Clients often come to me at the intersection of trauma and their spiritual journey. For them, I offer trauma-informed spiritual direction...
“When events fracture the wholeness of body and soul, the unspoken things, if remembered and reenacted through ritual and liturgy, can become the repository of personal and communal memory. … reflective and evocative faith practices create a healing space for broken hearts and resilient spirits. … The contemplative moment … becomes the expectant waiting for the return to sanity and reason and the spiritual demand for a divine response to the question ‘Why?’ … When you know that this world is not your home because you are deemed to be inferior by virtue of your color, gender, sexual identity, or class status, you must look beyond what can be perceived by the natural eye to find solace. … It is not the ritual, liturgy, or practice that ensures divine visitation; to the contrary, human receptivity and presence merely ensures openness to this possibility. It is the turning toward mystery; the readiness to receive that prepares the way for spiritual engagement.”
— Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church |