This adaptation of the Risking Connection® curriculum focuses on the healing role that clergy of all denominations can play in the lives of their congregations’ trauma survivors.
Many clergy are not confident in their ability to support people affected by trauma in congregational settings, and yet trauma is a common human experience. This book will help clergy understand the nature of psychological trauma, how it affects people, and how faith leaders can help. Particular attention is paid to the spiritual impact of trauma.
The curriculum (which can be used by an individual or as part of a workshop or continuing pastoral education), does not attempt to turn clergy into therapists. Rather, the material helps clergy learn about growth-promoting relationships, how to access and more productively use the internal resources we have, and to enhance those resources through greater self-awareness.
Whether serving as a pastor, rabbi, priest, imam, religious or lay leader, you are a crucial resource to your community. This book can better equip you to support the needs of those affected by trauma in your midst.
Authors: Jackson Day, M.Div., M.P.H., Elizabeth Vermilyea, M.A.,
Jennifer Wilkerson, M.S., and Esther Giller, M.A.
