The impacts of trauma – generated from historical, individual, and structural harms – reverberate through families and communities. To offer trauma-informed spiritual care we need to understand the effects traumatic experiences have on our bodies, our souls, and our communities. Faith systems can offer life-giving resources or life-limiting roadblocks. Trauma-informed spiritual care works to help seekers feel safe, mourn their loss, and rebuild their communal support as they work toward a resilient and hope-filled future.

Part 1: Trauma’s Effects on the Body, the Soul, and the Community

Part 2: Faith after Trauma: Resources and Roadblocks

Part 3: Spiritual Care Responses for Healing and Resilience

 

Facilitated by Rev. Dr. Christie Love (she/her) 

Rev. Dr. Love specializes in the research and study of the intersections of faith and religious trauma. In 2018, she planted a trauma-informed church with a heart for outreach and advocacy. She is an ordained minister through The Disciples of Christ. Rev. Dr. Love is the author of God of the Gaps, published in April 2021.

Currently, she serves as the Senior Pastor at Englewood Christian Church in Yakima, Washington. She also co-hosts Flipped Table Theology, a weekly podcast on progressive faith, deconstruction, and religious trauma. In early 2024, she co-founded The Flipped Table Collective, where she teaches classes, workshops, and certificate programs, develops resources, coaches clergy, and builds relationships with others who are passionate about bringing change to The Church.

She has a deep passion for the church's potential and a pastoral heart for guiding local churches to become safe spaces for those who have experienced trauma. Rev. Dr Love completed her Doctorate of Ministry at Eden Theological Seminary in 2024.

Digital content by Rev. Kristen J. Leslie, Ph.D. 

Dr. Leslie is a feminist pastoral theologian whose research focuses on spiritual care with survivors of sexualized violence in the United States military, on college campuses, and in post-genocide Rwanda. An ordained United Methodist minister, she has served as a parish pastor, college chaplain, pastoral counselor, rape counselor, and seminary professor. She has taught pastoral care and counseling for 27 years, recently retiring from her post as the Harold Peters Schultz Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care at Eden Theological Seminary.

Dates: Jan. 21, Feb. 18, Mar. 18, Apr. 15, 2025. All cohort meetings will be online.

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