November, 2012

Trauma? What is trauma? Trauma refers to a serious bodily injury or shock. In psychological terms, trauma refers to an experience that is emotionally painful, distressful, or shocking, which often results in lasting mental, spiritual and physical effects.  The same event can affect people in different ways.

The Bible College offered an intensive, weeklong counseling course to 4th year students. This two credit course focuses on counseling survivors of a traumatic event. The end goal is for people to find healing from the wounds of trauma and continue down the road of developing into the full potential of who they were created to be in Christ.

Glenn Goss taught the class. He is an author, a Clinical Social Worker and trauma counselor who has conducted many workshops for counselors in Africa and the Middle East.

The Christian caregiver reflects Jesus to people in need. The students learned debriefing techniques which included listening skills and ways to respond to the trauma story. They learned about healthy and unhealthy methods of coping and the symptoms and reactions to stress. Students learned ways to help on a spiritual level and discussed the role of forgiveness. They also discussed the importance of trust and confidentiality so that people can be honest in expressing their feelings.

The students felt they learned skills that will help them in their future ministry as well as in their personal lives. They also agreed they would be open to classes on related topics in the future.