslim clients (incomprehensible).
- You know, I don't always say (speaks Arabic) which is the
traditional way of greeting another Muslim right away.
I want the person to almost, in a way, feel invited.
So, really, and my context is different,
because basically, unlike any other health professional
within the hospital setting, I as a Chaplain
can enter into any room, I can enter into any patient's room
and I could strike up a conversation.
I don't need to have a referral like other professionals do.
So I'm that much more sensitive to the fact
that they may or may not want my presence there.
And so I want to engage them as easy a way as possible.
'Cause I don't know, maybe they have been raised Muslim,
they don't self identify that way.
They could have traumatic background experience
with Muslims in their life, and so I come in with a trigger
you know, (speaks Arabic), and all the sudden,
I'm adding more trauma, so like,
you answered your own question.
(Woman #4 incomprehensible)
(audience laughs)
So each client, each person is different.
And just negotiate that with each one.
But good sensitivity.
- [Woman #5] I just wanted to go back to the point
that were being discussed earlier about
trying to embrace or invite them.
Think about collective perspective
(incomprehensible) and to go back to your first point
was your first slide about adversity
within the Muslim community, or that there is
no one Muslim (incomprehensible).
That it is very possible to be of a
collective mindset and collective perspective,
it doesn't mean anything if the assumption
(incomprehensible)
- And at the most basic level it's a family collective.
So, just a clarifying example,
you have an individual who feels guilty
for not wanting to be a particular profession.
But, his or her parents are really encouraging
him or her to be this profession.
Now, from a Western individualistic perspective,
of the providing sense of personal agency,
so they can do what their dream is,
despite the difficulties in the home life.
How can you become more self confident?
So, be who you are, right?
But, from a collectivist culture,
you're actually adding fuel to the fire.
And what might be actually more beneficial,
and here's where implicit Western values
can be implied, for some here when they heard the statement,
they might have assumed that that must be the correct way.
If so, that's an assumption.
Because it's a value, it's a value that
many of us share as Western people.
But the other value that the collective good.
Right, the parents want the person to do this
because they've struggled their whole lives.
They want to make sure that their son or daughter
is successful, is able to care for their own family.
Whatever the case might be.
But, that's not being taken into consideration
if your just focusing on personal agency.
- [Woman #6] Do you see common differences
between Muslims who were raised in the US
and Muslims who were raised in the Middle East?
- Oh, yeah.
(Woman #6 incomprehensible)
Well, I don't wanna essentialize too much concerning that.
There are differences.
I guess the best way to respond to that
would be if there are particular aspects.
You know, how about this, maybe you didn't
expect I'd go this way.
Yeah, one likes shawarma a lot more.
That's the Middle East one if you didn't get that.
So, there are differences.
It could be in the way they dress.
Or the type of profession this particular culture
is more encouraged to engage in.
Yeah, I guess I kind of feel uncomfortable
providing anything specific, except for that
when you're engaging with someone,
just recognizing that there are differences.
And, if you look actually in the Counselling Muslims book,
they do go more in depth in some of this,
but I don't wanna provide anything myself
that might be incorrect or too centralized.
But it is a good question.
In the back?
- [Man] I was wondering if you could elaborate more
on what we might be able to do to recognize
Islamophobia in ourselves and also addressing
Islamophobia within ourselves, within maybe
colleagues that we find ourselves working with,
and also in clients, whether the clients
are Muslim or non-Muslim, I feel it may be
important to know how do I talk to people
about Islamophobia (incomprehensible).
- That's a really good question,
I'm glad that you asked it.
I think that one of the most effective ways
to bring about change and certainly very
significant issues is draw it to the person.
Make it about the heart, in a sense if you
really wanna see some significant change,
invite some Muslims here on this
campus or in this community to talk about
what it feels like to be discriminated.
And start from there.
Now you've added a face to discrimination.
The impact.
And if we as a community can understand the impact
of Islamophobia for Muslims living in our communities,
in our neighborhoods, then we have a basis
for real significant change, but if we just keep
talking about theory and so forth,
we're just gonna stay in our heads.
We need to get into our hearts.
Yeah?
- [Woman #7] I don't know if the Chaplain
is something that is an American model,
because from my research it's (incomprehensible)
That the healer that they come to,
it's a different model that they have.
Sometimes they go to the Imams
and sometimes they go to what they call a (incomprehensible)
But, I was wondering how do you work
with Muslims from different countries who come in?
How do you explain what social workers do,
or what you do, in terms of your role?
A healer, or a spiritual counselor
provider for their health.
How do you approach that?
- You know I try to explain it
through my actions, first of all.
But, if they do ask me to elaborate further,
I try to say it in the most simplistic terms.
I'm here to be with you, to make sure that the care
that you're provided is more holistic,
and that your faith and personal values
are recognized in the care that you receive.
Now, that's coming from a Chaplain.
That's my perspective, that's my approach,
but social worker is not that far off
of what I just described there.
It's just the different emphasis.
So, within different communities,
yeah you're going to see the chaplain model,
it's based upon the Christian tradition.
The term itself, and chapel, right?
Chaplain, well it's rooted in the Christian tradition,
you can look it up.
I'd be happy to discuss what it means and signifies,
but it has come to be within North America
to be a non faith specific designation.
