1. Anttonen, Anne, Trainer for family councellors, Couple Psychotherapist. Finland: HOW UNBEARABLE DIFFERENCE IS TURNED INTO CREATIVE CONNECTION IN THE COUPLE RELATIONSHIP
Fri 25.8. 14.45-15.30, 45 min.
In my paper I describe the process of couple relationship from illusion of fusion and similarity through intolerable realisation of separation and difference to creative connection. Most couple relationships go through this process in its natural interaction with ups and downs of ordinary life.
Still some couples have increased difficulties in tolerating separation and difference. In this paper I perceive this intolerance as a consequence of insufficient security in relationship and in minds on the individuals. I pursue to understand this difficulty by means of the theory of development of the mind by Wilfred Bion and especially his concept of container function.
In a couple relationship one relates in a way which resembles early connection between mother and baby. Corresponding connection can be seen between the therapist/counsellor and the patient. As patient/client becomes contained by counsellor, her/his ability to bear intolerable feelings and experiences improves. As one’s need to cling to others for support diminishes, one is more able to connect with them in a more secure and creative way.
While recognizing one’s need for others and for their help, one doesn’t need so much to force others to satisfy one’s longings. Consequently one can bear separation and get connected to others in a more creative safe way.
2. Beelitz, Thomas, Dr, Chaplain, Germany: JONATHAN EDWARDS ON THE SPIRITUALITY OF EMOTIONS
Sun 27.8 14.00-15.30, 90 min.
My contribution Jonathan Edwards on the Spirituality of Emotions will feature a presentation of his famous A Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections of 1746 and will invite discussion from participants. In this way Edwardsian contributions to the topic of “Feeling Felt” shall be explored and current topics of pastoral care and counselling will be addressed. My chosen focus takes its bearings from both pastoral psychology and process theology. The paper itself will speak to both thought and feeling using 25 years of professional experience in health care chaplaincy as backdrop. Feeling and spirituality are the basic issues of concern.
3. Fagerli, Gunnar, Director. Norway: “JESUS REALIZED THAT POWER HAD GONE OUT FROM HIM” TRANSFERENCE AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCE IN PASTORAL CARE AND COUNSELING
Thu 24.8 16.00-17.30, 90 min.
T H E W O R K S H O P I S C A N C E L L E D
4. Farstad, Marie, Psychotherapist, Teacher, Writer. Norway: “FEELING FELT AND FEELING SHAME”
Thu 24.8 14.00-15.30 and 16.00-17.30, 180 min.
This workshop will elaborate on what shame is in its complexity, and how it may interfere with the process of empathic attunement and the counselees struggles to “feel felt”. Shame is one of our innate feelings, and on its best, it secures and protects human relations, respect, and dignity. On the other hand, the worst forms of shame are immensely devastating and life threatening. Shame is an affect we need to feel, to know and understand, to accept, regulate and tolerate. We need this for own lives, and in order to help people suffering from destructive forms of shame. Destructive forms of shame have their roots in neglect, stigmatization and verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The workshop will further give the participants opportunities to explore and work creatively with their own shame biography and possible shame obstacles and shame anxiety in the setting of pastoral care and counselling. If we accept, befriend and do not fear our own shame, we can help the counselee with his / hers shame to the extent that “feeling felt” becomes a healing encounter – an encounter where both the face of the other, and that of God, may bring dignity, healing, attachment, life, love, and hope.
5. Hautala, Anna-Kaisa, Doctoral student, Vicar, Logotherapist LIF. Finland: FEELING FOR MEANINGFULL LIFE; LOGOTHERAPY AS PSYCHOLOGICAL FRAME OF REFERENCE IN PASTORAL CARE AND COUNSELING
Thu 24.8. 14.00-14.45, 45 min.
