HESED-Ministry Report 2007

Date: 2007 to 2007
Location: Hokitika, Westland, West Coast, New Zealand
Surname/tag: Pierson

Clare Pierson

HESED

Principles: The name of this Ministry encompasses the principles on which practice is based – Mercy in its biblical sense (explanation attached). The Hebrew word, Hesed was chosen rather than the Greek Rahamim, mainly because of ease of pronunciation, but also because it has meanings that more or less encompass the other words for Mercy in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.

Mercy – justice tempered with love (Pope John Paul II). At Hesed all persons are respected as equal in dignity and worth before God to every other person. Study of and teaching about racism, sexism, ageism and other forms of discrimination, oppression and marginalisation have helped me be aware of ways in which these could enter into my practice. Ongoing reflection on local, national and global issues in light of the Gospel, informs my understanding of the context within which clients' issues arise.

 : "The life and maxims of Jesus Christ should be for a religious a  : book continually before her mind and she should take his virtues  : endeavouring to imitate them. This should be her constant care."  : - from Catherine McAuley – 'Retreat Instructions'.

Fees are minimal for persons who cannot afford to pay and in a few cases there is no fee. No person is turned away because they cannot pay and adding to a persons stress is avoided by negotiating a fee that is affordable. Fees paid by ACC, while less than what colleagues charge, help subsidise other clients. WINZ sometimes pays a Disability Allowance for counselling for beneficiaries. CYFS pays for counselling, assessments and consutativre papers, while the Family Court pays for counselling when separated or divorced parents involved in child care and contact cases are considered by the Judge, to need counselling. Some children have some therapy fees paid by the Mercy Rose Trust.

 : "...the Sisters …shall animate their zeal and fervour by the example  : of their Divine Master Jesus Christ, who testified on all occasions  : a tender love for the poor and declared that he would consider as  : done to Himself whatever should be done unto them."  : - from Catherine McAuley – 'Rule and Constitutions of the Sisters of Mercy.
Chapter 1. Of the Object of the Institution'.

Environment: The rooms in which people are seen at Hesed are light, peaceful and attractive in a homely way, not clinical. They are child friendly as well as comfortable for people of all ages. There is a small waiting room where clients and those who provide transport are able to read, do puzzles, play games, listen to music and have a drink if they wish. The play therapy room is also small while the therapy and assessment room is large.

Services: Psychological services offered can be classified under the following categories:

Educational Psychology – cognitive assessment, neuro - psychological assessment, professional supervision, consultation, working with families.

Mental Health – psychotherapy/counselling psychology, psychological assessment, neuropsychological assessment and clinical supervision.

Forensic Psychology – psychological assessment for Youth Justice and CYFS.

To this ministry I bring over thirty years of accumulated knowledge, skills and experience as a Psychologist as well as over ten years teaching at both Primary and secondary School levels. I was employed for 18 years by the Education Department Psychological Service, later Special Education Service, for two years with Catholic Social Services and for two years as Manager of the Methodist Mission Aldersgate Counselling Service prior to setting up Hesed.

With the advent of market and trade liberalisation, changes in monetary policy, labour market deregulation and restructuring of social institutions with strategic changes in language and therefore of the culture of this country, people became devalued and the reason for being of Government agencies turned upside-down. It became impossible for me to retain my integrity and to work according to my beliefs in the teachings of Christ, hence the move to establish Hesed as a ministry of the Sisters of Mercy of the Otautahi Christchurch Diocese.

Referrals: Hesed in Hokitika has become known to a range of community groups persons who are members of which refer people of various ages and in some cases pay a small fee on behalf of the client.

• CYF social workers refer children, young persons and their parents and or foster parents for assessment to assist them in making decisions and writing Court reports and for counselling.

• The Family Court makes referrals for counselling for parents under Section 133 of the Care of Children's Act 2004, to assist the judge in making decisions in cases when Day to Day Care (formerly custody) and Contact (formerly access) are bitterly disputed and the proceedings may have carried on for too long. Because of the need to travel at short notice to remote places, even to the North Island to interview persons for Specialist Reports and the consequent disruption to services for regular clients, since the beginning of 2009 I have withdrawn from being a Family Court Specialist Report writer.

