traumahealing2
Calling out all church and ministry leaders, social workers, mental wellness professionals, and everyone who is keen on learning how to be trauma healing caregivers or facilitators!
Trauma Healing – Initial Equipping is the first part of a Bible-based Trauma Healing Programme from the Trauma Healing Institute at American Bible Society. It equips churches and individuals to care for people who suffer emotional and spiritual injuries from traumatic events such as abuse, conflict and loss, and walk with them on a journey to healing and restoration with God and others.
| Initial Equipping | ||
|---|---|---|
| Schedule | Wed– Sat, 27–30 Jan 2021 | |
| Time | 9am-5pm | |
| Fees | $380 (early bird price till 3 Jan) | $420 (from 4 Jan) | |
| Venue | 7 Armenian Street, Bible House, S179932 |
*Cost covers training materials, 3 lunches, 1 dinner and tea breaks.
Before registering, please download the Statement of Support, have it signed by your church leadership or Christian organisation supervisor, and email it to Florence Kang.
Limited seats available – don't miss your chance to sign up!
Please note: Registration will only be confirmed upon receipt of the online registration, payment AND the signed Statement of Support.
Detailed Course Information
Sower Institute for Biblical Discipleship, in partnership with Trauma Healing Institute (THI), aims to provide leadership and services to churches and organisations using God’s word to bring healing and restoration to trauma survivors.
THI’s trauma healing programme provides basic mental health concepts with a biblical framework, using Scripture passages and composite real-life stories to help traumatised people connect the teaching with their circumstances.
- If God loves us, why do we suffer?
- How can the wounds of our hearts be healed?
- What happens when someone is grieving?
- Taking your pain to the cross
- How can we forgive others?
- How can churches minister amidst various causes of trauma (domestic violence, suicide, etc.)?
- How can we live as Christians amidst conflict?
- Looking ahead
1. Part I: Initial Equipping Session. Candidates attend a 3.5 day Initial Equipping session which allows participants to: explore their own trauma and bring it to Christ for healing; experience participatory learning; learn basic biblical and mental health principles related to trauma care; and develop plans for using what they have learned in their community. Trauma healing facilitators aim to ‘do no harm’ to those they help. To this end, participants are evaluated through a simple test.
2. Practicum. Participants return to their communities and apply what they have learned. They need to teach the five core lessons at least twice to groups of at least three people and send in reports on their activities.
3. Part II: Advanced Equipping Session. This 3-day session (conducted 6 or 9 months after the Initial Equipping session) focuses on consolidating the facilitator’s competencies in view of their practicum experience.
4. Competency-based assessment. Participants will be certified when they demonstrate the following competencies:
- Able to manage personal well-being.
- Able to work on a team.
- Able to help traumatised people (listening, confidentiality, and so on).
- Able to lead groups in a participatory way.
- Demonstrated understanding of the content.
5. Certification and Deployment. At the end of the advanced session, participants are awarded a Certificate of Participation, or, for those who qualify, a facilitator-in-training Certificate. For some, these certificates may be awarded later when the competencies have been acquired.
- Able to teach others in a community.
- Able to attend all of the sessions.
- Committed to helping trauma survivors.
- Must be referred by church leadership or Christian organisation supervisor who must sign the Statement of Support.
Speaker Bios
Master Facilitator: Mark Ventrella
Mark Ventrella has an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Wheaton College Graduate School (1985). He is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. After graduation, he worked as a counselor/administrator in several private, not-for-profit counseling agencies in the US. Mark specializes in the treatment of mood disorders, the treatment of anger/domestic violence, and disorders that arise out of trauma, constant transition and stress. He joined Wycliffe in 2008, completed the Wycliffe USA Counselor Orientation Course in 2010 and was assigned as a counselor for SIL Asia Area. He is currently Asia Counseling Coordinator at SIL.
Facilitator: Deborah Ventrella
Deborah has trained and worked as a registered nurse. She is a Community Care Facilitator for SIL-Asia. She is an experienced Training Facilitator for Healing the Wounds of Trauma. She is also experienced in facilitating training in crisis debriefing, marriage, parenting, and health related issues. She is a training facilitator for the Intercultural Communications Course for new cross-cultural workers at Wycliffe’s JAARS Training Center in Waxhaw, NC and she is experienced in one-on-one discipleship (spiritual formation) with women and has facilitated numerous women’s small group inductive bible studies.
