Cynthia Langtiw
Interview
- Q: You were a student at The Chicago School and now you are a faculty member. Thinking back to your student days, did you have assumptions about the faculty that you now realize were incorrect?
- A: One thing I didn't know is how much work goes into actually developing the courses. As a student I would wonder why certain readings were required, I would wonder why certain perspectives were taken in classes. Now as a faculty member coming up with courses, I find myself wanting to put so much more material into them. I want my students to have all the information I can possibly give them. I want them to have as much information as I have. I think as a student, I just assumed the professors wanted to give us a ton of work!
- Q: You mentioned you came to The Chicago School hoping to find "a classroom outside the classroom." Can you share a favorite real-world experience from your days as a student?
- A: When I was searching for an advanced therapy practicum, I was sure that I wanted to build upon the skills I had working with children and families. I had a list of sites that I knew would be a good match for me. An esteemed professor, and director of the Office of Placement and Training, suggested that I apply to The Marjorie Kovler Center for Treatment of Survivors of Torture. It was a suggestion that changed the course of my career. My work at Kovler exposed me to devastating human experiences. However, I also learned the power of healing in relationships. I came away from that experience understanding more about the sometimes dark nature of the human experience, but also how a healing relationship can serve to illuminate the good. My current interest in aiding survivors of trauma began in the classroom, but was honed at Kovler, my classroom outside the classroom.
- Q: You also mentioned you came to The Chicago School looking for a broader definition of diversity. How did you define diversity before your experience at The Chicago School, and after?
- A: As a Haitian-American woman, I have had the experience of being black in America, which often included the assumption that I was African-American. People assume that I have an understanding of foods and customs in the African-American community that I do not. In several educational settings, diversity was presented primarily as an issue of race, and at times ethnicity. Although race, especially in America, is a central issue, I knew from my own complex background that there was more to the story. Through my experiences at The Chicago School and subsequent professional experience, my explorations of diversity have grown to include religion/spirituality, ability status, class, the spectrums of sexuality and gender, intercultural dynamics, race/ethnicity and more. As a clinical psychologist, I am particularly interested in how to approach each person as individual, while keeping possible dynamics of diversity in mind.
- Q: Do you have a back-to-school ritual from your student days that still comes into play as a faculty member?
- A: I think I've always really loved fall and part of it is just the excitement of knowing school is going to start again. The fall always feels like a new beginning to me. It's a period of rejuvenation. So I guess it's an emotional ritual that I've brought with me. Fall is the beginning of the new year, rather than a time to for coasting into the end of the year. I just love the ramping up for the beginning of the year.
- Q: Your work at Mt. Sinai Hospital's Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Clinic involved children and spirituality. This is an area that's a challenge even for adults. How did your interest in this area come about, and what is the biggest difference between how adults and children incorporate spirituality into their lives?
- A: Every individual I have met, both personally and professionally, has a complex relationship with respect to issues of religion and spirituality. My own journey is one that consistently leads me to more questions and deeper understanding. In my work, I have found that the psychological is often intertwined with the spiritual, spirituality having a myriad of definitions. Those intertwinings are just as complex for my younger clients. In my exploration, I found that issues of spirituality and religion mediate so many important areas in the lives of children and adolescents. Religion and spirituality are related to friendship development, moral development, sexual development, risk-taking behavior, self-esteem, cultural connectedness, connection to nature, and many other areas. When I understand a child or adolescent client's thoughts or beliefs about the role of religion or spirituality in their lives, I can have a much deeper understanding of who they are and how they connect to the their world.
The biggest difference between how adults and children incorporate religion and spirituality in their lives is that adults tend to have more experiences and information from which to draw their connections. That can mean stronger positive or negative feelings towards religion over time. It can mean a more stringent or fluid definition of a deity as related to religion or spirituality. However, I do not find that it means a less complex dynamic than for children or adolescents. My work has shown me again and again how sophisticated young philosophers are with respect to issues of spirituality and religion.
I recently reread Judy Blume's Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret. Maraget Simon is the 11-year-old daughter of a Jewish father and a Christian mother, who has not been raised to follow a particular religion. In essence, the book is a prayer, a yearning for spiritual understanding. I was struck by the sophistication of Margaret's search for both an understanding of God and connectedness to a faith community. Margaret's search is less about right and wrong or choosing, but about the journey. This book is an excellent illustration of the complexity and sophistication that youth bring to the conversation of religion and spirituality. - Q: How would you like to make a difference?
- A: There are so many issues that are hot- button issues in public health. I'd like to make a difference by giving my students a sense of how they can make mental health a public health issue.
- Q: You said that as a child you were convinced that Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh, was your alter ego. If you were going to recommend a book for Oprah, what would it be and why?
- A: If not Judy Blume's Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret, I would recommend Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy. Harriet is a precocious, inquisitive (AKA nosy) child. At one point she says "I want to know everything, everything …Everything in the world, everything, everything. I will be a spy and know everything." That sentiment resonated for me like a gong. I didn't know that anyone else was brimming with the desire to know besides myself. My inquisitive spirit birthed a research career in which I examined the relationship between gestures and learning, as well as the content of dreams. As a clinical psychologist, that investigative spirit helps me explore many possibilities when working with clients. Harriet was a powerful young woman who followed her spirit. She inspired me and I'm sure she'd inspire others. Here's to the first selection of the Oprah Young Adult Book Club!