Logotherapy is a combination of psychotherapy, psychology, and philosophy of life devoleped by psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor E. Frankl (1905-1997). Logotherapy sees human as a unique physical, mental and psycho-social combination. Human has always and in every situation human dignity. As motivation theory, logotherapy thinks, that the primary need of man is to live a meaningful life. Meaningfullness of life does not disappier in sickness, suffering or death. We can discover this meaning in life in three ways: by creating a work or doing a deed; by experiencing something or encountering someone; and by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. In my own work as a minister, I have seen that, the logotherapy helps me a lot in pastoral care and counselling. I do my doctoral studies by researching Frankls` most important student Dr Elizabeth Lukas and her ́s thinking about logotherapy. I try to develop a theoretical basis for the use of the logotherapy in pastoral care and counselling. Understanding of human in logotherapy gives the psychological frame of reference, which does not need to be change, when discussed spiritual issues with the client. In the conference I would like to point out how we can help clients to find their own ways towards meaningful life.
6. Itkonen, Juha, Master of Theology, Doctoral student. Finland: PASTORAL THEOLOGY MAKING DIFFERENCE AND BREAKING THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE – NARRATIVES ABOUT DISENFRANCHISED GRIEF AND ACTIONS TO ENFRANCHISE IT
Fri 25.8. 14.00-15.30, 90 min.
Background: Stillborn children were surrounded by silence for a long time. In many cultures in the world, the issue of having a stillborn has been seen as something awkward; not a proper topic to speak about, not to mention to mourn. Because a stillborn child had not become a member of the community through a passage rite of welcome (initiation rite) such as infant baptism in many forms of Christianity, communities could not participate in a passage rite of saying goodbye either. In many churches, e.g. the Roman Catholic Church, baptism is also believed to be essential for salvation. This has influenced attitudes toward stillborn children in the Western World. The same phenomenon can be seen in the attitudes of health care systems. Interactions with caregivers can have deep effects on parents who have experienced perinatal losses. As many studies point out, grieving parents perceive many behaviors to be thoughtless or insensitive. The parents also tend to be met with silence, intended as a form of kindness, by care givers in hospital, friends stopping by at home and coworkers on the job. British psychiatrist Emanuel Lewis has called this phenomenon “a conspiracy of silence”.
Objectives: This paper will explore the forms of disenfranchised grief encountered by employees of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland in supporting parents of stillborn children. It will also examine the attitudes of Finnish society as a whole toward the grief of a parent of a stillborn child, and describe our effort to change them.
Methods: The first phase of my study is qualitative with a narrative perspective. The data for this paper were collected by narrative interviews. 14 mothers and 10 fathers of stillborn children responded to interview requests published in peer-support websites. These interviews were analyzed using a computer assisted NCT method (notice, collect, think) with help of Atlas.ti software. The second phase is action research. Working with two organizations – KÄPY ry (Child Death Families Association) and The Federation of Finnish Midwives – we started a citizens’ initiative in order to change the law so that stillborn children could be recorded and referred to by name in the Finnish Population Information System. Responses to this initiative in on-line discussions following newspaper reports on the matter were also analyzed using the computer assisted NCT method with help of Atlas.ti software.
Results: The interviews told of grieving parents trying to get help from the church and health care services, often involving the phenomenon of disenfranchised grief. Many of the parents did not feel encounters with employees of the church and the health care services were supportive, but rather formal and distant. When helpful support was received it was a matter of the helper not approaching the bereaved parent as a professional but as a human being who had courage just to come close and be there for them. This can be seen in framework of disenfranchised grief. The Finnish media were at first reluctant to publish articles about our citizens’ initiative, and when we did get our message through, a lot of comments could be seen as efforts to end conversation or dismiss the subject. These can also be seen as a signs of disenfranchised grief. However, our action research process did break the conspiracy of silence to some degree.
Discussion: If Pastoral Theology follows the footsteps of our Lord, it can’t hide into Chambers of Scholars. This papers shows how research in Pastoral Theology can be significant tool in making hidden suffer visible and changing the society.
7. Joob, Mate, Associate Professor. Hungary: SHAME OR GUILTY… OR RELIEF? THE TRANSGENERATIONAL INFLUENCE OF CHURCH-STATE COLLABORATION IN THE COMMUNIST-SOCIALIST ERA
Sun 27.8 14.00-14.45, 45 min.