• Occasionally either the District Court or the Youth Justice Social Workers refer youth who have offended for a psychological assessment under Section 333 of the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act. These reports are required to have statements about level of risk of the offender and suchlike.

• Educational Institutions sometimes refer directly and pay for a child or young person to be assessed and other times ask parents to refer their child and pay for the assessment and report themselves. Some parents refer independently.

• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) now have three psychologists and have trained one of them in neuropsychological assessments so no longer refer directly to me. Sometimes parentsor others refer to me after being discharged by or are not accepted by CAMHS.

• Mental Health Unit and Mental Health District/Community Services. Some referrals for psychotherapy come from a psychiatrist and others from the rural and community health psychiatric nurses.

• General Practitioners also refer from time to time.

• Parents refer children, themselves and their families.

• Self-referrals frequently come from individual women and men and sometimes from couples, both heterosexual and lesbian. Currently I have approximately equal numbers of males and female clients which is unusual.

• Supervision. Counsellors and other professionals such as psychiatric nurses and teachers self–refer.

Membership of Professional Bodies:
• NZ Psychological Board Registration Number 90-00397 • NZPsS - Member of NZ Psychological Society • MNZPsS Institute of Developmental and Educational Psychology • MNZPsS Institute of Counselling Psychology • MANZATSA - Member of the Australian and NZ Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers • MISPCAN - Member of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect • MISSTD - Member of the International Society for the Study and Treatment of Dissociation

I am not renewing membership of NZAC this year. Apart from the Journals I tend not to benefit sufficiently from this membership to warrant paying the annual fee. I have persisted with it in the past to assist other counsellors to obtain full membership.

Academic Qualifications:
* Diploma in Educational Psychology – Auckland University. * Master of Arts 1st Class Hons – Canterbury University * Neuropsychology (for M Phil) – Massey University * Diploma in Education – Massey University * Diploma in Spirituality for Leadership – The Centre, Sydney. * Certificate of Proficiency, Personality and Abnormal Psychology – Canty Univ * COP, Advanced Human Development 2 – Massey University * Maori Language and Customs – Massey University. * Maori Language and Customs – Christchurch Institute of Technology * Certificate in Clinical Supervision – Central Institute of Technology

:…this maxim should be engraved on her mind, that ,although : "she possessed a knowledge of all the sciences which have ever : been known ....if she had not studied Jesus Christ and formed : her mind on his example, she is nothing in his eyes and want : all in wanting the science of the saints."
 : - from Catherine McAuley – 'Retreat Instructions.'

Supervision
for myself occurs monthly in Otautahi Christchurch with Rosemary Smart, a highly qualified and experienced psychologist. I also consult with other practitioners from time to time. When I am in Otautahi, I supervise another supervisor of counsellors and see a client or two. This counsellor is to retire later this year, so I will be seeing only clients, currently three. The small room with an external door near the gate of McAuley house has been where I see these clients. I hope that this arrangement will continue after alterations are made to that side of the house for the Bursar and possibly archives.

Colleagues:
Psychologists based in Greymouth, now nine in number, and I meet once a month for lunch and discuss issues and sometimes consult with each other. Counsellors also meet once a month. I also a member of e-lists for DNMS, ISPCAN and ANZATSA.

Professional Development.
It is essential, especially with the range of services provided, that I keep up-to-date in the various fields. To that end I attend relevant workshops each year and sometimes conferences as well. Research is constant via the internet, professional journals and relevant new books. In October - November, I am to attend a neuropsychology Conference in Melbourne. This Conference is to address neuropsycological change across the life span.

Therapies:
Approaches to healing used at Hesed are non-pathologising and client centred. My understanding of lifespan human development, neuropsychology, psychopathology, faith development, scriptural theology and spirituality, especially eco-spirituality, the new mythology and cosmological genesis, together form an integral part of my practice and use of various therapeutic modalities.

• The main therapy used for persons with unresolved issues, including abuse, trauma and neglect, from childhood is Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy.
  

• I am also trained in Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR), Narrative Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Schema Therapy and Interactive Drawing Therapy. I have training in therapeutic Hypnotism but do not use it. This training enables me to be alert to what is happening when clients put themselves into a trance and the difference between this and dissociation.
  

• I am familiar with and able to use strategies from Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Transactional Analysis, Assertiveness Training and Play Therapy for children.
  

