Summary:
A common nursery rhyme is, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Unfortunately, it is well known that words harm people, even the Holy Bible describes reckless words as piercing like a sword. Some faith-based communities have been slow to recognize or validate the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual impact of verbal, mental, or spiritual abuse, often due to lack of knowledge on how to identify it and the psychological impact of such abuse. Physical harm has obvious evidence of something very wrong within a relationship, but a broken spirit is harder to detect yet every bit as real and painful. Whether in the workplace, church, or home, licensed mental health professionals, medical personnel, and ministry leaders must learn what constitutes coercive control, mental, spiritual and emotional abuse, and the damage it does to the individual, the relationship, and the institution. In this workshop, participants will learn strategies to stay neutral while evaluating or counseling in possibly abusive relationships by learning to identifying overt and covert strategies of emotional abuse and recognizing the impact of abuse on an individual or institution. Furthermore, participants will also be able to employ various questions to help determine if the abuser is willing to change and outline the five components of a trauma informed strategy to employ when such abuse has been detected.
Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual impact of emotional/mental abuse on the victim with Scriptural support for a willing Christian client.
Identify the overt/covert strategies of emotional abuse used to maintain power and exert coercive control over an individual or group.
Examine critical questions to identify red flags which help distinguish the difference between those who sincerely want to change and those who give lip service to change.
Summarize the five components of trauma informed care and treatment protocol for the victim, the abuser, and the relationship.