Since the end of the socialist era in 1990, the wish to reveal the secrets of the past system, to do some sort of justice and to come to reconciliation has been expressed several times in Hungary. The most controversial and most heated debates have sparked off over the role of collaborators. Who were they and why did they collaborate? These questions have raised intense feelings, especially within the church. Although the Communist system explicitly wanted to lessen the importance of the churches, some people chose to collaborate. However, in the debates on the issue not much has been said about the immediate relatives of the collaborators; even though it can be assumed that it is them who find it most challenging to express their thoughts and to come to terms with the complexity of the phenomenon. In the workshop I wish to deal with the feelings that the next-generation descendants of church collaborators had towards their relatives compromised by the system. We will also look at some solutions they have found to settle and consolidate their interpersonal relationship to such family members.
8. Kovacs, Arpad, Pastor for International work. Finland: INTEGRATION OF YOUNG IMMIGRANTS
Thu 24.8. 14.45-15.30, 45 min.
T H E W O R K S H O P I S C A N C E L L E D
9. van Leeuwen, Theo, PhD Candidate, researcher and lecturer, pastoral care and counseling. Netherlands: HERMENEUTICAL COMPETENCE IN PROTESTANT CHAPLAINCY IN A PLURAL RELIGIOUS SOCIETY
Thu 24.8. 14.45-15.30, 45 min.
Contemporary chaplaincy faces the challenge of effectively communicating on religion and meaning in a shifting religious landscape. During the last decades, the Netherlands has developed into a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. Simultaneously, organised religion has increasingly been replaced by individual spirituality, composed from various traditions and sources.
According to the professional standard of chaplains, one of the main competences is the hermeneutical competence, the ability to relate daily experiences and sources of meaning or religious traditions in a meaningful way. But how is this hermeneutical competence given form and content in a situation of plurality, and how does the chaplain relate to his or her own identity and tradition?
The available evidence comes mostly from self-reporting by chaplains in the form of case reports and verbatim material. This paper reports on the results of a qualitative empirical research among Protestant chaplains in a general hospital and contains the analysis of recorded conversations between chaplains and patients, as well as interviews with chaplains about their perception of these conversations.
The research wants to describe conditions for hermeneutical communication in a methodical and competent manner and provide a contribution to theory-building on chaplaincy in a plural religious environment.
10. Moss, Mike, Counsellor, Therapist. Scotland: ON BECOMING MORE IN THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP
Sun 27.8. 14.00-15.30 and 16.00-17.30, 180 min.
T H E W O R K S H O P I S C A N C E L L E D, PRESENTED INSTEAD:
10. Mariann Hagbarth, Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Symboldramatherapist (GAI), Supervisor and Virva Nyback Rev. Counsellor and Symboldramatherapist (GAI), Supervisor : EXPERIMENTAL WORKSHOP USING GUIDED AFFECTIVE IMAGERINARY/SYMBOLDRAMA AND BIBLICAL METAPHORS IN PASTORAL CAREGIVING AND COUNSELLING
Sun 27.8. 14.00-15.30 and 16.00-17.30, 180 min.
In the method symboldrama (GAI/ Guided affective imagenary/Katathymes Bilderleben) according to professor H. Leuner we use symbols in trying to understand ourselves and the world surrounding us. The deepest truths are difficult to express with only words. Symboldrama / GAI is a kind of daydream method in a meditative state of mind. In this experimental workshop for pastors, psychotherapists and counsellors we offer an opportunity of using visualization to widen the awareness of human mind. We will explore how the different symbols/images in a Bible text corresponds to our individual lives.
We will do this both in group sessions. To further the process we also use paintings and drawings, but please do not hesitate to join the workshop because of this.
11. Nortomaa, Aura, University Instructor. Finland: MINDFULNESS TECHNIQUES IN PASTORAL CARE
Fri 25.8. 14.45-15.30, 45 min.
