Professional Development Workshop for Spiritual Directors
Walking with Wounded Souls — Spiritual Issues in Trauma with Dr. Margaret Arms
Saturday, November 7, 2009, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. (Cost: $125, includes lunch. Please register for this workshop no later than October 7th.)
Topic What is the spiritual impact on survivors of different trauma experiences? Are they the same? How do you companion a traumatized directee from spiritual despair to hope? These are some of the questions we spiritual directors ask as we work with trauma survivors. This workshop will provide a conceptual framework of the core issues and healing process that grounds spiritual work with trauma survivors and will offer several approaches for listening and for spiritual healing. You will learn how to heal negative images of God; how to work with the difficult questions of spiritual despair, abandonment, and forgiveness; and how to work to instill hope and meaning in a directee’s life. You will also learn to recognize and avoid some pitfalls in working with trauma survivors, especially if you yourself are a survivor. We will emphasize the importance of self-care in this work throughout this workshop.
Workshop Leader DR. MARGARET ARMS is the Parish Spiritual Director at St. Raphael Episcopal Church in Security, Colorado.
Who should attend? Practicing spiritual directors, clergy, pastoral counselors, or psychotherapists who wish to be sensitive to spiritual issues of trauma will find this workshop helpful. Please note that people interested in attending must register on this web site and to self select the "Professional Development" level. We use "levels of interest" to help us better understand the kinds of interests people interested in our network might have.
Spiritual Direction Colorado's Annual Conference, "Discovering and Following Your Sacred Path" Jan. 15 - 16, 2009, The Arvada Center.
We live in a time when the traditional religious containers are losing their attraction. Belief is being replaced by a hunger for direct experience, inner wisdom is valued over external authority and an awareness of a global spirituality is opening up closed belief systems. Amidst this paradigm shift the hope of finding our way to spiritual nourishment, let alone guiding others, can be a challenge. The metaphor of the Path is emerging rapidly in our consciousness. It is a universal symbol that may have the power to knit together the seeking mind and the longing heart.
Our speaker The Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress, pioneer of the contemporary worldwide labyrinth movement, is Canon of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. She is the author of Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice, The Sand Labyrinth Kit and The Sacred Path Companion: A Guide to Walking the Labyrinth to Heal and Transform (Putnam/Riverhead Books, New York). Dr. Artress is Founder of Veriditas, a nonprofit organization that introduces people to the healing and meditative powers of the labyrinth. She travels worldwide offering workshops and lectures, including a yearly program in Chartres, France. Dr. Artress—Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and licensed marriage and family therapist (California)—is on the Editorial Board of Presence, the quarterly journal of Spiritual Directors International.
For more information or to register, visit the Spiritual Direction Website.
