By Dawn Taloyo, Associate Superintendent, PacNWC
Coming April 29 at the PacNWC Annual Meeting:
Trauma Healing Care with Abby Wong-Heffter and Wendell Moss
In the fall, West Hills Covenant hosted Wong-Heffter and Moss to help lead their congregation through sessions related to trauma and healing. Read here Pastor Stephanie Mathis’ reflection and endorsement.
HOW DO WE HEAL?
This past year, we received a grant for Narrative-Based Trauma Healing. We had, like many other churches, gone through difficult times in the pandemic: ongoing violence and hate towards Black and Brown people; death; loss; mental health challenges; divisive politics and conversations; deconstruction; and the list goes on. We began to ask the question, “How do we heal”? And as we began to study healing trauma, we saw throughout the Scriptures a trauma-informed, caring God who in times of suffering and pain doesn’t shame us by asking, “What’s wrong with you?” but rather in compassionate solidarity wonders, “What happened to you?”
Abby Wong-Heffter (Asian) and Wendell Moss (Black), trauma therapists and teachers at the Allender Center at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, have been integral to our transformative healing and health. We hosted two Healing Trauma events with them, one open to all and one specifically for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) on racial trauma. They have done group therapy for our BIPOC affinity groups. They have given us a framework of understanding what happens to our body and behavior when trauma happens as well as embodied tools and practices for healing and resilience.
Personally, as a pastor, I have seen God’s healing and growth in me as well as the church. People are beginning to understand their triggers better and respond with more reflection rather than reactivity. People who have experienced trauma in churches are coming and finding a place of both hospitality and hospital because of the trauma-informed care training we received from Abby and Wendell.
Abby and Wendell come with a wealth of experience, knowledge, humility, compassion, and wisdom that can be healing, first and foremost, to you as leader-humans, and secondly to your church communities.
Follow this link for more information and to register for the PacNWC 2022 Annual Celebration