The President of the Ordem dos Psicólogos (OPP) was present at the Inter-Religious and Inter-Disciplinary Symposium which took place on Tuesday, at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, in Lisbon. Telmo Mourinho Baptista joined a panel of important speakers, connected to Health and Religion, presided over by Leonor Beleza, president of the Fundação Champalimaud and moderated by the Coordenador Nacional da Pastoral da Saúde, Monsenhor Vítor Feytor Pinto.

In the panel, dedicated to the subject «Spiritual and Religious Accompaniment in Healthcare», were the president of the Order of Doctors, José Manuel Silva, the president of the Order of Nurses, Maria Augusta de Sousa and the president of the Portuguese Association of Hospital Administrators, Pedro Lopes.

The psychologists work particularly with issues of vulnerability, many connected to illnesses which jeopardise the question of values and beliefs and which lead to questioning of the meaning of life. According to Telmo Mourinho Baptista, these issues do not only appear in the most clarified classes, but they are transversal to all social and economic conditions. The President spoke of a study carried out in Évora, which showed that people with a low level of schooling showed the same «concerns of existence» as those who were more clarified.

Telmo Baptista also revealed that there are Masters Theses in Portugal on how psychologists «feel these needs» from people and how they deal with them. He also guarantees that all these interventions and national and international studies have allowed psychologists to «take note of psychological interventions» and so «must be used».

The president also mentioned the waste of knowledge which is taking place in our Country and guarantees that it is essential to make the most this the knowledge and experience of psychologists. Every day, these healthcare professionals deal with pain, suffering and death in hospitals. Also in palliative care, psychologists play a very important role in this area and also in the humanisation of healthcare. Telmo Baptista guarantees that psychologists are concerned with the psychological well-being of people and are doing a great job in this area.

Telmo Mourinho Baptista also stated that it is important to invest in training «especially in training which changes the attitude of people» and which gets them to act, «because having knowledge is very important, but this is not enough».

At the end of the intervention, the President confirmed the availability of the Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses (OPP) to work on the training of professionals in the area of clinical psychology, so that they are sensitive to the spiritual needs of patients and can move the resources needed to satisfy these needs. The Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses (OPP) will work with the inter-religious work group which was formed at this meeting. This group, made up of various religious movements in Portugal, promotes the reflexion and spiritual and religious accompaniment in hospitals.