Mindfulness techniques have in recent years become very popular as tools for concentration and stress reduction. The techniques have gained impressive support from neuropsychological research that has investigated the mental health benefits of practicing meditation, for example. This westernization of eastern religious practices raises questions for Christian pastoral care from several viewpoints. For example, can mindfulness techniques be employed in the self-care of a pastoral counselor, to support their own work-related well-being? Can mindfulness techniques be employed with a parishioner? More widely put, how do mindfulness practices currently relate to Christian pastoral care? The presentation is based on experiences from current university courses in pastoral care in the Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki, where mindfulness techniques have recently been both employed and discussed with master-level students.
12. Nummela, Tiina, ACPE, Inc. Supervisor/Clinical Pastoral Educator. USA: PASTORAL CARE IN MULTI-CULTURAL CONTEXTS – ENCOUNTERS WITH THE “OTHER”
Fri 25.8. 14.00-15.30, 90 min.
The world is changing at an ever-increasing pace. Internet, secularization and geopolitical realities have brought people (us?) into contact with thoughts, ideas, and cultures in ways not even imagined half a century ago. The authority of the Church crumbling and immigrants and refugees from other cultures and religions arriving in Europe pose new challenges to Christian pastoral care-givers.
The objective of this workshop is to have participants explore and find solutions to their unique and shared challenges as pastoral care-givers presented by new realities. The format of this workshop is interactive: Participants are encouraged to pose questions and share experiences with the group for collegial support and to develop tools that help them to minister to the “other” with integrity and compassion.
13. Nummela, Tiina, ACPE, Inc. Supervisor/Clinical Pastoral Educator. USA: SIELUNHOITO MONIKULTTUURISESSA KONTEKSTISSA – ”TOISEUDEN” KOHTAAMINEN
Sun 27.8. 14.00-15.30, 90 min.
Sisältökuvaus yllä, workshopin kieli on suomi
14. Nuzum, Daniel, Healthcare Chaplain, Associate CPE Supervisor. Ireland: FEELING THE PAIN: THE CHALLENGES OF PASTORAL CARE FOLLOWING STILLBIRTH
Thu 24.8. 14.00-14.45, 45 min.
This presentation shares the results of a research study exploring the impact of stillbirth conducted amongst Irish maternity hospital Healthcare Chaplains. This paper explores the pastoral and theological impact of stillbirth on chaplains.
Providing pastoral care for parents following the death of a baby during pregnancy is demanding and challenging. Following a diagnosis that a baby has died, parents enter an acute grieving process. How parents are cared for during this time affects their overall recovery. This study was conducted amongst maternity hospital chaplains from 85% of maternity hospitals in Ireland to study the impact of stillbirth on chaplains and how they provide pastoral care and support. The data revealed a wide diversity of pastoral practice and bereavement support. Chaplains expressed that stillbirth raised challenging questions about suffering and doubt. For some, stillbirth challenged their faith and belief placing them in an incongruous position of providing pastoral care while doubting their own belief in God. 40% of participating chaplains were not certified chaplains. 35% of chaplains felt isolated from the wider bereavement team. Chaplains described their ministry following stillbirth as one of empathic presence. This paper highlights the professional impact of pastoral care following stillbirth and explores models of good practice for the pastoral wellbeing of chaplains in this demanding and specialized area of care.
15. Nuzum, Daniel, Healthcare Chaplain, Associate CPE Supervisor. Ireland: FEEL THE FEELING: A PEDAGOGY OF TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING IN PASTORAL CARE
Sun 27.8. 16.45-17.30, 45 min.
This presentation explores in a multidimensional way how pastoral care students can learn experientially when caring for bereaved parents following the death of a baby. This is an interactive workshop where participants are invited to explore and experience this learning.
