By Tohru Inoue
“Stronger together”
That was the theme of this year’s Trauma Healing Institute’s Global Community of Practice (GCOP). It was held for the first time outside of North America. Hosted in Kenya, participants from over 40 countries gathered in the capital, Nairobi to continue to grow in knowledge and skill in helping people navigate through pain and grief. It has been an ethos of the Trauma Healing Institute to periodically gather in these global communities to encourage one another.
Strengthening program
In the 20 years since the program was developed, coming together has made us stronger. In fact, coming together has made the ministry what it is today. From its very beginning this was a collaborative ministry. The people who started it took the material they had, tested it out and asked others to help improve it. As the program was put into practice, additional lessons were added to address issues that came up as felt needs. Today, the material’s strength come from the multitude of people who have collaborated to combine their experience and expertiser. The material is nimble and relevant because people keep coming together to make it stronger.
On the final day of the GCOP, participants prayed together in different stations. One of the stations dubbed, “celebration,” focused on all the materials that were collectively produced over the years. It all started with the classic program, but expanded to accommodate children, teens, military service members, those in prisons and many more. The volume of materials was moving to see. It represented the collective work of the community; they were the fruits of coming together.
Today, with practitioners in 153 nations of the world, this fellowship of trauma healing facilitators has grown to over 59,000 people. More than half a million people have been led through the journey of grief and loss. To find their healing in Jesus.
Today, with practitioners in 153 nations of the world, this fellowship of trauma healing facilitators has grown to over 59,000 people. More than half a million people have been led through the journey of grief and loss. To find their healing in Jesus.
But this is heavy work. Beyond just coming together to collaborate on developing additional materials, practitioners gather because they need each other. There is a cost to this work. Facilitators are not immune from feeling the weight of the stories they hear.
Sometimes, facilitators find the stories of pain, grief and trauma accompanying them home. Sometimes they feel pressed down under the weight of overwhelming needs like they are working against an unrelenting tide.
“People in similar crises can understand each other.”
Facilitators understand these things. They understand the heavy loads other facilitators carry.
That understanding among practitioners was on display at the gathering during a panel Q&A session. A facilitator struggled to know how best to help in his context of war. Where would he find people who were well enough to help guide others under their own mountain of grief?
Before she offered her answer, the panelist from Ukraine said, “People in similar crises can understand each other.”
Togetherness is powerful. The knowledge alone that there are others on this journey can change our disposition. It can give us strength.
Please pray
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For Trauma Healing Facilitators as they listen to stories, work in challenging locations and respond to those who are walking through difficult situations.
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For many more to find and start their healing in Jesus.
- For more facilitators to join the work.
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That doors will be opened in communities where Christ is least known.
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