Atlas›Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines›Guide 180
Guide XIII-180

Ethiopian Tewahedo fasting cycle

Ethiopia
A 33 · L 56 · M 1113 interventions in the Trinity explorer
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[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: the fasting cycle of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) as described in English by Mahibere Kidusan's site (eotcmk.org) and in EOTC-run nutrition programmes (GIZ with EOTC-DICAC; the ENGINE project's work with EOTC leadership), supplemented by a secondary overview for the names of the fasts. Amharic and Ge'ez primary texts, including the Fetha Negest, are not quoted here [uncertain: not verified]. The therapist's work alongside the fast follows the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) and named clinical and safeguarding sources.

What it is. The EOTC keeps one of the most extensive fasting calendars in Christianity. Its institutions describe fasting as a spiritual discipline in which the spirit masters the body, joined to daily church services, prayer, prostration and confession, especially in Holy Week (Himamat) [source: eotcmk.org fasts category]. The obligatory lay fasts include Great Lent (Abiy Tsom, modelled on Christ's fast in the desert after his baptism), the Fast of the Prophets (Tsome Nebiyat, the Advent fast before Christmas, Gena), the Fast of Nineveh (Tsome Nenewe, commemorating Jonah's preaching), the Apostles' Fast, the Fast of the Assumption (Filseta), and the weekly Wednesday and Friday fasts (Wednesday recalling the decision to arrest Christ, Friday the Crucifixion), which are suspended in the season after Easter [source: eotcmk.org; Wikipedia overview, uncertain: secondary, unverified]. The fast covers a large part of the year; clergy and especially devout lay people keep more days than ordinary laity [source: eotcmk.org; Wikipedia, uncertain: secondary, unverified]. In qualitative terms, a fast day involves abstaining from animal products and delaying the day's meal, with music and celebration set aside during Lent as a season of mourning [source: eotcmk.org]. This is a description of the tradition, not a recommendation: this guide gives no fasting lengths and no food rules for anyone to follow.

Who leads and authorises it. The fasts are set by church canon and teaching; the general list is traditionally attributed to the Fetha Negest [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. In daily life each believer's confessor, the soul father (yenefs abat), guides how they keep the fast, and EOTC programmes have trained priests to counsel their soul children on exemptions [source: GIZ 2023]. Senior church leadership and scholars have worked on written guidance on fasting in pregnancy, lactation and early childhood, intended for Holy Synod endorsement [source: Mekuria 2016].

Exemptions as church sources state them. Mahibere Kidusan states that exemptions are allowed to newly married couples, sick persons and women who have given birth [source: eotcmk.org]. EOTC-run nutrition programmes state that church doctrine exempts children under seven and pregnant and lactating women [source: GIZ 2023; Mekuria 2016]. Both programmes report that these exemptions were not widely known and that a prevailing community norm held that fasting admits no exceptions [source: GIZ 2023; Mekuria 2016]. These church sources do not state an exemption for older people [uncertain]; ask the client's priest.

How change happens (for the therapist). This is an observance, not a therapy. The therapist does not lead, prescribe or modify the fast. The clinical work is to understand what the fast means to this client, to keep treatment and health care workable around the church year, to send health questions to the doctor, to recognise when fasting has become a vehicle for an eating disorder, scrupulosity or coercion, and to involve the client's priest when the client wants that [synthesis].

2. Framework

There are no therapy phases, session counts or formats in church or clinical sources for working alongside EOTC fasting; the structure below is [synthesis], organised around the church year.

  • Phase A: Assessment (at intake, or as soon as the fast becomes relevant). Goal: learn the client's tradition, practice and support using the CFI core questions and its Spirituality, Religion, and Moral Traditions module [source: APA CFI supplementary modules]; take a health and eating history; note who in the household fasts, including children and pregnant or breastfeeding members. Move on when you know which fasts the client keeps, how, why, with whom, and any health or safeguarding flags.
  • Phase B: Before a fasting season (in the weeks before Abiy Tsom, Tsome Nebiyat or another fast the client keeps). Goal: plan together. Agree scheduling, check that the client has spoken with their doctor about any medical condition or medicine, and, if the client wishes, with their soul father about exemptions. Move on when a plan exists that the client, the doctor (where health is involved) and, if wanted, the priest accept.
  • Phase C: During the season. Goal: keep therapy going and watch for distress, eating-disorder signs, scrupulosity and health warning signs. Adjust session times and content. Move back to Phase B planning if health or mental state changes.
  • Phase D: Feast and after (Fasika, Gena and the end of each fast). Goal: review how the season went, including breaking the fast, social eating, guilt about fasts broken or exempted, and grief where loved ones are missed at feasts. Feed lessons into the next season's plan.