Attending to the spiritual and pastoral needs of bereaved parents is an important dimension of overall holistic care where healthcare chaplains are required to demonstrate a high level of spiritual sensitivity and pastoral competency. Clinical Pastoral Education
(CPE) is an experiential reflection-action-integration model of learning used in the education of pastoral care students. As a pedagogy it directly impacts the clinical care of bereaved parents at a very vulnerable time in their lives. One of the goals of pastoral education in perinatal bereavement is for the learner to empathically embrace the depth of pain and loss so that they can provide transformative pastoral care. This presentation outlines in an experiential way various multisensory and experiential learning strategies drawing from the theoretical insights of Kolb, Mezirow and Cranton to reinforce personal story with action and sensory experience. This approach enables pastoral care students to gain a deeper understanding, empathic awareness and learning in the area of perinatal bereavement and loss. The integration of these insights into clinical pastoral practice fosters a high standard of pastoral care in the midst of profound loss.
16. Parkkinen, Mari, Doctoral Student, University of Eastern Finland. Finland: SPIRITUAL COPING IN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Fri 25.8. 14.00-14.45, 45 min.
The prolonged conflict affects everyday life of thousands of people in Occupied Palestinian Territory. For Palestinians it means walking through checkpoints every day, restrictions of movement, fear of arrest andviolence. Palestinian Christians are between two frontiers; living under Occupation and living as a minority both in Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory. The main objective of this study is to understand the spiritual coping mechanisms of Palestinian Christians living in midst of the ongoing conflict.
The main question of the study is: 1) What kind of spiritual coping strategies and practices people are using in midst of this ongoing conflict. The sub-questions are: 1) What aspects of religion or spirituality help in midst of the conflict; 2) How has the conflict affected person ́s spirituality and religion; 2) How has the conflict affected person ́s identity and self-esteem; 3) How has the conflict affected person ́s image of God; 4) What kind of practical spiritual functions person is using. The core material of the study is the interviews with Palestinian Christians in Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.
17. Peeters, Evelyn, PhD student in the department of pastoral and empirical theology at the Katholieke universiteit Leuven. Belgium: FEELING FELT: CHALLENGES FOR PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN PASTORAL CARE AND COUNSELLING IN HEALTHCARE CONTEXTS
Thu 24.8. 14.00-14.45, 45 min.
The development of a code of ethics is part of a process of professionalization in the attempt to negotiate for the pastoral care and counselling profession’s value in the healthcare context. In this paper, I envisage how a code of ethics could be developed so as to make it function not just as an official document, but as a practical tool to stimulate reflective practice (G. Lynch) and to develop high quality person-centered spiritual care.
K. Lebacqz argues that professional ethics is not based upon an attention to the structural power imbalance within the pastoral care/counselling relationship. Traditionally, the values of beneficence and non-maleficence have been stressed, while the structural power imbalance asks for the centrality of the values of justice and liberation. I argue that a code of ethics should be based, in an even more fundamental way, upon an attention to the relational power dynamics of the pastoral care/counselling relationship. The values of trust and solidarity (A. Liégeois) at the heart of the relational dynamics restructure the power imbalance upon a relational foundation.
While the structural power imbalance is “morally relevant” (K. Lebacqz and J.D. Driskill), professional power in itself is a “dubious ground” on which to construct a code of ethics (R. Hugman, D. Koehn). A code of ethics will follow a contractual outline, wherein the content of good practice is indicated by means of universalist principles. A code of ethics should rather be “grounded” within the concrete covenantal dynamics that substantially affect the quality of practice, and which originate with the patient’s ethical demand to “feel felt”.
18. Ratinen, Teemu, Dr. Theol, Post-doc researcher. Finland: THE POWER OF SHAME: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SHAME, SEXUALITY AND RELIGIOSITY
Sun 27.8. 14.00-15.30, 90 min.
T H E W O R K S H O P I S C A N C E L L E D, PRESENTED INSTEAD:
18. Paavo Kettunen, Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology, University of Eastern Finland: RELIGIOUS SHAME THEOLOGY AND ASSISTANCE
Sun 27.8. 14.00-15.30, 90 min.
This study concerns religious shame in an individual’s religious life and within religious circles. The background and starting point for this study is an earlier study done on Finnish confession experiences (See Kettunen in Pastoral Psychology, Vol. 1/51, 2002, 13-25). Many of those who suffer from shame believe themselves to be suffering from guilt, and as a result look for help in forgiveness. However, this does not relieve their suffering because forgiveness does not respond to the feelings of shame but to those of guilt.
