Winter 2011 - Focus on the Family Canada

recommended
resources
coming up next
THE LAST ADDICTION by Sharon Hersh
Sharon Hersh explores why we are prone to addiction – to
make one thing in our lives more central than it should
be – and how we can break free from our compulsions.
(Paperback)
SEDUCED BY SUCCESS by Ann Kiemel Anderson
Ann chronicles two major battles in her life: combating
an addiction to the praise of others and overcoming
an addiction to pain medication for a chronic illness.
(Paperback)
HOLLOW: AN UNPOLISHED TALE by Jena Morrow
This is not a polished tale of victory but an honest, true story
of fragility. Hollow recounts Jena’s daily struggle with anorexia
and the God who is able and willing to reach down into the
dirt. A central theme of Hollow is surrender of control to
Jesus Christ. (Paperback)
EXAMINING ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOR with Dr. Archibald Hart
Some behaviours, such as workaholism, are accepted by
society, making it difficult to recognize them as addictions.
Discover important facts about addictions, obsessivecompulsive behaviour and the first steps to healing.
(Paperback)
To order these resources, visit our online bookstore at
Focusonthefamily.ca/bookstore.
Be the first counsellor to email us at [email protected] and we’ll send you a
free copy of The Last Addiction by Sharon Hersh.
ADOPTS COUNSELLOR TRAINING WORKSHOP
When: February 10-11, 2011
Where: Near Calgary, AB In our next issue we’ll bring you a post-event summary
of this two-day trauma training workshop that’s designed
to equip professional counsellors working with preand post-adoptive children and families. For more
information go to Focusonthefamily.ca/events. TEL: 1.888.5.CLERGY
EMAIL: [email protected]
WEB: Clergycare.ca
MAIL: P.O. Box 9800 Stn Terminal,
Vancouver, BC V6B 4G3
We are always interested in hearing about new resources for counsellors,
referrals for potential Clergy Care Network counsellors and ideas for upcoming
issues of goodhope. Please contact us anytime!
Wendy Kittlitz
VP of Counselling and
Care Ministries
604.455.7930
[email protected]
Michele Langmead
Counsellor Supervisor
604.455.7986
[email protected]
A QUARTERLY NEWSLET TER FOR FOCUS ON THE FAMILY
CANADA’S REFERRAL COUNSELLORS
WINTER 2011: Volume 8, Issue 1
I love to learn! My staff and I
have had many training opportunities
recently. Two members of my team are
sharing experience gained at a recent
professional development opportunity
on trauma and addiction treatment.
We’ve also been through a season of
learning about adoption in-house,
honing our skills to be increasingly
helpful to adoptive families. Looking
ahead, we’re anticipating a great
workshop in February on treating
children who have
experienced trauma and
loss. The workshop will
WORDS FROM WENDY
take place near Calgary
with a number of you
joining us. We’re so
excited for the chance to
learn alongside you!
the joy of learning
Please note: A listing of conferences and workshops here does not
necessarily imply endorsement of the event by either the Clergy Care
Network or Focus on the Family Canada. They are listed as a service to
CCN counsellors to inform and encourage continued learning.
GET IN TOUCH
© 2011 Focus on the Family Canada
goodhope
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN CHRISTIAN
COUNSELLORS AGM
The PACCC will be holding their 2011 AGM in Banff,
AB, on May 12-15, 2011. For information visit Paccc.ca.
DEPRESSION IS CONTAGIOUS: WHY DEPRESSION IS
RISING IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
May 16-17, 2011, in Vancouver, BC
May 19-20, 2011, in Calgary, AB
For details on this conference featuring Dr. Michael
Yapko go to Jackhirose.com.
HEALING THE BROKEN BONDS: TRAUMATIC ATTACHMENT
AND AFFECT DYSREGULATION
Hear Dr. Janina Fisher at this conference on May
30-31, 2011, in Richmond, BC. For information visit
Jackhirose.com.
ANXIETY DISORDERS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
June 6-7, 2011, in London, ON
June 9-10, 2011, in Halifax, NS
This conference features Dr. Paul Foxman. To learn
more visit Jackhirose.com.
We hope that you have a chance to enjoy
some great professional development
opportunities in the coming year as well.
Continuing to learn is a big part of who
we are as therapists, and also as God’s
children. He calls us to learn from Him
and depend on Him daily. I hope you
are experiencing His faithfulness in your
family and in your practice.
Wishing you God’s blessings this new
year!
Wendy Kittlitz
VP of Counselling and Care Ministries
Focus on the Family Canada
IN THIS ISSUE
•
•
•
•
Steven Curtis Chapman adoption tour
We were made for this work!
Recommended resources
Upcoming workshops & professional
development
Contact Us!
1.888.5.CLERGY
May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God
our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave
us eternal encouragement and good hope,
encourage your hearts and strengthen
you in every good deed and word.
2 Thessalonians 2: 16-17
WHAT’S UP WITH US?
steven curtis
chapman
adoption tour
LESSONS FROM LOUISE
conference
chases away
the gray
WOULD YOU like to learn more
about adoption and enjoy a wonderful
evening of music? Here’s your chance!