Criteria to step outside the framework [synthesis]: red-flag health signs (route to the doctor or emergency care), eating-disorder risk (move to eating-disorder assessment and treatment), child safeguarding concerns (follow local safeguarding procedures at once).

3. Guiding principles

  • Describe, do not prescribe. You do not set or change anyone's fast; practical meaning: never suggest what to eat, when or how long; refer these questions to the priest (religious) or doctor and dietitian (health) [synthesis].
  • Attribute religious meaning. Fasting as repentance, discipline and union with Christ's suffering is the church's teaching; practical meaning: use the client's words (tsom, the fast's name) and neither endorse nor dismiss them [synthesis].
  • Exemptions belong to the church. The church's own sources name exemptions for illness, childbirth and pregnancy or lactation, and young children [source: eotcmk.org; GIZ 2023]; practical meaning: help the client learn their church's position from their own priest rather than giving rulings yourself.
  • Health questions go to the doctor. Practical meaning: any client with diabetes, kidney disease, pregnancy, an eating disorder, or a medicine whose timing could be affected is advised to plan with their doctor or prescriber before the fast; medicine questions go to the prescriber only [source: Alemayehu 2025 for diabetes; synthesis for others].
  • Screen for eating disorders without suspicion of faith. Religious fasting can be co-opted by an eating disorder [source: Renfrew Center 2023]; practical meaning: ask routinely and respectfully, every fasting season.
  • Separate OCD from faith. Scrupulosity often goes beyond what religious law asks [source: IOCDF]; practical meaning: look at function (relief of anxiety, certainty-seeking) rather than at devotion.
  • Children's safety is paramount and irrespective of belief [source: NSPCC faith communities]; practical meaning: ask about children's involvement in fasting, and act on safeguarding concerns through local procedures.
  • Client-led collaboration with clergy. Practical meaning: contact a priest only with consent, with a clear question, and without passing on clinical detail beyond what is needed [synthesis; IOCDF].
  • Stay in role. You are not a confessor or spiritual father; practical meaning: avoid dual relationships, keep self-disclosure about your own faith brief and client-centred, and refer spiritual questions [synthesis].
  • Diaspora and community context. Practical meaning: ask how fasting fits the client's work, school, family and congregation, which may differ from practice in Ethiopia or Eritrea [synthesis].

4. Intervention inventory

These are the psychotherapist's own tasks alongside the fast. None of them alters the fast itself.

4.1 Exploring what the fast means in the client's life

  • Purpose: understand fasting as the client lives it: devotion, repentance, belonging, family identity, mourning in Holy Week, joy at the feast, or pressure and conflict. Use at intake and when a season begins [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask which fasts the client keeps and what each means to them, in their own words and names. (2) Ask who they fast with (household, congregation, community abroad) and what happens if they do not. (3) Ask what helps them during a fast (church services, prayer, community meals) and what makes it hard (work, study, health, distance from church). (4) Reflect back the meaning, not a judgement. (5) Note links between fasting and the presenting problem, either supportive or stressful [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Abiy Tsom is starting soon. What does that season mean for you, and how does it usually go?" "When you keep the Wednesday and Friday fasts, what are you hoping for?"
  • Watch for: fasting described mainly in terms of weight, control or punishment; fear of what others will say; loneliness in diaspora without a parish; strong comfort and meaning, which are resources to build on. It is working when the client talks freely about the fast and you can name its role in their coping [synthesis].

