She is talking about the "boundary" between a suffering person and the professionals...."The person on one side becomes a client, and the person on the other side is professional.....The client is reduced to his or her particular problem, and the professional never gets to meet the multifaceted reality of the person they are trying to help.The caregiver, the advocate, the social worker never actually meets the complex reality of the person, who may have a wacky sense of humour, who loves his kids, who has secret dreams of going ice fishing in the winter, who is immensely resilient, who knows where to get wine cheap........"
An interesting quote from a book by M... - Parkinson's New Z...
An interesting quote from a book by Mary Jo Leddy.
Written by
jocelyngrantham
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ParkinsonsNZ1Parkinson's New Zealand
What is the book?
It is called "The Other face of God" . Mary Jo Leddy actually lives with Refugees in Toronto in "Romero House" and writes of her experiences so it is not about Parkinsos per se but this part refers to the boundary between the professional and the person being helped..... which has some crossover.
It depends on the health professional, and how much time they have to spend with the client, as they are always will have bounderies. Some will have more time to spend than others as it would dependon how many people they need to see each day, I know from experience that some do use their decression with the bounderies and get to know the client, carer, spouse family members on a better level when they are visiting the client.
I'm sure there are exceptions, but in general when we are even referred to as "client" we can feel diminished a s a whole person. We are much more than our "problem', and parkinsons does not totally define us. This is probably why I feel more alive and "normal" when I just spend time with people as equals and not in role.
Jocelyn
Interesting discussion again.
I guess it is about how we name relationsips and in this instance it is a professional relationship rather than a friendship, is that right? The use of the word boundary is interesting too because some aspects related to boundaries in professional relationships have legal implications. If the author is a religious who has dedicated all rather than a segment of life to their work that also adds another dimension I feel.
In NZ what is acceptable language changes. I have lived in the UK almost 6 years and notice a difference in words used and this appears to go unquestioned. For instance in NZ we talk of not for profit organisations, in Britain they talk of Charities. The word client is not generally used, we are patients.
Thanks Hikoi you raise good points. Language always has some limitations to describe and define people, but none the less, language does have a psychological efffect on how we feel. Both "patient" and "client" have more a feel of things being done to you rather than fostering autonomy.
Also it is difficult for professionals to see the big picture of our full lives with the odd 10 minute appointment here and there. What we really need are ongoing friends and support people who journey with us in a more natural, wholistic and integrated way, to supplement the inevitably fragmented and changing nature of professional contacts.
Yes, agree. Now the question is who are to be our companions on the road. Is this the role of friends and family or a voluntary service or?? And what is their role, do they need to be PD informed journeyers or just support. Oh dear getting heavy now, not asking for an answer just the wine talking maybe. Lol. Nice to have someone to discuss with!
Yes friends and family and others who we meet "on the way". That's why we've started a small organic sort of group of PWP and their partners. We meet once a month but are in contact between those times.
What an excellent model!