Cultural Backgrounds
Since I arrived in Hokitika the range of cultures to which clients belong is fewer than in Otautahi Christchurch. So far, in Hokitika, apart from those of European descent born in Aotearoa NZ, I have seen several Maori and some English, Scots, Australian, Egyptian and Afro-American clients. Currently clinets are predominantly Maori and pakeha.

 : "(Catherine's) absorption in the Word of God, written and incarnate,  : called her to imitate the example of Jesus in translating the love of God  : to others……She did not shrink from the demands mercy places on who  : -ever would extend it. She knew that rendering merciful service was not  : an act of beneficence, but one of gratitude to God for mercy received.  : She discovered that her charism was mercy, a charism to the cutting  : edge of brokenness and imbalance."

Work with parents of children under three years of age, both for the parents or foster carers, particularly women who are usually the primary caregivers at this age and therefore have the greatest impact on the child's life, is seen as having a high priority. However, it is difficult to put a key focus on this age group as parents and foster parents of adolescents tend to recognise their need and ask for help more than younger parents with young children. Some have sons or daughters who have attempted or committed suicide and others have adolescents before the Courts.

 : "The Sisters will be convinced that no work of charity can be more  : productive of good to society, or more conducive to the happiness  : of the poor than the careful instruction of women ……"
(Catherine Mc Auley)

Working in Te Tai Poutini, the West Coast, enables me to have a much closer relationship with all the relevant agencies and to be more effective in contributing, with others, to positive change for families and the community that could ever happen in a city. One also has to be very aware of how to handle to possible multiple relationships that are possible with clients in small communities and to know how to manage these ethically. Being a Sister of Mercy and not being seen to be drinking in the Hotels assists with keeping boundaries. I tend to have only professional relationships as much as possible with other professionals and go to Otautahi to see a doctor, dentist and suchlike. Common sense, supervision, support from colleagues, experience, training and professional development and daily prayer lead to my being able to enjoy working effectively among the people of God in this part of the world.

 : "We ought …to have great confidence in God in the discharge  : of all these offices of Mercy …which constitute the business  : of our lives, and assure ourselves that God will particularly  : concur with us to make them efficacious as by His infinite  : mercy (that) we daily experience……"
 : Catherine McAuley

I am trying to take on fewer individual clients this year and having stopped the Family Court specialist report work means that demands made on me are reduced significantly.

Hesed outdoor environment
Care of the earth and the unity of all things have been an integral part of my spirituality from early childhood with a growing awareness of the meaning of this increasing over the years. I am moving towards offering spirituality groups for people in this area. The development of the property at 79 Sate Street is very much part of this spirituality as well as enabling me to provide vegetables for some poor clients and to share with elderly neighbours in this block.

For several years I was a member of the original Project Waitangi group in Otautahi Christchurch. We developed programmes (later used by Robert Consedine) and facilitated groups with significant success in raising awareness about our history and changing attitudes toward Maori. I initiated this same process within the local Network of Religious for Justice and Peace and the Bishops Commission of Justice Peace and development, developing specifically Catholic programmes, training facilitators and facilitating groups, including groups of Mercy Sisters.

My attention has turned more strongly now to the care of this earth and the place of humans within it, the development of knowledge, understanding, changed attitudes and different consciousness in relation to our Creator and the Cosmos, particularly the universe and the earth. The opportunity to attend the Sisters of the Earth Conference and Retreat (I am now a member of that group) and the Tribute to Thomas Berry Summer School has increased my ability to undertake this ministry and energy for facilitating such groups. I am most grateful for having had these opportunities.

Justice
On a daily basis I engage in activities of one kind or another related to changing unjust systems and improving the lot of the poor and those without a voice. Keeping informed about a few issues takes much time and energy.

Parish
As a parishioner, I notice opportunities where I can offer some small service, encouragement or a listening ear, especially for children, those who have an illness and the elderly, am a Reader for Sunday Liturgy and am a member of the Liturgy committee. A mildly mentally disabled reader comes for help with her reading prior to reading at Sunday Liturgy. This is done quietly in the background and few would be aware of these activities.

Sr M Clare Pierson Psychologist Hesed -Mc Auley Trust 79 Sale Street Hokitika 7810 Te Tai Poutini Westland Aotearoa New Zealand

Motto: Love serves with the Spirit of Christ