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview with the spirituality, religion and moral traditions module

  • Purpose: a structured way to place the fast within the client's identity, coping and help-seeking [source: APA CFI supplementary modules].
  • Steps: (1) Use the core CFI to explore how the client defines the problem, what they think caused it, their support, coping and help-seeking. (2) Add the Spirituality, Religion, and Moral Traditions module, which covers identity and community membership, family religious background, the tradition's role in daily and family life, practices at home and in church and how important they are, whether leaders, texts or practices such as prayer help the client cope, whether tradition-related issues contributed to the problem, and any distress, discrimination or conflict linked to belief or practice [source: APA CFI supplementary modules]. (3) For adolescents, the School-Age Children and Adolescents module (with its parents' addendum) applies; the module advises against using children as informants for family background or cultural analysis of their problems [source: APA CFI supplementary modules]. (4) For older clients, use the Older Adults module; for families, the Caregivers module or informant version [source: APA CFI supplementary modules]. (5) Write a short cultural formulation that names the fast and its meaning [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Some people find their faith helps them cope, and some find it adds pressure, or both. How is it for you?" "Does your soul father know about what you are going through? Would you want him to?"
  • Watch for: paraphrase the module's questions in your own words rather than reading them out; do not assume all Ethiopian or Eritrean clients are EOTC members or keep every fast. Working when the client's own explanatory model shapes the treatment plan [synthesis].

4.3 Calendar mapping and scheduling accommodation

  • Purpose: keep therapy accessible across the church year [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask the client which fasts and feasts fall in the coming months; the church year is set on the Ethiopian calendar, so ask rather than assume Western dates [synthesis]. (2) Note services the client attends and Holy Week, when church activity is intense and celebration is set aside [source: eotcmk.org]. (3) Offer session times that fit, for example avoiding times when the client is at church or tired late in a fast day; offer remote sessions where available. (4) Avoid scheduling food-based or energy-demanding tasks (group meals, exposure tasks involving food, demanding behavioural homework) without discussion. (5) Plan around feast days (Gena, Timket, Fasika) [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "During the fast, would a morning or a later session work better for you?" "Holy Week is close. Shall we plan whether to meet that week?"
  • Watch for: missed sessions during fasting seasons (ask, do not label as avoidance); the client's reluctance to ask for changes. Working when attendance holds through the season [synthesis].

4.4 Health screen and routing to the doctor

  • Purpose: make sure health risks of fasting are handled by the client's doctor, not by the therapist [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask whether the client has a medical condition, is pregnant or breastfeeding, takes regular medicine, or has had fainting, dizziness or low blood sugar during past fasts. (2) If yes, encourage a visit to their doctor before the fast. For diabetes, an Addis Ababa cohort of adults with type 2 diabetes found similar overall hypoglycaemia rates in fasters and non-fasters during Great Lent, but frequent and all severe hypoglycaemia occurred in the fasting group, and kidney disease predicted hypoglycaemia; the authors call for individualised risk assessment, education and treatment adjustment [source: Alemayehu 2025]. Clinical guidance written for Ramadan fasting (IDF-DAR) is something the doctor may draw on; it was not written for the EOTC pattern and is not presented here as church guidance [uncertain: not verified]. (3) Any question about medicine timing or doses goes to the prescriber only. (4) Remind the client that the church itself exempts the sick [source: eotcmk.org]. (5) With consent, share relevant mental-health information with the doctor, for example if low mood or an eating disorder affects eating [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Because of your diabetes, it would be wise to talk to your doctor before the fast starts, so they can plan with you. Would you like help preparing for that appointment?" "I can't advise on your medicine; your prescriber is the right person for that."
  • Watch for: reported dizziness, shakiness, confusion or fainting (urgent medical review); clients who hide their condition from family to keep fasting; changes in weight; Ethiopian fasting has been associated with weight and body-composition change in healthy adults [source: Michael & Baye 2023]. Those authors suggest fasting might be practised for health reasons; evidence status: a single observational cohort of healthy adults, with effects not sustained over time, so do not present fasting as a treatment [source: Michael & Baye 2023]. Working when the client has a plan agreed with their doctor [synthesis].

