Category Archives: continuing education

November 18, 2022 · 7:21 am

Beauty in Garbage City: A Webinar Series with Dr. Diane Langberg


I want to let you know about an opportunity to engage with Dr. Diane Langberg and myself, designed especially for people helpers–mental health professionals, pastors, caregivers, and friends of those who are traumatized. Please read on if you are interested (link to register here):

The work of counseling and pastoral ministry is not “nice.” If you follow Jesus into the hard places of others’ lives, expect it to have an impact on you; to challenge your strongest held beliefs about God and the Church, your views on mental or emotional health, and your personal well-being. Join Dr. Diane Langberg and host Dr. Philip Monroe and learn from Dr. Langberg’s five decades of work with hurting people and broken systems. Listen as she talks about what has sustained her and answers your questions about what has helped her grow.

How do we continually sit with trauma and survive its impact? We will explore a specific concept during each of the three webinars:

January 15: Finding beauty means opening your eyes to the problems that are inherent as caregivers in the work of trauma. Followed by Q&A.

January 22: Embracing beauty is developing your primary helping tool: character and learning. Followed by Q&A.

January 27: Becoming beauty is applying what we have learned to trauma recovery work that leads to becoming the beauty of our Savior amid the piles of rubble and ruins we encounter every day. Followed by Q&A.

The 3 webinars will be three Sundays in a row, January 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 2:00pm-3:15pm Eastern Time. These webinars will include a Q&A portion, giving the audience an opportunity to ask Diane questions.

Cost and registration includes access to all 3 webinars. Registrants will have access to the Zoom webinar login information by January 9th, either via email or by visiting the online event page. Early Bird ticket price is $30 before December 25th, and $50 after that date.

NOTE: All three sessions will be recorded and emailed to every registered participant.

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Filed under "phil monroe", Abuse, christian psychology, continuing education, Counselors, Diane Langberg, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, trauma

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August 28, 2017 · 4:10 pm

Upcoming initial and advanced trauma healing training in Philadelphia


Over the years I have promoted the trauma healing curriculum run by the American Bible Society. Now that I am on the Mission Trauma Healing training team of the Bible Society, I will be letting you know of our upcoming local trainings. Whether or not you are local, you can always find out the trainings being offered around the world by us or our alliance partners here.

For those of you who might be new to the Healing the Wounds of Trauma curriculum, it is participatory/experiential healing group model where participants engage Scripture and trauma and explore a healing arc beginning with suffering, lamenting, grieving and talking to God about our pain. It is founded on mental health best practices by designed for lay leaders to learn and then pass on to others in a train-the-trainer fashion.

HWT_USA_2014

Currently the materials are contextualized and translated into 60 distinct languages with many more underway. Some 6,000 facilitators have been trained in the materials.

Why get trained? Here are some reasons:

  • You want to better understand how to put faith and trauma recovery together in the same sentence
  • You want to become equipped to lead others in a healing process
  • You already know a lot about trauma but know that the needs are great enough that you want to have a part in raising up an army of well-trained helpers beginning the conversation about God and trauma
  • You already completed the initial equipping training, have led a healing group and now want to come back for the advanced training to become certified as a training facilitator.

When is it? October 13-16 at Mother Boniface Spirituality Center in Northeast Philadelphia?

Details on cost and registration link? This link will get you to the details page and will give you the link to register. The price is ridiculously low for the training.

 

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April 10, 2017 · 11:40 am

Diane Langberg: Living with ongoing trauma


A few years ago, Dr. Diane Langberg gave a talk about ongoing trauma experiences, when there is no “post” in the posttraumatic stress disorder. When there is no after trauma yet (e.g., ongoing domestic violence, living in a war zone, etc.), what kinds of help and hope might a survivor hold on to? Is there anything that can be done?

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Filed under Abuse, continuing education, counseling, counseling skills, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, trauma

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April 8, 2017 · 10:45 am

What does resilience look like in the face of traumatic experiences?


Does a resilient individual appear as if stress and trauma has not lasting impact? Does it mean we bounce back as if it never happened? Are there better ways to think about resilience in real life?

In 2014 I gave a presentation reviewing the topic of resilience (definition, examples, threats to, and helps) at our annual Trauma Healing Community of Practice hosted by the American Bible Society.

Sometimes we consider only resilience as an individual trait. I spend a bit of time talking about community resilience. Video is 25 minutes and associated slides (not embedded in the video) can be found here: 2014 COP Resilience.

