Join Brandi and James as they discuss James’ recent research and presentation on what the global staff care and counseling community have learned from the pandemic about caring staff. Not all of the changes that have impacted our cross cultural workers have been negative and many we need to keep doing. In many ways our cross cultural workers have benefited most in some of the ways the world has responded to the mental health impacts of the pandemic. It is key for those in care positions for remote staff to capitalize on those opportunities.
Join Brandi and James as they interview Dr. Phil Monroe with Langberg, Monroe and Associates about trauma. Dr. Philip Monroe leads Langberg, Monroe & Associates and is a psychologist with three decades of clinical experience. His personal, professional, and spiritual musings may be found at http://www.philipmonroe.com.
“Trauma is a wound of the heart that affects every part of our being; our bodies, minds and hearts. It takes a long time to heal. Trauma is not an event so much as it is an experience. Trauma is the experience people have when they are overwhelmed and cannot cope. The effect someone has from that experience best defines long term trauma.”
“When we talk about trauma we are talking about an ongoing, long lasting effect. It may be soon after an event or experience or it maybe a years and decades later that it starts to show up.”
Join Brandi and James as they interview Anna Hampton, Author of Facing Danger, to talk about navigating theology of risk and the risk of returning to locations after a crisis. In the Fall of 2022 we are still navigating challenges of Russia’s war against Ukraine and other evacuations from around the globe. We strongly encourage your organization to attend their Risk Assessment and Management Training. We are excited to announce her Fear and CourageWebinar on November 16th. Sign up by emailing her at annahampton00@gmail.com.
Anna Hampton,
Anna grew up as a farm girl in the Midwest and felt called to work overseas as a young teen. By her mid-twenties, she was in full-time work leading teenagers all over the world. In 1996, she began a long-distance courtship with Neal across three continents, and after marrying in 1999, sthey began raising their family in Afghanistan. She and her husband serve with Barnabas International in pastoral care and risk consulting. They have three adult children and one daughter-in-law.
Anna shares God’s Word interwoven with personal experiences from living and working for a decade in war-torn Afghanistan and from over twenty-seven years of ministry experiences traveling in almost seventy countries. She writes with a realism and depth from her own trials of facing overwhelming obstacles with faith and joy while also living in extremist environments for almost two decades while raising three young children. She is the author of Facing Danger: A Guide Through Risk, Facing Fear: The Journey to Mature Courage in Risk and Persecution (est 2023), and contributed to the Risk Assessment and Management (RAM) Training that Neal wrote based on her book.
Anna holds a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Bethel University and a Doctor of Religious Studies from Trinity Theological Seminary. She is a Bible teacher and conference speaker at international women’s events in Central Asia, the Middle East, and in the US. She writes at TheologyOfRrisk.com and at Behind the Veil: A Public Journal of a Hidden Life. (http://better-than-gold-faith.blogspot.com/).
Resources
Purchase her first book Facing Danger: A Guide Through Risk. Her new book Facing Fear: The Journey to Mature Courage in Risk and Persecution Hopefully will be available late Spring 2023 or Summer 2023.
Join Shop Talk with Brandi and James as they talk with Paula Wong about her work with cross cultural workers. Dr. Wong was trained in Australia and now lives in Switzerland where she covers a broad range of issues in her Counseling Practice primarily with cross cultural workers. Through her work Paula holds an unshakable hope for healing both individuals and relationships. Part of her training includes a psychoanalysis approach and sometimes she says, people need to just get on the couch!
In this episode Brandi and James get a little deeper into what to do about depression. One of the big keys is growing in self awareness so you know when you need help and how to get it. It is easy to ask someone to help you move because it is obviously a two person job. Dealing with the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual challenges of depression are no different.
Types of Therapy
Some types of therapy that were mentioned in this episode are:
CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life. In many studies, CBT has been demonstrated to be as effective as, or more effective than, other forms of psychological therapy or psychiatric medications.
DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) is a type of Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Its main goals are to teach people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories (Shapiro, 1989a, 1989b). Shapiro’s (2001) Adaptive Information Processing model posits that EMDR therapy facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories and other adverse life experience to bring these to an adaptive resolution. After successful treatment with EMDR therapy, affective distress is relieved, negative beliefs are reformulated, and physiological arousal is reduced.
Emotion Wheel
One of the main topics was the need to grow in self awareness especially as it relates to your own emotions. This Colorful emotion wheel could be helpful for that https://fairygodboss.com/career-topics/emotion-wheel
Shop Talk with Brandi and James Episode 7. Listen in to part 2 of an interview with Spiritual Director Dr. Ted Wueste
One way to process your own grief is through writing of a lament. Here is one way to engage in that process.
Writing your own lament
By James Covey (adapted from Healing Teen’s Wounds of Trauma)
One positive way to deal with the hard things that go on in our lives is to create a “lament.” A lament is a way of expressing our pain to God when we feel bad. It might be done in words, in music, in dance or any other form of creative expression.
A lament helps us expose all the stuff that we have tried to hide and share it with God. This is a good way to start telling your story and releasing painful memories. As it becomes more comfortable for you to share it privately with God, creating a lament can lead to sharing your story with another person when you are ready.
There are many examples of laments in the Bible. Trauma after trauma happened to the nation of Israel as a community (wars, captivity, displacement, famines) as well as to individuals (abuse, rape, abandonment, murder). Many of them found comfort in bringing their pain to God. They had an honest way of speaking to God where they poured out their complaints to him, sometimes even as they declared their trust in him. There are over 40 laments in the book of psalms (making it the most common type of psalm). Laments have the elements below in them but they must have a complaint to be a lament. It is helpful to also have a review of God’s faithfulness and a vow of trust in God.
Parts of a Lament
Address to God.
Review of God’s faithfulness in the past.
Complaint. (must have this)
Confession of sin / Claim of innocence.
Request for help
God’s response.
Vow to praise / statement of trust in God.Examples Psalms 142, Habakkuk 3:17-18, Psalms 130, Psalms 13Here is Psalm 13 and the parts of a lament in it. This might help you in creating your own.1. How much longer will you forget me, Lord? Forever? How much longer will you hide yourself from me? 2. How long must I endure trouble? How long will sorrow fill my heart day and night? How long will my enemies triumph over me? 3. Look at me, O Lord my God, and answer me. Restore my strength; don’t let me die. 4. Don’t let my enemies say, “We have defeated him.” Don’t let them gloat over my downfall. 5. I rely on your constant love; I will be glad, because you will rescue me. 6. I will sing to you, O Lord, because you have been good to me.Vs 1-2 Address to God and Complaint Vs 3-4 Request Vs 5a Statement of Trust Vs 5b-6- Vow to Praise
James and ellie 