And, if you think about it this way,
within Western countries, there's a greater
emphasis upon institutionalization.
So, for example, why do social workers exist now?
Do you think that people like social workers
did not exist in prior generations?
Or even Chaplains?
Of course they did, but this profession
has been institutionalized.
These professions have become institutionalized.
Why? Well, partly because of the fact
that communities historically have become
more and more reliant upon the state,
rather than the local community.
Individuals used to turn to people
within their family, or within their community
for their social needs, for their medical needs,
for whatever the case might be.
But, as more and more people become
reliant upon the state rather than community,
people become more individualistic,
families separate further which is
the Western effect, right?
And then the need to fill in the gaps
that used to be filled by the family member,
by the community, now needs to be filled
by professionals that didn't used
to technically exist before.
So, I as a Chaplain, doesn't mean that Chaplain
type people didn't exist years ago.
But now because families are breaking up,
there's less support, there's more reliance
upon institutions to provide care,
that these professions have been created to fill in that gap
And, so you won't see it as much in non-Western countries,
because they're still reliant upon families.
Any other? We still have a few minutes.
(Woman #8 incomprehensible)
So, what I brought with me are Muslim prayer beads.
In a way, form what I understand,
from the way that rosary is the Catholic traditions,
is it used very similarly.
It is a repeated invocation,
and what makes them distinctly Muslim
is the number of beads, just like the rosary
has a specific number of beads.
Right, it's divided by the four parts.
These are divided into three parts.
33, 33, 33, and then this would be 99, and then 100.
And so, the particular invocation,
the formula, you could put it that way,
revolves around this number, let's say.
And so if you wanted to make your own,
and here's an opportunity to be crafty.
Like you had a particularly difficult day of work
and you're like how can I do something
that's still helpful to my clients,
but doesn't involve me having to talk to another person,
'cause I am done.
So that happens, that happens.
So, sit down, pull out some beads,
and make Muslim prayer beads.
You could do it either in sets of 99 and then 100,
or you could do it in simply, and I have another set,
but no need to carry more than one,
where you could do it just with 33.
Which is, you know, the same thing you could
do with 33, you just do it three times.
That's not difficult math there.
So, you know I think it's worth noting that
from an Islamic perspective or traditional
Islamic perspective, the cure of the soul,
and again if you look at what psychotherapy means
in it's initial Greek terminology, you know,
it's cure or care for, and then psych soul.
So, pre-Freudian there was this understanding
that this human aspect that we're discussing
it is a care for that soul, care for that spirit,
whatever you wanna call it.
Post-Freudian, it kind of took on a different understanding,
but initially, this way, it was cure of the soul.
And so from an Islamic perspective,
the cure of the soul is heavily
based upon purification of the heart.
And prayer beads help those individuals
who choose to use it, by repeating
a particular implication that brings
calmingness to the heart.
So, it is worth noting that not
all Muslims use prayer beads,
and there are Muslims who in fact
believe that they are heterodox,
or not part of the tradition.
You could put it this way,
protestants they use prayer beads?
Okay, so there are Muslims who
also don't use prayer beads as well.
So, not everyone does, but I don't
necessarily believe, well I don't wanna,
So, some will turn it down, others not,
but I don't think they'll be mad at you necessarily.
But if they, don't blame me.
(audience laughing)
But we just have five more minutes before 9 o'clock.
I'm still welcoming questions,
but I do wanna take the time to just
say thank you so much.
Thank you so much for caring about this issue,
for coming out this evening and learning about
how to care for your Muslim neighbors, your Muslim clients.
Wherever you might be placed beyond this program
or presently now, thank you.
I've been asked to come down here from Canada
and I'm particularly very passionate about
helping care providers to provide the
most effective care they can to their clients
and Muslims in particular, so thank you so much
for inviting me down, for all the staff and faculty
who made this possible.
It has really been my honor and pleasure
to provide care and education for the
care provider in communities, potentially globally
because of the work here in this school.
So, I wanted to say thank you for that.
If there are no further questions,
that can be a close then, but if you have something
private or something you just wanted to talk to me
in personally about, I'm not gonna run away after this.
I have had a long day, so be easy on me,
but I will stick around for a little while.
So, we do have one question.
- [Woman #9] I was just wondering if you were
open to sharing your e-mail (incomprehensible).
- Oh, you know what, I did have an e-mail on this slide,
but the e-mails gonna be changing soon,
so I'll just give you my personal e-mail.
Okay, please don't spam me.
Sign me up for this or that newsletter.
Actually I wonder if I could just type it on here
and it might be a little easier.
I don't see a keyboard. Oh, here we go.
So, this one don't worry about.
I'm just gonna give you another one.
j.abraham.long@gmail.com
So, that's my personal e-mail.
This is also some recommended readings.
Oh, that didn't help.
Okay, right there.
So, some recommended readings.
For social workers, it wouldn't hurt to take
a look at a article that's called
Social Work in the House of Islam by David Hodge.
It's actually a very good place to start a social worker.
Talks about also the policy aspects of making sure
that your organization is culturally sensitive.
There's my chapter in the book
Psychotherapy Cure of the Soul.
The Counselling Muslims and a couple of others.
But, there's my e-mail.
Please do not hesitate to,
this is my passion, this is what I live for.
If I could be of help, do not hesitate to ask.
Thank you so much.
(audience applauding)