On March 22, 2011, Steven Curtis
Chapman begins a 13-city Canadian
tour called An Evening with Steven Curtis
Chapman. Focus on the Family Canada
is co-sponsoring this tour. In five of Canada’s largest cities we will
also be hosting an afternoon seminar
on the same day as Steven Curtis
Chapman’s concert. The seminar is
called End the Wait: Conversations About
Adoption.
can be more effective in your practice. Either way, will you join us for a day
of learning and worship?
At any one time in Canada there are
over 30,000 children waiting for
their own forever family. Maybe you,
or someone you know, is thinking
about adopting. Maybe you’d just like
to learn more about the challenges
faced by adoptive families so that you
See Endthewait.ca/tour for details
and registration.
Learning always excites and
feeds me. The recent conference
Healing and Treating Trauma, Addictions and
Related Disorders, held in Richmond,
BC, was a wonderful time of learning,
encouragement and excitement.
help to broaden my perspective,
to encourage new approaches, and
to correct attitudes that may have
shifted from hope and healing to the
weariness of working with the complex
and often dark consequences of living
in a fallen world.
For me, this conference provided the
privilege of learning from experts
I knew from my reading, but had
never met. As any good therapist
knows, though, unless we do our
own inner work on an ongoing basis
and continue to grow personally, we
can become rigid and academic in
our practice. Conference presenters
like Gabor Mate and Patrick Carnes
– models of humility, grace and
personal growth – were gentle yet
powerful reminders of the importance
of self-care and walking the talk.
As a therapist who specializes in the
processing and healing of trauma, my
work can sometimes make the world
seem gray, coloured by the constant
pain that people bring to my office.
Times of learning and community,
such as this conference provided,
IN NOVEMBER, I and two colleagues from Focus on the Family Canada
attended the Healing and Treating Trauma, Addictions and Related Disorders conference in
Richmond, BC, along with well over a thousand other counsellors, therapists and
researchers. We participated in three full (and I mean full!) days of listening to
brilliant people talk about trauma, current research on the effects of trauma on
brain chemistry, and the many paths to healing. I was in heaven and drank in this
professional nourishment. Being with others who share my passion for therapy
and on-going professional development is an integral part of my self-care, both
as a professional and an individual. End the Wait seminars will be offered on
the following dates in these cities:
March 25
March 26
April 2 April 3 April 8 Ottawa
Toronto
Edmonton
Calgary
Vancouver
Each End the Wait seminar will take
place from 1 - 4:30 p.m.
For concert dates and to order tickets
for An Evening with Steven Curtis Chapman
go to Uniteproductions.com.
I came away from the conference so
grateful for the work that I feel called
to do, and for my role in facilitating
change. I left refreshed in my mind
and spirit, inspired to continue
noticing where God is working in
those He brings to me. Most of all, I left with a commitment to value my
own journey of ongoing discipleship
and change as God invites me to
become increasingly more like Jesus.
by MICHELE LANGMEAD
we were
made for
this work!
But before I share more about the conference, let me tell you a bit about myself.
I am the eldest of three and my role was to inject a sense of pride into a shamebased family system. Understandably I failed, but the Lord knows I tried hard!
I share this because I recently realized that who God made me, combined with
the circumstances of my childhood, have come together to create a passion for
working with people who have been traumatized. Through personal experience,
education, on-going training and a willingness to follow God, I am developing as
a skilled therapist.
People sometimes ask me how I can listen to people’s problems all day and not
become depressed. It seems like a strange question to me. I want to ask them,
“Can’t you?” But I realize that not everyone can do this, or even wants to. You and
I have been created and equipped for this work, so it doesn’t feel like a burden
but a privileged responsibility of trust and caring (although it can be exhausting).
I have grown in my ability to hear and be with others as they share their painful
experiences of abuse, often at the hands of those who should have been their
protectors. I’m sure you have, too. Being at this conference about healing and wholeness inspired me. I listened with
rapt attention to Laurel Parnell as she shared how EMDR has developed over time
and the efficacy of this therapeutic approach – which is not unlike healing prayer
except without the conscious invitation of Jesus into the trauma memory.
Familiar with Gabor Mate’s work, I felt quite an attachment to him. (He lives in the
city I live in and works in the field of addictions, which I am passionate about. Okay,
so I sometimes still get my attachment needs met in fantastical ways!) I eagerly sat
at Gabor’s feet, taking in his accumulated wisdom as he talked about the effects of
trauma and stress on the body. He believes that the inability to say no is the biggest
contributor to stress and therefore to
physical and emotional illness. That’s a
lot to chew on.
Being with others who share my
passion for therapy and on-going
professional development is an integral
part of my self-care . . .
Patrick Carnes spoke knowledgably
about sex addiction and believes the
two toughest addictions to deal with are
sex and food. Most presenters spoke
compellingly and with great wit about
research findings on the neurobiological impact of trauma on the body. Pat Love
called it the new brain science. I had to listen hard to understand some of it, but
it was worth the effort. I certainly came away in awe, once again, of our God who
created us.
Louise Madill is a counsellor for Focus on the
Family Canada.
© 2011 Focus on the Family (Canada)
Association. All rights reserved.
And so, fellow counsellors and followers of Christ, I salute you and the work that
you do within your area of expertise, helping those who wrestle with their story of
trauma to gain freedom by facing and accepting the truth through Jesus. We are all
“wounded healers” and that’s what makes us good at what we do.