The source material for this study comprises approximately 100 letters written about personal experiences with shame. The study is qualitative and pastoral-psychological. Empirical sources are used to explore theological history and the objective is to create a foundation for shame theology. The question of how best to help those suffering from shame will be used throughout the study to reflect upon the empirical materials.
Central themes of the study include shame resulting from an individual’s life history, gender and sexuality, concept of God, and the interrelation of the sexual and the spiritual in experiences of shame.
Finally, an attempt will be made to focus shame and guilt theologies, as well as the methods of helping those suffering with these issues, into two separate categories. Ultimately, the question to be answered will be what the theology of shame signifies to the people of our time and the Church’s assistance work.
19. Riedel-Pfäfflin, Ursula, Dr, Professor emerita ehs Dresden. Germany: EFFECTS OF WAR IN TIMES OF PEACE. BIOGRAPHICAL WORK AS NARRATIVE SPACE FOR FEELING FELT
Fri 25.8. 14.00-15.30, 90 min.
In large parts of Europe, we have enjoyed 70 years of peace. Yet still the effects of world war I, fascism, dictatorship and world war II are encountered in family systems in the second and third generations, especially in regions of post communist experience. The workshop invites to experience the potentials of systems approach in biographical work as it opens narrative space for feeling felt in a community of diverse persons and groups. There will be information about a five year biographical work by women counselors and activists in Dresden, and space for the question: how can the souls of women and men, and their communities heal from wounds and acts of negligence, brutality/hatred – experienced long ago and today. How can we deal with today ́s acts of traumatization and effects of war? Where does peace have a chance? We will create space for each person to be heard and feeling felt.
20. Rokahr, Ute, Pastor, Counsellor. Germany: FEELING FELT – EXPRESSION OF RELATIONSHIP
Thu 24.8. 14.45-15.30, 45 min.
First and foremost in working with elderly people, the first encounter is relevant to establishing a pastoral caring relationship. Eye contact tends to be the continuum, even if there is little talk. In medium-term pastoral care it is often the voice – the voice become familiar – which upholds connection when eye contact is no longer possible, when a human being is about to part with this world.
21. Ruohola, Outi, Hospital Chaplain. Finland: INTERPLAY
Thu 24.8. 14.00-15.30 and 16.00-17.30, 180 min.
InterPlay is an active, creative way to unlock the wisdom of the body. InterPlay is easy, fun, and life changing. It is based in a series of incremental “forms” that lead participants to movement and stories, silence and song, ease and amusement. In the process, we discover the wisdom in ourselves and our communities.
InterPlay integrates body, mind, heart and spirit. Life has become so fragmented. InterPlay helps to pull everything back together so we get more of what we want. InterPlay is devoted to fun. It teaches the language and ethic of play in a deep and powerful way. If you are convinced that seriousness is the path to inner wisdom, then you might want to look elsewhere. If you wouldlike to become a “recovering serious person,” then InterPlay might be for you.
InterPlay is firmly based in affirmation and looking for the good. You don’t have to think of yourself as creative in order to do InterPlay. That part is tought easily. We get far too much criticism in our lives already. We need to spend more time in the warm bath of acceptance. InterPlay is the perfect antidote to stress and cynicism.
InterPlay is a community of people around the world who speak the shared language of a wide and deep variety of play. It is a body of bodies who enjoy contact and connection. You don”t have to dive in the deep end of InterPlay to learn and benefit from it, but it does exist and some wonderful folks are “swimming” there. InterPlay has been developed by Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter over the last twenty years and it has spread around the world.
more info www.interplay.org & outi.ruohola@evl.fi, Certified InterPlay Leader, Finland
22. Sievers, Peppi, Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, Dr Theol, Pastor. Finland: SENSE OF SACRED IN PSYCHOTHERAPY
Sun 27.8. 16.45-17.30, 45 min.