4.5 Clarifying exemptions with the client's own church authority

  • Purpose: help clients who are unwell, pregnant, breastfeeding or caring for young children know their church's position, without the therapist issuing religious rulings [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask what the client believes the church teaches about fasting when ill, pregnant or breastfeeding, or for young children. (2) If the client is unsure, share that church sources describe exemptions for the sick, women who have given birth, pregnant and lactating women, and children under seven [source: eotcmk.org; GIZ 2023; Mekuria 2016], and that EOTC programmes have trained priests to explain these exemptions [source: GIZ 2023]. (3) Encourage the client to discuss their situation with their soul father. (4) Explore feelings about being exempt (relief, guilt, shame, fear of judgement) [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Some priests have been teaching that the church does not ask pregnant or breastfeeding women to fast. Would it help to ask your soul father what he says for your situation?"
  • Watch for: community pressure that fasting has no exceptions, which church-linked programmes reported [source: Mekuria 2016]; distress about being exempt, which may need work on guilt (see 4.8). Working when the client feels permitted by their own tradition to protect their health [synthesis].

4.6 Perinatal clients and parents of young children

  • Purpose: support pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding clients and parents during fasting seasons, routing nutrition questions to midwives, doctors and dietitians [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask whether the client fasts during pregnancy or breastfeeding and whether young children in the household fast or follow fasting food. (2) Note that church-linked programmes found low intake of animal-source foods among women and young children in fasting regions, with long fasting periods a main barrier, and promoted the church's exemptions and diverse feeding during fasts [source: Mekuria 2016; GIZ 2023]. (3) Encourage the client to discuss nutrition with their midwife, doctor or health visitor. (4) Explore perinatal mood, family pressure and the client's own wishes. (5) Offer clergy contact if the client wants their priest's guidance [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "How are you managing the fast with the baby? What has your midwife said about eating while you're breastfeeding?"
  • Watch for: perinatal depression or anxiety that shows as loss of appetite and is mistaken for fasting; a client torn between family expectation and health advice. Working when the client has health advice and feels free to follow it [synthesis].

4.7 Eating-disorder screening and fasting during recovery

  • Purpose: spot when fasting has become a vehicle for restriction, bingeing or purging, and plan fasting seasons with clients in eating-disorder treatment [source: Renfrew Center 2023; Eating Recovery Center].
  • Steps: (1) Every fasting season, ask routinely about eating, weight, shape and control, using your service's validated eating-disorder screen [synthesis]. (2) Ask about the religious and cultural norms the client grew up with and their current relationship with them [source: Renfrew Center 2023]. (3) Explore motive: spiritual meaning versus weight loss, numbing emotions or a sense of control. (4) Look for the patterns practitioners describe: bingeing after breaking a fast, purging to cope with discomfort after eating, continuing to restrict after the fast ends for the day, praise for weight loss during the fast feeding restriction, and spiritual practice "co-opted" by the eating disorder [source: Renfrew Center 2023]. (5) For clients in treatment, discuss any fasting with the whole treatment team (including the dietitian) before the season and adapt the plan so recovery holds [source: Eating Recovery Center]. (6) With consent, include the client's priest, who may give spiritual guidance or excuse the client from fasting; practitioners also describe client-chosen alternatives such as giving up a non-food item or adding prayer, reading or service [source: Renfrew Center 2023], which the client should agree with their priest [synthesis]. (7) Involve family where the client wishes, especially where fasting is a family practice [source: Renfrew Center 2023].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Fasting means different things at different times. Lately, does it feel more about your faith, or more about controlling food or your body?" "Would it help if your soul father and your treatment team talked about what the fast could look like for you this year?"
  • Watch for: weight loss, secrecy, extending the fast beyond what the church asks, fear of the feast meal, rigid rules not found in church teaching, distress when exempted. Medical risk signs need urgent medical review [synthesis]. Working when the client can keep faith practices without eating-disorder behaviours, or accepts an exemption without collapse in mood [synthesis].

