Professional bodies like the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) and the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) play a large role in setting the profession’s identity and objectives. Guiding the work of these professional bodies and thus all planners accredited by them is the Professional Code of Practice. Because therapeutic planning expands the responsibility of the planner to care for communities and to create opportunities for healing and transformation, for it to be applied more broadly calls for integration into the Code of Practice. OPPI’s Code is divided into two sections: Statement of Values and Standards of Practice.
When it comes to the Statement of Values, there currently is a call to respect diversity, to foster public participation and to articulate and communicate values (1). These all point in the direction of therapeutic planning in a manner similar to the communicative turn in planning theory. However, to foster a therapeutic professional culture these should be expanded to include an explicit value to create space for community healing and transformation.
As for the Standards of Practice, it currently outlines far fewer responsibilities for planners to the public interest than to their clients, employers, the profession and other members. Therapeutic planning pushes the profession into the role of community caregiver - a configuration of the planner-public relationship that demands more responsibilities than are currently applied. The richness of the planner-public relationship as community caregiver should be unpacked further as the profession develops a deeper understanding of care. In the meantime, Sandercock and Atilli outline a strong starting point for a therapeutic understanding of the profession in their description of therapeutic planning:
Professional bodies can further support the development of therapeutic practice through training and guidance. The responsibility for a therapeutic education cannot reside solely on planning schools. Nursing has found a burn out problem in person centred-care theory and techniques when they are not implemented by the rest of the profession (3). An effective therapeutic education requires support throughout a planner’s career, meaning that CIP and OPPI will play an important role in fostering therapeutic education in practicing professionals.
Recommendations for planning professional bodies:
When it comes to the Statement of Values, there currently is a call to respect diversity, to foster public participation and to articulate and communicate values (1). These all point in the direction of therapeutic planning in a manner similar to the communicative turn in planning theory. However, to foster a therapeutic professional culture these should be expanded to include an explicit value to create space for community healing and transformation.
As for the Standards of Practice, it currently outlines far fewer responsibilities for planners to the public interest than to their clients, employers, the profession and other members. Therapeutic planning pushes the profession into the role of community caregiver - a configuration of the planner-public relationship that demands more responsibilities than are currently applied. The richness of the planner-public relationship as community caregiver should be unpacked further as the profession develops a deeper understanding of care. In the meantime, Sandercock and Atilli outline a strong starting point for a therapeutic understanding of the profession in their description of therapeutic planning:
- Recognizing that the past is often very present in planning conflicts
- Recognizing that past injustices shape what is possible in the present and often prevent constructive solutions from emerging
- Providing a process for collective recognition of these tensions and for working through these historic wounds and memories (2)
Professional bodies can further support the development of therapeutic practice through training and guidance. The responsibility for a therapeutic education cannot reside solely on planning schools. Nursing has found a burn out problem in person centred-care theory and techniques when they are not implemented by the rest of the profession (3). An effective therapeutic education requires support throughout a planner’s career, meaning that CIP and OPPI will play an important role in fostering therapeutic education in practicing professionals.
Recommendations for planning professional bodies:
- Update Statement of Values to include a call to create space for community healing and transformation
- Update Standards of Practice to include:
- Recognize that the past is often very present in planning conflicts
- Recognize that past injustices shape what is possible in the present and often prevent constructive solutions from emerging
- Provide a process for the collective recognition of conflict, trauma and colonization and for working through these wounds and memories
- Provide training in therapeutic planning theory and therapeutic communication techniques for professionals throughout their careers.
1. OPPI. (2018). Professional Code of Practice http://ontarioplanners.ca/Knowledge-Centre/Professional-Code-of-Practice
2. Sandercock, L., & Attili, G. (2014). Changing the Lens. Journal of Planning Education and Research,34(1), 19-29.
3. Schwind, J. K., Beanlands, H., Lapum, J., Romaniuk, D., Fredericks, S., Legrow, K., Crosby, J. (2014). Fostering Person-Centered Care Among Nursing Students: Creative Pedagogical Approaches to Developing Personal Knowing. Journal of Nursing Education,53(6), 343-347.
2. Sandercock, L., & Attili, G. (2014). Changing the Lens. Journal of Planning Education and Research,34(1), 19-29.
3. Schwind, J. K., Beanlands, H., Lapum, J., Romaniuk, D., Fredericks, S., Legrow, K., Crosby, J. (2014). Fostering Person-Centered Care Among Nursing Students: Creative Pedagogical Approaches to Developing Personal Knowing. Journal of Nursing Education,53(6), 343-347.