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March 28, 2017 · 9:32 am

Summer Counseling Institute @ BTS


The BTS Graduate School of Counseling has 2 course offerings this summer: a course on addictions and a course on counseling interventions that move beyond talk therapy. Both are equal to 1 credit or 9 CE credits for professional counselors. The addictions course (Jessica Hansford, LPC, CAADC) will be entirely online and delivered over the course of the month of July. The beyond talk therapy course (Heather Drew, LPC) will be delivered live July 21-22 at our Hatfield campus (with pre and post course work due for those who want graduate credit).

If you want to refresh your counselor knowledge and skills, both courses will give you some new ways to engage counselees.

Link above provides course descriptions. To apply, click here.

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December 24, 2016 · 8:00 am

Your lack of self-care harms others, so what are you going to do about it?


Advent and the end of the year provide opportunities for some self-reflection in preparation for the start of the coming year. So…how are you doing? Are you taking care of yourself? This is especially important if you are a service provider such as a counselor or caregiver. 

Last October, a meta analysis of healthcare providers’ self-care (or lack thereof) and its relationship to quality of service indicates a clear negative relationship: lack of self-care leads to great likelihood of harm to patients. 

Eighty-two studies including 210,669 healthcare providers were included. Statistically significant negative relationships emerged between burnout and quality (r = −0.26, 95 % CI [−0.29, −0.23]) and safety (r = −0.23, 95 % CI [−0.28, −0.17]). In both cases, the negative relationship implied that greater burnout among healthcare providers was associated with poorer-quality healthcare and reduced safety for patients. 

What is even more telling is that patients can tell and do perceive when we are burned out. You think your bitterness, your lack of sleep, your losing your first love of helping isn’t showing? It is. 

Now, there are many reasons why we don’t steward ourselves (hearts, bodies, and minds) well. Sometimes we are in systems that actively discourage taking care of the self. In Christian settings, focusing on the self doesn’t seem to comport with “being poured out like a drink offering.” Others of us never learned how. Still others struggle with guilt. How can I take care of me if others have less help than I do? Yet others don’t take time to pour back in to self because it isn’t comfortable. Serving others is easier and provides more immediate rewards.  

What is your reason? 

If you were going to do something on a consistent basis to recognize your need to be cared for, what would you do? For your spiritual needs? Professional growth? Physical needs? Relational needs? See if you can come up with one thing for each arena–things you can do on a consistent basis. For example, you might decide to read Diane Langberg’s daily devotional for the next 40 days, In Our Lives First, as a means to do something for both your ministry skills growth and spiritual vitality. 

Don’t over-think it. What is just one thing you can do (or stop doing if it isn’t helping) to make your self a bit more refreshed? 

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Filed under christian counseling, continuing education, Meditations, Uncategorized

February 11, 2015 · 6:52 am

Online Trauma-related (Cheap!) Continuing Education at BTS


[Note: the video-based training described below is available to anyone for free. The information below is for those interested in purchasing continuing education credits after watching the video. If any of the titles interest you, click the link below and start watching right away!

BTS is an NBCC approved continuing education provider. Just in time for those looking for last-minute CEs before renewing their LCSW or LPC this month, please check out our new online offerings. We offer three new trainings:

  1. Narcissism and the System it Breeds, By Diane Langberg, PhD
  2. Understanding and Responding to Dissociation, By Diane Langberg, PhD
  3. Making the Church a Safe Place for Trauma Victims, By Philip Monroe, PsyD

The videos are free for anyone to watch. If you desire CE certificate, the cost is quite nominal in comparison to the usual going rate. Check out the abstract and objectives and follow the links to pay for your CE quiz. Watch the videos, complete the quiz, and we will email you a certificate you can use to claim on your license renewal form.

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Filed under Biblical Seminary, continuing education, counseling, Counselors, trauma

February 10, 2015 · 11:52 am

Free Counseling Journal For Counselors


For my counselor readers, I want to let you know of a free counselor journal. Click here for free access with search capacity. It is published by NBCC and is open access to anyone who wants to try to stay current on counseling literature.

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October 31, 2014 · 6:00 am

Making the Church a Safe Place for Victims of Trauma


This afternoon I will be speaking at Chelten Church on the topic of “Making the Church A Safe Place for Victims of Trauma.” This 3 hour continuing education seminar (co-sponsored by Biblical Seminary who provides the NBCC approved CEs) will focus primarily on trauma resulting from child sexual abuse. However, other forms of sexual violence and traumas (domestic violence, military trauma) will get a bit of attention as well. If you can’t make it or wish to see what I am talking about, you can download and see the slides: Making the Church A Safe Place For Victims.

Tomorrow, Mary DeMuth will speak on a topic similar to her book. Her talk is entitled, “Unmarked Marriage.”  I suspect the conference organizers will take walk-ins!

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