4.8 Scrupulosity and religious OCD around the fast

  • Purpose: recognise and treat OCD that attaches to fasting, confession and purity [source: IOCDF].
  • Steps: (1) Assess using the IOCDF description: fears of having sinned, angering God or punishment; compulsions such as excessive confession, reassurance-seeking from priests or family, repeated prayer until it feels "just right", mental checking of faithfulness; avoidance of services [source: IOCDF]. Fast-specific examples (illustrative, [synthesis]): checking food labels repeatedly for hidden animal ingredients, repeated confession of an accidental break of the fast, refusing an exemption the priest has given. (2) Distinguish faith from OCD: scrupulous behaviour usually goes beyond or ignores religious law and may fixate on one practice while neglecting more important ones [source: IOCDF]. (3) Offer ERP, the primary psychological treatment for scrupulosity, aiming to separate OCD from the client's religious values [source: IOCDF]. (4) With consent, consult the client's priest to clarify the church's position (for example on accidental breaks or exemptions), so exposures stay within what the church accepts [source: IOCDF]. (5) Design exposures with the client, never asking them to violate what they and their church hold as binding; exposures target uncertainty and reassurance-seeking, for example tolerating doubt after a single question to the priest [synthesis]. Exposure safety: get informed consent, grade tasks with the client, and avoid food-restriction tasks where an eating disorder is present [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your priest said the fast was not broken. OCD is asking you to be completely certain. What if we practise living with that doubt rather than asking again?"
  • Watch for: reassurance-seeking moving to the therapist; tasks felt as sacrilege (stop and renegotiate). Working when confession and fasting feel like faith again rather than anxiety relief [source: IOCDF; synthesis].

4.9 Guilt, moral injury and broken or exempted fasts

  • Purpose: work with guilt and shame when illness, pregnancy, work, migration or treatment stop the client from fasting, and with moral distress when the client feels they have failed God or community [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Name the feeling and its source (self, family, congregation). (2) Separate guilt the client's tradition would recognise from harsher self-judgement. (3) Use the tradition's own resources, by the client's choice: confession, talking with the soul father, the church's exemptions [source: eotcmk.org; GIZ 2023]. (4) For deeper moral injury (for example, feeling unworthy of communion or community), work with self-compassion and values within the client's framework [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "You've said you feel you let God down by not fasting while you were in hospital. What would your church say about someone who was too ill to fast?"
  • Watch for: depression and hopelessness, withdrawal from church; check suicide risk following standard practice where hopelessness is present [synthesis].

4.10 Grief, ritual and community support

  • Purpose: use the fast and feasts as community supports, and notice where they sharpen loss [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask how fasts and feasts are kept with family and congregation, at home or abroad. (2) Where the client is bereaved, ask about memorial observances in the church and how the mourning character of Holy Week [source: eotcmk.org] affects them. (3) Support links to the parish community if the client wants them. (4) Plan for loneliness at Fasika or Gena for clients away from family [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Fasika is the first since your mother died. Who will you be with, and what would help that day?"
  • Watch for: complicated grief, isolation, community conflict. Working when the client reports feeling held by their community or family [synthesis].

4.11 Collaboration with clergy (the soul father, parish priest)

  • Purpose: bring in the client's religious authority when the client wants it, for exemptions, scrupulosity or eating disorders [source: IOCDF; Renfrew Center 2023].
  • Steps: (1) Ask whether the client has a soul father and whether they want him involved. (2) Get written consent covering what you will share and ask. (3) Frame a narrow question (for example, "what does the church say about fasting for someone in eating-disorder treatment?"). (4) Share only what is needed. (5) Feed the answer back to the client and agree how to use it. (6) Respect the priest's role in religious matters and keep your role in clinical ones [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would you like me to speak with Abba [name] with you present, or would you prefer to ask him yourself?"
  • Watch for: confidentiality in close communities; a client who feels pushed toward or away from clergy. Working when therapy and church guidance point in the same direction [synthesis].

4.12 Child safeguarding, consent and assent

  • Purpose: protect children involved in fasting and respect their developing say in their own care [source: NSPCC].
  • Steps: (1) Ask parents and young people whether and how children fast. Church sources state that children under seven are exempt [source: GIZ 2023; Mekuria 2016]. (2) Watch for neglect or harm: a child who is underweight, faint, unable to concentrate at school, or pressured or punished over fasting; the NSPCC states that some practices linked to faith, belief or culture can put children at risk, and that "Children need to be protected irrespective of religious beliefs" [source: NSPCC faith communities]. (3) Where concerned, follow your local safeguarding procedures and consult your safeguarding lead; for children's health, liaise with the child's doctor [synthesis]. (4) Consent: for therapy with under-16s, assess Gillick competence for each decision, considering age, maturity, understanding of risks, benefits and alternatives, and freedom from pressure; encourage involvement of parents; child protection concerns are shared with agencies even if the child objects [source: NSPCC Gillick]. (5) Assent: where a child is not competent to consent, explain in age-appropriate words, seek the child's agreement and take their views seriously alongside parental consent [synthesis]. (6) With adolescents, explore their own wish to fast and any conflict with parents, without taking sides on religion [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative), with a teenager: "Some young people in your church fast and some don't yet. What do you want, and what happens at home if you choose differently?" With a parent: "I'd like to understand how fasting works for the children in your family, and how they're managing at school."
  • Watch for: eating-disorder signs in adolescents during fasting seasons; fasting used as punishment; a parent's distress at being asked. Never name or identify children in any record shared with clergy. Working when the child is safe, heard and supported [synthesis].

