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The caregivers' city of refuge: Pastoral psychotherapy as supervision at the Interdenominational Theological Center

All caregivers have experienced woundedness. The ideal solution would be for seminaries to provide a means by which this woundedness can be transformed, so that persons can minister out of their transformed woundedness rather than their pain. Without this transformation, people who are hurting, tend to hurt those with whom they interact or attempt to form a relationship. The goal of this project was to provide a setting, or create an environment, within the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) where students, in conjunction with the Department of Pastoral Care and Counseling, were exposed to an intentional clinical group experience. This clinical group experience, utilized the action-reflection-action (Or integration) method of evaluating the student’s understanding of who they are in relation to the ministerial incidents at their assigned sites. This project addressed the spiritual, physical (comfort, privacy and confidential) and psychological needs of the wounded caregivers; in this particular instance, wounded clergy. It is believed that people who are no longer hurting no longer hurt others. The population consisted of students who were at various levels of their seminary career and diverse in age, gender, ethnic backgrounds and denominational standing. It is the author’s belief that in order to minister more (w)holistically to others, we must first be at home in our own house. This means we must be available to ourselves. Seminary students need to be able to distinguish the evil spirits from the good ones. This specific project, using clinical reflection and intentional integration, is to be a tangible means of demonstrating that all caregivers come to serve from a place of woundedness which, left untreated, can greatly hinder (w)holistic ministry. The ideal solution would be for all seminaries to provide a method by which students are enabled to transform their pain. Because this is not yet happening on a broad scale, this project was established at the Interdenominational Theological Center to provide a place where a safe and caring environment had been created and programs had been intentionally designed for the purpose of healing (or transforming] the wounded. These persons in turn enable others to experience healing. This healing is guided by the use of pastoral psychotherapy as supervision.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:auctr.edu/oai:digitalcommons.auctr.edu:dissertations-2653
Date01 December 1996
CreatorsLowery, Frances Bryant
PublisherDigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center
Source SetsAtlanta University Center
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceETD Collection for Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center

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