Radical Relativism is Destroying the Helping Professions: Solid Ground #181 with John Paulson

<p>John&#39;s notes in summary: 1. It is important for us to continue to bring awareness to and more consistently and directly challenge these ideologies, as they continue to dominate and flourish in academia and the helping professions2. We need to increasingly reject the narrative and refuse to accept the suggestion or insistence that one side is unquestionably correct and that anyone who disagrees is not only wrong but a violent oppressor3. That psychotherapy is not something that everyone needs, especially if training programs and professional organizations are going to continue to insist on radical ideologies. We need to stop seeing therapists as paragons of wisdom and virtue and be more open to the benefits of alternative helping services, such as secular or spiritual life coaching and other alternatives to traditional psychotherapyJohn Paulson is an Associate Professor of Social Work at a regional midwestern university and has taught for the past 10 years in both the undergraduate and graduate social work programs. John began teaching as an adjunct at a community college in 2004 and transitioned to teaching full time at that college in 2011 and did so for 4 years before accepting his current position. His twenty plus years of experience teaching in higher education has led to growing concerns about how we are educating and training helping professionals in the domains of social work, counseling, psychology and allied disciplines. In addition to his academic background, John is a clinical social worker who has provided a variety of psychotherapeutic services for individuals with psychiatric and substance use difficulties in multiple behavioral health and social service settings.  His areas of research and scholarship include mental health and addiction services, mindfulness and compassion-based interventions, dynamics impacting professionalism, gatekeeping, and clinical supervision for student trainees and early career clinicians, advocating for individuals in personal long-term recovery with histories of legal convictions entering training programs and obtaining employment and licensure in the helping professions, issues of spirituality in social work practice, and the microsociology of violence and the potential impact of martial arts study for deescalating and preventing conflict.In this interview John discusses his personal and professional perspectives and concerns on these issues. His views are his own and do not represent those of his departme