The Mission of Trauma Recovery

Making the Church a Safe Place for Victims

Philip G. Monroe, PsyDBiblical Seminarywww.wisecounsel.wordpress.com

What is the heart of the Gospel?

Right theology?

Salvation story?

A better answer

Justice

Mercy

Gospel power

Isaiah 42Justice to the nations

Releases captives from prison

Will not yield to another

And yet…mercy

A bruised reed he will not break

Guide blind over unfamiliar paths

Make rough places smooth

The exchange

Isaiah 61:3Beauty for ashes

Praise for heaviness

Now called trees of righteousness

True Gospel and the vulnerable?

James 1:27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure

And faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress

and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world

Thesis

True Gospel ministry DEMANDS care for vulnerable populations

How?

Understand experiences Make the church a safer place for

healing

Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

Common Experiences as children AND adults

Factors that impact trauma reactions

Fawcett (2003), as cited by Boecker (2007)

Traumatic Event

SupportBackground

Level of Traumati

c Response

Resilience Factors

Environment

Experiences as a child

Relational confusion (IDENTITY)

Inability to predict or act toward future (POWER)

Decreased capacity to express self (VOICE)

As an adult: TORN!

Depressed…BUT Panicked and anxious

Distrusting of others…BUT Self-loathing

Withdrawing…BUT Dependent

As an adult: TORN!

Emotionally shutdown…BUT Reliving

Reticent…BUT Impulsive

Afraid of the future…BUT Afraid of the past

DepressionAnxiety

Trauma

Is it all in my head?

Consciousness/thoughts Prefrontal cortex

Emotion processing Limbic systems

Flight/fight/freeze Brainstem

Remember what abuse does

Oppresses

Objectifies

Deceives

Dangers in the church?

Parishioners are expected to: Trust and submit to leaders Receive exhortation from leaders Develop intimacy with each other Receive healing

Making the Church a Safe Place for Trauma VictimsThree Things Every Church Can Do!

3 Things you can do!

Listen and acknowledge

Promote safety

Promote connection to God

Listen and acknowledge

If no one remembers a misdeed or names it publically, it remains invisible. To the outside observer, its victim is not a victim and its perpetrator is not a perpetrator; both are misperceived because the suffering of the one and the violence of the other go unseen. A double injustice occurs—the first when the original deed is done and the second when it disappears.

Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory, p. 29

Listen and acknowledge

Take concerns seriously

Don’t minimize suffering and losses

Don’t talk too quickly of healing

Promote safety

Integrity in all things

Set and keep boundaries

Encourage voice

Promote a God who understands Teach about God’s heart for the

vulnerable

Teach about how God heals

Teach about how God responds to anxious people

2 Trajectories

Safety Remembering Mourning/lament Reconnection Hope

Silence Forgetting Forced

reconciliation Isolation Fear

Notice: the goal is not the removal of “getting past, over” or removing all signs of abuse

There IS healing!

Be present

Be watchful for day-by-day healing

Be ready to give (show) your reason for hope

Let your church be known for:

Giving scandalous grace to victims even as we give the

same to offenders

Resources!

www.globaltraumarecovery.orgwww.dianelangberg.comwww.wisecounsel.wordpress.com