WEBVTT 00:00:14.405 --> 00:00:16.825 What is the Catholic Christian meta model of a person? 00:00:17.765 --> 00:00:18.585 That's the question. 00:00:18.885 --> 00:00:19.385 Right. 00:00:19.525 --> 00:00:25.065 And what it is, it is this vision, a vision of the person that grows out of three wisdom traditions. 00:00:26.005 --> 00:00:29.865 And when you have three points of perspective, you always have a richer reality. 00:00:30.540 --> 00:00:49.925 The three points of perspective are the three wisdom traditions from which we draw: the philosophical tradition of of the West, the theological tradition of the Catholic Christian tradition, and the psychological tradition which is the faith, the the science informed, the science based, approach to the person. 00:00:50.705 --> 00:00:58.885 And so the metamot of the person from these three perspectives has developed 11 lenses to see the person with greater clarity. 00:00:59.450 --> 00:01:12.350 And those lenses, are elements, if you will, of a deep understanding rooted in the tradition, and they involve the way that the person is created. 00:01:12.875 --> 00:01:16.635 Created in God's image and likeness, the first theological premise. 00:01:16.635 --> 00:01:21.615 That they're fallen but redeemed the the two next, theological premises. 00:01:22.475 --> 00:01:43.925 And with that vision, the model itself has more in terms of its, philosophical, psychological perspective where it focuses on the unity of the person, the person flourishing in vocations, flourishing in virtues, and the way that each person is interpersonally knit, created from the very beginning. 00:01:44.945 --> 00:01:53.450 The the model itself has also four anthropological premises that I identify how embodied we are, how we know, and how we love. 00:01:53.910 --> 00:02:05.850 And the knowing and loving comes from a very the deep level, the sensate reality of the model is the sensory perceptual cognitive dimension of knowing the person in the way that they interact with the world. 00:02:06.555 --> 00:02:15.455 The emotions come out of the that encounter with the world and it's the second area, on the anthropological dimension of the Meta Model. 00:02:15.515 --> 00:02:22.580 And it's it's finished out with the reason and will which are so important in terms of our intellectual capacities. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:30.660 The metamol itself serves in in real ways to give a better understanding of the person, the family, society. 00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:35.460 It serves a deeper understanding of the client and psychology. 00:02:36.185 --> 00:02:50.445 And it also serves, if you will, to bolster the clinicians' understanding of their call, their call as Christians, in the way that they can use their conscience to guide them in ways that are sure. 00:02:51.690 --> 00:02:57.790 The Catholic Christian mental model of a person needs to be put into concrete application. 00:02:58.410 --> 00:03:00.570 And it is a framework that does just that. 00:03:00.570 --> 00:03:08.305 As a larger vision of the person allows them evidence based practices to be used with greater clarity and surety and if you will measure. 00:03:09.485 --> 00:03:13.345 And that is in a nutshell, the Catholic Christian mental model of the person. 00:03:15.485 --> 00:03:19.265 And how is it different from existing models of the person? 00:03:19.820 --> 00:03:32.640 Well, the existing models are in psychology, and, there's a big difference between the Catholic Christian meta model and the existing models, and not a big difference, several big differences. 00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:37.525 First of all, as was already mentioned, we have the three wisdom traditions. 00:03:37.525 --> 00:03:40.985 These are three layers of understanding the person. 00:03:41.365 --> 00:03:44.025 Theological, philosophical, and psychological. 00:03:44.965 --> 00:03:55.730 And so we identify the theological or purposeful aspects of our model and of the person and the philosophical understanding of it. 00:03:55.730 --> 00:03:59.430 And of course, with that comes the moral framework as well. 00:04:00.015 --> 00:04:06.275 And existing models of the person almost never say anything about what their philosophical assumptions are. 00:04:06.575 --> 00:04:15.700 They never say anything about, their so called purposes or or almost nothing about their, goal in life for the person. 00:04:16.080 --> 00:04:39.085 And, therefore, we have made those levels and those ways of understanding the person explicit so that, we hope others will follow suit now and suddenly, you know, be frank about what their philosophical, moral, and, purposeful assumptions are, which they didn't do in the past. 00:04:40.185 --> 00:04:50.260 In addition, we have in the model, an emphasis on virtues and an emphasis on vocation as the basis for our flourishing as humans. 00:04:50.880 --> 00:05:02.585 Now, of course, psychology does talk about the virtues thanks to positive psychology, but there's no model of the person or personality that includes the virtues, much less any that includes vocation. 00:05:03.125 --> 00:05:05.065 So those are important additions. 00:05:06.165 --> 00:05:14.420 And one final thing that's important, not only do we have those three levels, those three wisdom traditions, but we have them integrated. 00:05:14.960 --> 00:05:37.695 So we show how something that's described at the theological level like the love of God and love of neighbor, how that concept of love has its, different but interesting, development in philosophy and then how love has its own specific and particular development in psychology normally in the in the literature on attachment and bonding. 00:05:38.075 --> 00:05:44.190 So we show that the levels are not just separate, but they mutually interact with each other. 