Sahibou Oumarou: Spiritual Guidance with the Homeless
A Real-World Experience
Sahibou Oumarou, an ITP student in the Spiritual Guidance program, volunteered at the Opportunity Center, a homeless shelter in California. Here, he has written on his successes and trials in his endeavors to help the homeless.
My First Day
My first day at the Opportunity Center was on Friday, August 21, 2009. I did not know what to expect. My first impression was that the homeless people there were cold and suspicious toward me. Some of them stared at me and walked away, never to come back to the room where our meeting was taking place. After I presented myself, they all understood that I am not a foe to them, but a friend. The most striking thing I noticed was the chaos of the environment. Everybody was talking at the same time; some were laughing out loud and did not care about the group that was going to start soon. The energy was very draining and even disturbing to me. Soon, I understood that the only chance I had to work with this population was to stop the chaos and get them to be grounded.
That day was one of the most disturbing I experienced in my life. I went home exhausted and was unable to sleep that night. I continued to hear their voices and see the chaos.
The following Friday it was almost the same when I arrived. I thought, this chaos has to stop. I took a deep breath and signaled to Mary, their therapist, that I would like to talk. I told her that I would like to try my Qigong skill to calm them down and have their full attention in the room. She agreed and decided to stay and see what would happen. She thought it would take a miracle to calm them down and get their attention.
That day, after the Qigong practice, she expressed amazement with the result. The energy cleared out and the room became very quiet and joyful. At the end of the experiment, I could hear some of them saying repeatedly "Wow, wow, let's do it every day." The feedback I got from them was astonishing. Most of them said that they never felt that way in their entire lives. Now, I got them to be with me, and for almost an hour and a half, I was receiving their feedback and discussing the experience. Some of them believed that I was a gift for them from God. Since then, we agreed to practice Qigong first, and then have our spiritual guidance session.
My challenge now is to get most of them to come to an individual session. At this time, two are regularly coming for one-on-one meetings. So far, I am enjoying the experience. I trust more will come when they understand the importance of what I am offering to their community.
A Final Report on my Internship at Opportunity Center
My internship has been educational and enjoyable. The observable progress, the growing enthusiasm of my clients, encourages me to do what I am there for. Though it has taken time for them to trust me, I am no longer seen as the outsider, but their spiritual guide who cares, and who had been always available to listen to them and encouraged them to make room for the Spirit. I am pleased to notice that most of my clients are turning more and more to the divine within to receive help, and they talk about the outcomes of their prayers and meditations in group with excitement. They are now familiar with our weekly agenda, which starts with an opening meditation, a Qigong exercise, and group process.
ITP support is now welcomed, and we are making a noticeable difference in the lives of these homeless people. Our presence is helping them to see their lives from different angles, and to have more appreciation for life. Together, we are learning to laugh, cry, pray, and share. My recent work with them has had even greater impact. For the first time, my clients were taught to count their blessings in a daily basis, and to report to the group their impressions. As a result, most of them began to see the positive side of their lives, and promised to face the challenges life presents to them. For example, this week, we discussed in group the meaning my clients attached to life challenges, and I was pleased to hear one of them say that, "Life is problem solving, and challenges are the body builders of our characters. "All of them wrote the quote down and promised to carry it with them as a reminder. It was a great learning and paradigm shift for all of us, and the clients were encouraged to think a spiritual meaning of the quote, which will be discussed during the next group meeting.
One thing I noticed with my clients is that they need directive spiritual guidance. They lack structure, without which it is quite impossible to help them. This structure should be rebuilt and maintained in every meeting. The group work takes only 45 minutes. The group should remain open, due to the sporadic attendance of its members.
My advice to the new interns is to avoid any discussion of religious themes, and to always redirect the clients toward their inner experiences of the moment, and their own discernment of the role the divine plays in their lives. Although a spiritual guide needs to meet them where they are, my experience is that most of them have religious ideation, and talking about religious matters will end up creating tension and disruption of the group process.
About the Spiritual Guidance Program
ITP's two-year, low-residency program creates success stories like this one every day. Find out more about the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology's Spiritual Guidance program.
