An internationally recognized expert on trauma treatment will lead a team of eight helping professionals in a special retreat from Aug. 16-18 in Augusta, Maine, to work with survivors of clergy abuse and their families.
The retreat, titled "Restoration, Reconciliation and Renewal: Healing Spiritual Trauma," is expected to draw survivors of clergy abuse and those deeply affected by the clergy crisis throughout Maine, New England and across the country.
Kate Hudgins, a Ph.D. clinical psychologist who has worked with hundreds of survivors of sexual and physical abuse during the past 20 years, will bring her innovative model of team treatment that uses drama, art and other experiential exercises to heal trauma.
She is founder of Therapeutic Spiral International, a non-profit organization dedicated to training professionals to treat trauma, and author of the newly published book, "Experiential Therapy for PTSD: The Therapeutic Spiral Model."
She explains that all survivors of trauma face some sort of spiritual disconnection in addition to psychological pain. This disconnection is compounded when the abuser holds an important and trusted role within the church. "The person who is abused may feel abandoned by God and experience powerful feelings of hopelessness," she says.
Yet recovery is possible. "When the fear is faced, words can be spoken and feelings can be expressed, even the betrayal and horror of sexual abuse can be repaired," she says. "Reconnection to the spiritual dimension of life is an important component of the recovery process, even if the higher power does not come from a traditional perspective."
She notes that at times participants have taken the opportunity to sort out resilient spiritual faith from trauma experiences that destroyed trust in people and safety in the world. She says, "Our model supports this exploration clearly and a focus on reconciliation."
Hudgins says experiential psychotherapy is now recognized as the treatment of choice by current edition of the psychologist's bible, "The Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change."
She explains that experiences of trauma impact the part of the brain that cannot easily or completely explain the experience – resulting often in flashbacks and nightmares – so verbally based therapies are limited in resolving issues of trauma.
"Experiential methods are the treatment of choice for trauma survivors when anchored in clinical theory and practice," she says. "They increase treatment effectiveness and decrease treatment time, often by months and years. When used by a competent practitioner, action methods bring hope to otherwise discouraged clients."
The retreat is organized by Katherine Amsden, a clinical social worker and psychotherapist who has worked in Maine for more than 20 years. It will take place at the St. Paul Retreat and Conference Center in Augusta, Maine; although the program is not connected with the Catholic church, interested participants may want to approach their local diocese for scholarship funds to attend.
In addition, TSI will sponsor a training for professionals working with trauma from Sept. 6-8 at the Notre Dame Spiritual Center in Alfred, Maine. Mario Cossa, a registered drama therapist and master trainer in psychodrama based in Keene, N.H., and other clinicians will instruct; the training program, titled "Developmental Repair" is open to all helping professionals.
More information is available by calling Amsden at (207) 777-1508 or Therapeutic Spiral International at (434) 923-8290.
Therapeutic Spiral International, based in Charlottesville, Va., is involved in building teams of helping professionals throughout the world to treat trauma and has trained clinicians in Canada, England, Korea, Israel, Turkey and Australia. A team of clinicians associated with TSI will return to South Africa in July 2002 to work with community leaders struggling with AIDS, poverty and racism; return programs are also scheduled for Northern Ireland and work with former paramilitary and their families. More information about the organization is available by visiting www.therapeuticspiral.org.