The Future of Our Work Isn’t Robots. It’s Caring Humans.
Updates by Daryl Chow, MA, Ph.D.(Psych)
View this email in your browser
The Future of Our Work Isn’t Robots. It’s Caring Humans.
By Daryl Chow, MA, PhD on Feb 04, 2018 04:11 pm
The future of our work as a caring profession isn’t going to be subjugated or outsourced to artificial intelligence or driverless cars.
Instead, our work is going to matter even more in the future of work. We will make an impact is how we are going to weave the use of personalised data, and how we are going to care for each other.
If we were to get better at our work as therapists and mental health professionals, it isn’t going to be about getting smarter or faster; there will be many shiny new things that will vie for our attention that derails us from the path of care.
With regards to the mastery of our craft, many therapists say our work is “different” from other domain of expertise, so we can’t compare deliberate practice to chess, sports, music or medicine. Yet, I’d argue that the discipline is similar; it requires devotion. By devotion, I mean, an ongoing dedication to keeping our eyes focused on growing, feed ourselves the appropriate nourishment, so that we stretch our sensibilities of how we care, translating to better individualised results.
Here’s what Atul Gawande has to say about why ineptitude is a bigger problem than ignorance:
“ …the knowledge exists but an individual or group of individuals fails to apply that knowledge correctly. What’s really interesting to me about living in our time and in our generation is that that is a remarkable change of living now: that ineptitude is as much or a bigger force in our lives than ignorance.“ [1]
While our field has progressed tremendously on the scientific front, we need to compliment this is on how we evolve our care. Thomas Moore famously calls this the “care of the soul.” [2]
What really matters in our field is how we are going to co-construct the experience of care, affection, and dignity for others who experience the shadows of our psyche. It matters a great deal how we relate with those who are on the margins of society, the voiceless, the ones that are outcast from being useful to the cogwheel, the young and the old.
I don’t mean care “for the less fortunate.” When we refer to others in this manner, it implies that the less fortunate should strive to be where you are, and that they are “behind” and should catch up. Instead, we should treat each other as equals; everyone will experience the storms of life, and everyone has something to give.
If we agree on the importance of caregiving, not cure-finding[3], we would focus less on
ourselves;
our pet solutions/approaches/methods;
keeping on top of timely news feeds, and
climb the corporate ladder.
Instead, we would focus more on
others;
first principles and outcomes;
setting our gaze on timeless knowledge and letting FOMO (fear of missing out) wash over us, and
climb the meaningful ladder on a wall of your choice [4].
~~~
According to activist and writer, Ai-Jen Poo[5], The future of work is going to be about the role of deep humanistic care.
“By the year 2030, child care and elder care jobs will be our economy’s single largest occupation. If you’re talking about the future of work and you’re not talking about care work, you’re doing it wrong.”
To further expand on Ai-Jen Poo’s view, the future of our work will require us to step out of the therapy office a little more—metaphorically and literally— and go into our local communities, and offer our selves through direct service, or maybe even through writings and training. And while we are in our cloistered offices, we need to create networks of care. This means that we need to set up conditions and environments for others to give to care as well.
“Nobody is so poor that he/she has nothing to give, and nobody is so rich that he/she has nothing to receive”
~ Carroll Watejeck, Pope John Paul II.
Mental health is not an individual’s problem. It’s a social issue.[6]
The silent epidemic of our times is that people suffer alone. Despite the chitter chatter that we often engage in, we seldom talk at a level of depth. We rarely dig deep.
The implicit myth that pervades is that “one should sort out your own life” or “you should not rely on others.” Yet, when the storms come, we intrinsically seek another, and we experience healing in the presence of another caring human.
Think of the last time when you’ve experienced the Storm of Life. Who was there for you? Who did you turn to? Being a helping professional, were you influenced by the “I should sort this out on my own” myth?
If you and I are to learn to become more effective, we need to cast our lens a little wider on how we can design conditions of care for those that we help.
All healing is relational. May we be that person who learns the art of slowing down and tend to caregiving, and help others experience the gift of caring to others.
So let’s bring back the “care” into our “healthcare.”
~~~
Footnotes:
[1] Surgeon and writer Atul Gawande, Interview with super smart journalist Ezra Klein
[2] I highly recommend reading Thomas Moore’s seminal book, The Care of Soul.
[3] The Spirituality of Caregiving, by Henri Nouwen. Nouwen’s one of the authors that moved and shaped me tremendously, especially in my early formation as a therapist (though he isn’t a therapist). If this interests you, his other book Compassion is a must-read.
[4] Here’s a quote attributed to Joseph Campbell: “Sometimes you climb the ladder to the top, only to discover that you’ve placed it against the wrong wall.”
[5] This post was inspired by Ezra Klein’s interview with Ai-Jen Poo.
[6] I recall former head of DSM-IV Allen Frances said something to this effect, as well as Jay Haley, founding father of strategic therapy: “Mental illness is a contract between two or more persons”
Recent Articles:
10 Things to Avoid in Deliberate Practice
In Search for a Personalised Professional Development
Being Average is Compelling
Figure Out Where You Are Before Knowing Where You Need to Go
Everyone Needs a Coach