This post I will take a different angle and explore how spirituality links occupational therapy and adventure therapy and how this fits into our New Zealand context. Levack (2003) first proposed this unique link of spiritual occupation.
Part of being human is making sense of and giving meaning to our lives.
We all attach meaning to ourselves, others and the things we do.
Human beings are meaning makers. We make and express meaning through our performance in activities. Therefore we express who we are and constitute our sense of self through this performance. We attribute this meaning to both our own and others activities. Demonstrating through our actions what we mean and who we are. "Making meaning in everyday activities is considered the essence of spirituality." (Urbanowsky & Vargo, 1994, as cited in Levack, 2003).
Spirituality is acknowledged as having a substantial effect on an individuals motivation.
Levack (2003) further acknowledges that the occupational therapy framework, Canadian
Model of Occupational Performance, four performance components of a person are identified with the client at the centre. These four components are the physical, affective and cognitive aspects, and at the heart of these, the spiritual aspect of a person. Therefore it is recognised that spirituality is a performance component in occupational therapy. The spiritual aspect of a person, as a performance component, is subject to disability and illness just as the other three performance components of a person are. (McColl, 2000, cited in Levack, 2003).
When a person engages in an adventure activity, pushing outside their comfort zone, abseiling down a rock face or kayaking in the ocean, it is their spiritual aspect that is affected.
These adventure activities have a powerful impact on the person's ability to live in the world, in believing in their own abilities and self efficacy. This impact on their life changes the way in which the person understands and gives meaning to their life therefore affecting their spiritual component of themselves.
This spiritual component is especially relevant to our Aotearoa bicultural context because of the emphasis on recognising spirituality in Maori models of health. (Levack, 2003).
TE WHARE TAPU WHA
The Maori model of health, Te Whare Tapu Wha, decribed by Durie (1989) is based on four foundations of health:
- Taha wairua - spiritual
- Taha hinengaro - mental
- Taha tinana - physical
- Taha whanau - family
Taha wairua is considered the most essential component, as spirituality is woven throughout all of Maori life. It is through spirituality that links are made to each other and to the environment.
Spirituality is a connecting link for both Maori and Non-Maori. Adventure therapies ability to address the spiritual component of a person makes it a particularly suitable medium for working with New Zealander's in our unique country.
Levack, H. (2003). Adventure therapy in occupational therapy: Can we call it spiritual occupation? New Zealand Journal of Occupation Therapy, 50(1), 22-28.
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