In my theological doctoral dissertation I studied how psychotherapists manage the religious or spiritual material of their patient`s. In this qualitative research my main focus was to describe what it feels like to work with this kind of material and why this material is still sometimes so specific in its nature. Some of the psychotherapists really sensed or realised moments when their patients were in contact with their own deep sense of sacred or holy.
People are object-oriented from birth. We form internal representations of objects and of ourselves in relation to these objects`. Very meaningful in this respect is the so called transitional space. In the childhood transitional space first develops when the child uses some kind of transitional object. This object represents at the same time part of something outside of the child, and something inside his/her mind. In an optimal situation this transitional space stays with the person and it can be used in a very creative way. If one can use his/her transitional space freely, art, religion and new scientific theories develop. Transitional space is also the place where all knowledge of experiences lies. Here we are mostly human beings and can experience how other humans, things, phenomena and relations feel. These are also experiences weare not capable of fully expressing in words. In this transitional space we also encounter transcendence.
23. Smeets, Wim, Dr, Senior CPE supervisor and researcher in the Centre of Expertise on Spiritual Care of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. Netherlands: SUPERVISION AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
Sun 27.8. 14.45-15.30, 45 min.
What is the uniqueness of a training ‘spiritual biography’ in relation to regular supervision? In the workshop we will provide an historical outline of the attention to religious biography of professionals in CPE and other training programs. We will demonstrate how the development of spiritual competence of chaplains and other professionals in supervision and in a biography course are complementary. An example will be given how to explore ‘flexible spirituality and multiple belonging’.
24. Sundberg, Lars-Göran, Senior Lecturer. Sweden: PASTORAL THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE IMAGO DEI CONCEPT AS IT RELATES TO HUMAN FUNCTION AND MALFUNCTION
Thu 24.8. 16.00-17.30, 90 min.
This paper argues that the biblical idea of Imago Dei points to important pastoral theological factors for understanding human life. The concept “Image of God” has been variously defined throughout the Christian history. It is essentially a relational concept with dimensions pointing to a desirable human state. Some of the most widely recognized traits are the inviolate value of the human person, individuality in relationships, being rational and being responsible. Another part of the biblical and human story, however, is women and men’s experience of malfunction and tragedy. In a world that is broken and pain stricken by the consequences of sin, humans relate differently in their relationships as bearers of God’s image. When the “Imago Dei” is brooken its focus attends to human distress – a loss of worth, individuality, relationship, rationality, and responsibility. These traits now point to a wide variety of human distress – relational concepts, which when extrapolated may be recognized in terms of specific problems in cognition, emotion regulation and behavior. An understanding of the Imago Dei can guide pastoral care persons in meeting with people, in a way that their counseling becomes a walk into the redemption of Christ, the Imago Dei personified.
25. Tjernaes, Randi Synnove, Assistant Professor at Diakonova University College, Counselor, Deacon in Church of Norway. Norway: ABOUT AFFECTS IN CHRISTIAN COUNSELING. A SHORT PRESENTATION OF AFFECT THEORY AND ITS PLACE IN CURRENT NORWEGIAN COUNSELING LITERATURE
Fri 25.8. 14.00-14.45, 45 min.
In this workshop I want to present some of my work with current Norwegian curriculum and its focus on affects. Last spring I finished my theses in christian counseling, and I now work on an article based on the same theme. In this presentation I want to present the affect theory, and then give a picture of how the Norwgian counseling literature describes affects.
Shortly my findings show that we in Norway until now did not give the students in theology and diaconia knowledge of affects, we do not use affect theory.
My results give a picture how we have some shortcomings in our counseling literature:
- we did not give a presentation of affects
- we did not describe the meaning of affects
- we did not describe the meaning of affect integrity and affect consciousness
- we often want to split theology and psychology
- the theology that may be the reason behind this dualism between the knowledge of God and the knowledge of human beings
- we show some fear of affects in general i littarture
- how the history of the church have neglected affects
26. Törrönen, Minna, M.A, Doctoral Researcher in interpersonal communication, University of Tampere, Finland: WHEN AND WHY SUPPORTIVE MESSAGES ARE MORE HELPFUL IN PRIVATE ONLINE COUNSELLING CONVERSATION? WORKING WITH TOPICS SUICIDE, DEATH AND SORROW.