00:05:44.190 --> 00:05:47.010 They mutually resonate, if you will. 00:05:49.230 --> 00:05:56.445 And that vision of the person that the meta model develops is not just at the theoretical level. 00:05:56.445 --> 00:05:58.765 It's also applied in clinical work. 00:05:58.765 --> 00:06:03.645 And it really does four things for the profession, the mental health profession. 00:06:03.645 --> 00:06:07.425 First of all, we have this expanded vision of the person. 00:06:07.880 --> 00:06:20.780 And that expanded vision of the person allows us to see more of the person, to be able to diagnose human problems in a more complex way instead of looking at them in a kind of shallow way. 00:06:21.135 --> 00:06:27.155 In addition, it allows us to inform the way we do basic clinical activities. 00:06:27.775 --> 00:06:38.700 For example, in the case of something like assessment and diagnosis and treatment planning, it allows us to see a bigger picture, to see a richer picture. 00:06:38.760 --> 00:06:54.745 So for example, if we were to take a case of a young man coming in who's a husband, who has a couple of children and he's in his work life and he's very anxious, very anxious about the things going on at work. 00:06:55.045 --> 00:07:10.090 Well the meta model would say, yes we do need to consider all of the symptoms of anxiety and we do need to help this client with issues around the workplace, but we would first want to get a bigger picture of this person's life. 00:07:10.090 --> 00:07:21.245 And so we would ask this gentleman about how is his marriage going, how are his relationships with his children, how is he parenting with his spouse. 00:07:22.585 --> 00:07:31.385 And from that, we would get a lot more information about how things are going, both the positive and the things that are not going well. 00:07:31.385 --> 00:07:41.600 And that's another thing about The meta models encourages us to take both a positive perspective, not just a deficit perspective of human problems. 00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:52.655 And this makes a big difference because in the context of trying to think about how to do treatment, we would also understand what resources we have. 00:07:52.655 --> 00:08:10.520 So many folks in the field who might encounter this gentleman might decide to do individual work with him with his anxiety, but we may see that his marriage is a real resource for him and, his spouse can be very supportive. 00:08:10.520 --> 00:08:15.525 And so we might choose to do couples therapy instead of individual therapy. 00:08:15.985 --> 00:08:29.330 But I think the big big picture issue around the meta model is that it looks at problems in a a very, positive way in terms of how we are going to be able to help people. 00:08:29.470 --> 00:08:37.410 We have a more of a sense of not just looking at the problem, but but really looking at positive strengths. 00:08:38.110 --> 00:08:49.515 The other thing that the meta model does in addition to influencing practice is when we're with a client, it helps us to look at them in a very, very special way. 00:08:49.515 --> 00:08:54.575 The emphasis in the meta model is on the uniqueness of each person. 00:08:54.715 --> 00:08:56.740 And so we don't stereotype. 00:08:56.880 --> 00:09:00.260 We really look at the uniqueness of this person in their life. 00:09:00.640 --> 00:09:09.300 And another thing that the meta model emphasizes is the freedom of the individual, the freedom to change, the freedom to make life choices. 00:09:10.015 --> 00:09:18.115 And finally, the meta model emphasizes the dignity of the person, and that comes from this created in the image and likeness of God. 00:09:18.335 --> 00:09:30.580 And it it gives us utter confidence, in the worth wildness of human life and the importance of each individual person and their capacity for change. 00:09:31.280 --> 00:09:46.485 And finally, the meta model does something that is really valuable for the clinician and that is that it enables the clinician to have clarity and support for their Christian identity as a mental health professional. 00:09:47.985 --> 00:09:55.720 Some people might think that the meta model would would only be appropriate for Christian clients, but that's not the case. 00:09:56.820 --> 00:10:03.080 Many important aspects of the meta model are totally neutral with respect to, the faith of the person. 00:10:03.785 --> 00:10:14.285 We do argue that we think the faith of the patient is important and it can be often seen as a strength that can help facilitate therapeutic gain. 00:10:14.665 --> 00:10:34.955 And in that sense, we've already noticed that one of our that one of our colleagues who's done something similar to this with who he's a Jewish psychologist and he's already, found that I think in his cognitive behavioral therapy works better if he brings it with Jewish patients when he brings in their Jewish framework and so forth. 00:10:35.095 --> 00:10:47.091 So although we have an explicitly Christian one, it we could certainly suggest to others if they wanna put in, you know, a Jewish theological level, they'd probably use the same first one that we have which is all based on the Old Testament. 00:10:47.091 --> 00:10:47.255 But, anyway, that so it's open to others to develop. 00:10:47.255 --> 00:10:49.390 I testament. 00:10:49.390 --> 00:10:55.250 But, anyway, that so it's open to others to develop out of ours that kind of notion. 00:10:55.790 --> 00:11:02.370 And furthermore, for even, unbelievers, the model is is quite appropriate in many ways. 00:11:02.995 --> 00:11:14.035 As clinical psychologists or counselors, we in no way are interested in using the model to try to, influence somebody to convert them or to change their religion. 00:11:14.035 --> 00:11:18.860 That's not at all, acceptable, and it's not at all part of the model. 00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:24.540 But, the psychological level of the model is very appropriate for anyone. 