4.13 Role boundaries, self-disclosure and competence

  • Purpose: keep the therapist out of the role of priest or confessor [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) If you share the client's faith or parish, discuss dual-relationship risks at the start and consider referral. (2) Keep self-disclosure about your own fasting or beliefs brief and only for the client's benefit. (3) Decline requests to rule on what is permitted; redirect to the soul father. (4) Build religious and spiritual competence through training and consultation; published competency sets exist (for example Vieten et al. 2013) [uncertain: not verified]. (5) Follow your profession's ethics code on respecting religion and avoiding harm [synthesis]. The NSPCC describes Gillick competence as applying in England and Wales and notes that Scotland has its own statute [source: NSPCC Gillick]; elsewhere, apply your own jurisdiction's consent law [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "That's a question for your soul father rather than me. What I can do is help you think about how you feel about his answer."
  • Watch for: the client treating you as a spiritual authority; your own views on fasting colouring advice. Working when religious questions go to clergy and clinical ones stay with you [synthesis].

5. Handling problems

All guidance in this section is [synthesis] unless a source is named.

  • Client insists on fasting against medical advice. Respect autonomy while making sure the risk is understood; restate the doctor's advice; remind them, if they wish, that church sources describe an exemption for the sick [source: eotcmk.org]; offer a joint conversation with their priest; agree warning signs and an emergency plan. If capacity is in doubt, involve the medical team.
  • Fasting seems to be driving an eating disorder but the client says it is "only religious". Avoid a debate about faith; examine function and behaviours (4.7); involve the eating-disorder team and, with consent, the priest, who may excuse the client from fasting [source: Renfrew Center 2023].
  • Stuck in reassurance about the fast (scrupulosity). Agree a rule of one consultation with the priest on a question, then work on tolerating doubt with ERP [source: IOCDF].
  • Non-attendance during fasting seasons. Ask about energy, church services and work hours; offer different times or remote sessions; plan before the next season.
  • Rupture over religion. If the client feels you doubt or disrespect their faith, acknowledge it, restate that you are not judging the fast, and return to their own goals. If you feel strongly about fasting, take it to supervision.
  • Overwhelm in Holy Week. Shorten or postpone sessions by agreement; focus on stabilisation and coping; do not start trauma processing or exposure work in that week without discussion.
  • Family or community pressure. Explore the client's own wish; use the CFI to map who expects what [source: APA CFI supplementary modules]; role-play conversations with family; offer clergy involvement only if wanted.
  • Pregnant client fears judgement for not fasting. Share that church-linked programmes teach an exemption for pregnant and lactating women [source: GIZ 2023; Mekuria 2016]; suggest she ask her soul father; route nutrition to her midwife or doctor.
  • Concern about a child's fasting. Do not wait for certainty; consult your safeguarding lead and follow local procedures; keep the focus on the child's welfare irrespective of belief [source: NSPCC faith communities].
  • Medicines and fasting times. Never advise; send the question to the prescriber.
  • Client asks whether fasting will improve a physical illness. Say that health claims are for the doctor; the published research on Ethiopian fasting is limited and observational, with effects not sustained [source: Michael & Baye 2023].
  • Problems the sources do not address: clients who have left the church and carry guilt about fasting (religious trauma; work at the client's pace, without pushing toward or away from faith); converts or mixed-faith couples negotiating fasting at home; clients from the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church or other Oriental Orthodox churches, whose practices may differ [uncertain: not verified].

Sources

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