Sun 27.8. 16.00-16.45, 45 min.
People increasingly seek help to their problems via mediated private interpersonal chats in internet counselling services. Main objectives of the online counselling conversations are to support, help and comfort support seekers in their crisis situations. The data of this paper has collected from Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church online counselling services and online conversations are examined from the viewpoint of supportive communication. According to preliminary analysis from the conversation data main topics are death and suicide. In this paper I seek answers from the data with the questions: How to communicate support with relation to main topics of data? When and why specific types of support messages are more or less helpful in private helping online chat conversations?
27. Valkonen, Tuula, Working counsellor, Deep Talk-writer, Trainer. Finland: DO YOU SPEAK PARADISE? DEEP TALK-METHOD IN INNER LANGUAGE LEARNING FOR INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY
Sun 27.8. 16.00-17.30, 90 min.
Deep Talk-method is an inner language learning process. With ancient and holy stories you will easily start to speak your inner language and learn some dialogical skills for your own benefit. Then you can start to use it in your working Place, family or where ever community! With great joy and easyness.
Deep Talk is so deep that it is light; so serious that it is hilarious…In the workshop you can live it true! Deep Talk is based on Dr. Jeromy Berryman ́s Godly Play-system (the most growing Religious Educationsystem) and has been introduced in several International Conferences (England, USA, German, Russia, Latvia..)
The method is invented in Salo, Finland, By Tuula Valkonen (working counsellor, leader for the childwork, languagebath teatcher)
28. Walton, Martin, Professor of Chaplaincy Studies. Netherlands: LISTENING TO THE POEMS THAT PEOPLE ARE
Thu 24.8. 16.00-17.30, 90 min.
Narrative approaches are common in pastoral care, employing literary, exegetical and existential analysis to the stories that people tell. Yet what people tell often challenges narrative frameworks. The accounts shared in pastoral encounters are often fragmented without a clear plot, include unfinished sentences and open ends, make rich use of (ambiguous) images and metaphors. Such matters are quite characteristic, often the strength of another literary genre, namely, poetry. While attention has been paid to ‘poetics’ as a way of doing practical and pastoral theology, listening to others, to their expressions, gestures and utterances, in the way we listen topoetry has not been developed, even though many persons present self-written poems to pastors. (Compare e.g. the chapters on ‘Narrative Approaches’ by R. Ganzevoort and on ‘Poetics’ by H. Walton in the Wiley-
Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology, B.J. Miller-McLemore, ed., Chichester 2012.) Can listening to people as they express their ‘poetry’ complement narrative listening and enliven pastoral attention to affections, metaphors, the open spaces in what they tell and the implicit references to transformation and transcendence?
And does that mean that pastoral care is just as much a matter of thoughtful imagination as of empathy?
29. de Vries, Reijer J, Dr, Assistent Professor of Pastoral Care. Netherlands: “PER MUTUUM COLLOQUIUM ET CONSOLATIONEM FRATRUM.” HOW THE HOLY IS FELT IN MUTUAL PASTORAL CARE
Sun 27.8. 16.00-16.45, 45 min.
According to Martin Luther, “mutual conversation” is one of the ways the Gospel “gives us counsel and aid against sin”. Together with Luther’s view of the priesthood of all believers, this phrase of the “mutual conversation” provided the basis for lay care or mutual pastoral care in the Protestant Churches. Little empirical research has been done on how members of the Church observe and experience this working of the Gospel in their everyday lives. In this workshop, drawing upon empirical-theological research into mutual pastoral care in protestant congregations in The Netherlands, some quotations of church members will be analysed together, exploring how they perceive the Gospel is working and the Holy is felt in their “mutual conversation and consolation”.
After a short presentation of the empirical theological research, some quotations of the respondents will be analysed in numbers of three or four and then discussed together in relation to the question how the Holy is felt in (mutual) pastoral care.