00:11:24.920 --> 00:11:37.215 And in particular, the notion that the person has intrinsic dignity and that all people have it, That's true whether you're an atheist, a skeptic, or, whatever other framework you're coming from. 00:11:37.595 --> 00:11:45.515 In addition, our emphasis on the virtues, that's a universal, positive thing that, is found around the world. 00:11:45.515 --> 00:11:54.120 So to encourage virtue development with with your clients is certainly, open to everyone and that we all have vocations. 00:11:55.700 --> 00:12:06.445 Now, of course, as Christians, we think of vocations as coming from God, but, you know, many people have vocations that they hear, well, they have a vocation to be an athlete. 00:12:06.445 --> 00:12:21.960 They have a vocation to be a doctor or they have other but it doesn't have to have a theological meaning for us in in when implying the model to just be concerned with the vocation aspect of our of our patient or our client. 00:12:22.420 --> 00:12:34.215 We are broadly interested in how their marriage is working or how their development toward flourishing is working or we're very interested in their job and how that's helping the community and themselves. 00:12:35.155 --> 00:12:43.655 So those are all things that are open to everyone and have no special, restriction to just being Catholic or Christian. 00:12:45.020 --> 00:12:45.260 Yeah. 00:12:45.260 --> 00:13:04.295 In my experiences in, consulting with colleagues who are of many different faiths and some folks that are not believers, when I do an analysis using the meta model, they at the end of it, they usually say, wow, that's a very comprehensive, look at this case. 00:13:04.675 --> 00:13:08.775 So the history of the the meta model is really one that can be told in various ways. 00:13:09.635 --> 00:13:22.830 We told in terms of the persons who were participating in the whole development of the model as a vision, But also it can be told conceptually the way that the model itself has developed over time in concepts. 00:13:23.690 --> 00:13:35.685 And the deepest, if you will, starting point for the meta model was that faith and reason are complementary, that they go together, that we need both in order to have the larger vision of the person and their family in society. 00:13:36.385 --> 00:13:48.580 And it is, in that it was in that time frame that when we started to develop explicitly the metamodel, that John Paul the second wrote as encyclical on faith and reason. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:59.715 Since then also there's been, if you will, Pope Benedict's Pope Emeritus, Benedict the sixteenth's insight that reason, needs to be broadened. 00:14:00.175 --> 00:14:03.715 And the broadening of reason allows a deeper understanding of faith. 00:14:04.175 --> 00:14:06.015 And the meta model is just that. 00:14:06.015 --> 00:14:14.680 It is grounded in faith informed reason, reason which draws upon the best of the psychological sciences and mental health practice. 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:41.240 And we can really, we have seen that our approach involves a serious engagement with theology, deep understanding of the person and their dignity, a serious in in engagement with philosophy and its wisdom and its history of studying the person, but also a very deep and, if you will, engaged work with the psychological sciences and mental health practice. 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:45.800 And it is, if you will, in that regard, the development has started. 00:14:46.260 --> 00:14:47.320 It hasn't finished. 00:14:47.620 --> 00:15:04.385 And in great humility, we have to say even though a book now is being published, has been published on the Catholic Christian Meta Model of the Person, the book is, if you will, one instance in the life of this vision, which is, if you will, deeply rooted in the persons and in reality. 00:15:04.930 --> 00:15:10.630 So it needs to be in various ways continued, uplifted, deepened. 00:15:10.850 --> 00:15:13.110 The second edition will come certainly one day. 00:15:14.770 --> 00:15:20.925 Well in addition to that, the history is it's a long history for the development of the meta model. 00:15:21.465 --> 00:15:38.460 It's been developed primarily through the faculty of the Divine Mercy University over the past twenty years, but it's also involved a wide variety of scholars from all over the world who have been working together to try to understand the human person. 00:15:38.840 --> 00:16:05.220 At that level, it's been a very multidisciplinary type of project in that that we've had many theologians, philosophers, and, of course, a a large number of different, disciplined psychologists and mental health professionals, counselors, all working together, at a common mission to, first of all, understanding what a Catholic Christian metamodel of the person or vision of the person is. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.880 And then how do we begin to apply this in everyday practice? 00:16:08.880 --> 00:16:26.115 And so there's both the theoretical side and the practice side, and that's been a a long and enriching kind of experience to work with all of these wonderful people in order to be able to examine the meta model and its application. 00:16:28.670 --> 00:16:38.450 And now I wanna show you what it meant what the meta model looks like because finally, the first really official publication of it is out. 00:16:38.670 --> 00:16:57.570 And here it is, with us as the three editors and, with you as having a treat in front of you that maybe you'll, investigate directly, not through our comments, but through your own reflection on reading it. 00:16:57.730 --> 00:16:59.490 And of course first buying it. 00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:00.230 Thank you.