Key Theme #5 part 2: We are shaped by our history; shaping our future differently will require intentional changes in our present practice
In preparation for the 2021 ACPE Annual Conference Creating Room to Breathe, ACPE has identified themes from the Anti-Bias survey of ACPE members. In the following weeks, ACPE will be publishing the key themes that emerged from the Anti-Bias survey results.
Key Theme #5 We are shaped by our history; shaping our future differently will require intentional changes in our present practice
We are shaped by our history. Family Systems Theory suggests that we are who we are based on influential messages given to us during our childhood. We are shaped by our history. The generational trauma we carry from historical oppression continues to psychologically impact our lives. We are shaped by our history. The unfortunate sociological experiences of life can weigh us down.
These influential messages from childhood, generational trauma and unfortunate sociological life experiences have a startling effect on us and collide in the Clinical Pastoral Education learning experience. Therefore, we are left with only one answer: shaping our future differently will require intentional changes in our present practice.
We must be willing to shift our present practice. We must come to the conclusion that we are no longer the same educators and psychotherapists of the past. What we were doing in 1980 or 1990 or even the early 2000s is no longer relevant. Shift must happen. What we used to quietly bear, we must now speak out and say something to challenge the injustice at hand. Shift must happen. Supervisory theories must shift, supervisory visions and passions must shift. If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that shifts will happen... whether we want them or not. How about we embrace the shift, lest we are left behind?