The Catholic Christian Meta Model of the person provides a vision of the person, family, and society for the work of the human social and behavioral sciences in general and for the helping professions in particular.
As a Meta Model, it offers a large basic philosophical and faith based theological frame of thought and action.
It works at the level of a living tradition or worldview and value system.
Two Provisos.
First, a premise is a basic principle or presupposition that can be known through either faith or reason.
Premises serve as cues to recall the full picture of what is needed for a person to grow, heal, and flourish.
Second, the Meta Model presents a comprehensive frame that can be applied in the helping professions.
Although rooted in a Christian perspective, it is used by the helping professional to understand clients, assess their needs, and formulate treatment plans for believing and non believing clients.
We presume that the best assessment and treatment will come out of the most accurate and robust understanding of the human person and family.
There are three theological premises that chart the narrative.
First, of God's creation of mankind and the universe.
Second, of the fallen nature of mankind.
And third, of God's invitation to redemption and beatitude.
Every human person is created in the image of God, made in love and for love, called to friendship, communion, and flourishing.
What is the benefit of affirming that we are created in the image of God?
It provides a faith based acknowledgment that even in the face of unhealthy values, poor choices, and disordered behavior that you may observe in some of your clients, each of them possesses an indelible dignity, goodness, and relationality.
And each of your clients is called to a transcendent flourishing.
This premise affirms that your clients are loved by God and that you are called to serve them on their life journey.
The theological concept of each human being created in the image of God is probably one of the most profound truths with regard to implications for counseling.
To quote both John Paul the second and Benedict the sixteenth, we can imagine God, the father who creates, looking into the eyes of each person and saying to him or her, it is good that you exist.
I have made you fundamentally good, and I see and delight in you personally.
You are known, loved, and awaited.
We can look at each client through this lens.
We will see regardless of how deep the pain or distorted the path, their deepest inclinations are for the good, revealing their indelible goodness and the dignity and respect we should show for each one and his or her story.
It is the responsibility of the counselor to provide safety and deep empathy to allow clients to reveal their deepest inclinations for the good.
The human race has fallen and suffers the influence of moral and spiritual brokenness.
What are the implications of affirming that humans are influenced by the consequences of sin, yet still foundationally good?
The benefit is that you have reason for hope.
In the midst of needing to face suffering and limitations, hope is possible due to the promise of redemption, the next promise, but is also due to the deep conviction that each human's embodiment of and participation in goodness by gift of God is more fundamental than any evil they may embody, express, or encounter.
Believing in the reality of the woundedness and weakness of each individual allows us in counseling to affirm the goodness of each client while exploring some of the deepest pain they have experienced due sometimes to the hurtful choices of others and sometimes of themselves.
Without exploring these sensitive issues of guilt and shame, we can cause clients to hide deep wounds without hope for healing.
The Catholic Christian vision of the person is comprehensive enough to hold both the indelible goodness of the individual and their woundedness and weaknesses.
The person is invited to redemption and beatitude.
What are the implications and benefits of this premise of redemption?
The desire for ultimate wholeness, that is for redemption and communion with God, can be found in all people.
The level of redemption offers responses to mental challenges and disorders through the effects of forgiveness, commitment, responsibility, and freedom.
Complete physical or mental wellness and lack of negative influences are not often possible.
However, inevitable suffering and sacrifice can take on new meaning when clients enter more fully into God's law.
The therapist care, the reawakening of vocational commitments to family and friends, and service to those in need.
Helping professionals can be beacons of faith, hope, and love, which is especially appreciated, for example, when clients are in great need because of the loss of a loved one or the effect of his or her depression on the family.
While we might think that this concept of being redeemed is only for those who already possess religious faith, the clinical implications go further.
In truth, each of us, being fundamentally good but also wounded, needs redemption.
And by God's freely giving gift, we can experience different levels of redemption through a variety of means, including even counseling.
The redemptive aspect in counseling is twofold.
One is to view each client as a diamond who cannot fully cast their luster due to the harsh realities of life, but who in counseling can regain and disclose more of their original created shine.
The diamond can be redeemed.
The other is to help clients see how all of their life narrative, even the harsher realities, have redemptive, existential, and transcendent meaning that can add a sense of purpose and flourishing even in the midst of deep pain and struggles.
These principles can help to recall the frame of flourishing and foster an experiential encounter with the client understood by the helping professional as sharing a common humanity and dignity, being a unique person, and being a mystery to meet and discover.