Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy

Table of Contents - 01 December 2008 - Volume 29, Issue 04  

Articles

The Cultural Imperatives of Professionalism: Who's Protecting Whom?

Carol Bolanda1 c1

a1 Macquarie University.carolboland40@hotmail.com

Abstract

What does it mean to be a professional therapist? This paper explores some of the personal and cultural pressures that influence how we see ourselves as professional therapists. It then explores how these pressures impact upon our capacity to protect children and ourselves.

Keywords

  • power in therapy;
  • child protection;
  • genuineness in therapy;
  • reporting of emotional abuse

Correspondence:

c1 Contact address: 12 Japonica Rd Epping NSW 2121.

Carol Boland, Clinical Team Manager, Northern Sydney Child Protection Service. Carol also lectures in Child and Family Therapy in the Masters and Doctoral Programs at Macquarie University. An earlier version of this paper was presented as an invited plenary at the Annual Family Therapy Conference in Hobart, 2007.