Healing from Spiritual Trauma & Abuse For LGBTQ People in Social Service Systems: A 6 week series

Kelsey Pacha, MA, M.Div. and Dev Cuny, M. Div. 

*This is a 6 Week session training starting Saturday April 3rd to May 8th. Attendance for all sessions is required

Training Description

This group is intended for people who have been harmed by anti-LGBTQ+ religious/spiritual beliefs, communities, and practices. Participants do NOT have to identify as LGBTQ+ to be part of the group at this time; however, our material is focused on faith-based messages about sexuality & gender. We will explore the impact these negative messages have had on participants, their clients, colleagues, or their loved ones, and the ensuing impact on client work. We do not assume a current faith background or promote any faith tradition; rather, the focus is on achieving spiritual healing for optimal health & well-being.

We have structured our curriculum in six 4-hour sessions in order to build trust among cohort members and thus gradually deepen our psychoeducational material. Each session is a restorative justice circle, including a self-reflection check-in, psychoeducation on a topic, embodied healing practice, restorative conversation, and building relationship with other cohort members for the purposes of healing our spiritual wounds. Participants will complete self-reflection or embodied practice homework between sessions to transition from one theme to the next

Learning Objective

• Describe ways to increase competency when providing services to LBGTQ clients
• Create a restorative practice tool-box for use with LGBTQ clients
• Review structures for restorative conversations between LGBTQ clients and family members
• Describe ways to model LGBTQ-affirming spiritual healing practices

Agenda 

Week 1: Sharing Our Stories

• 9:00am-10:30am Introductions, background, community agreements
• 10:30am-11:30am Psychoeducation
• 11:30am-12:30pm Restorative conversation
• 12:30pm-1:00pm Review homework—two journal prompts

Week 2: How Have We Been Shaped by Religion/Spirituality?

• 9:00am-9:45am Introductory activities
• 9:45am-10:30am Psychoeducation: Reflection on childhood religious affiliation, cognitive and spiritual development among children and how this impacts us as adults
• 10:30am-11:30am Embodied work: Spiritual Life Map
• 11:30am-12:30pm Restorative conversations about Spiritual Life Maps
• 12:30pm-1:00pm Closing and homework for next time

Week 3: Reframing & Reclaiming

• 9:00am-10:00am Introductory activity and share their self-reflection homework in restorative conversations.
• 10:00am-11:3am Psychoeducation: Explore inherently affirming beliefs, figures, and rituals of world religious traditions and how to incorporate these into our work
• 11:30am-12:30pm Embodied group ritual
• 12:30pm-1:00pm Closing activity and assigning homework

Week 4: Restorative Practices for Individual Healing

• 9:00am-10:00am Introduction: Community Circle as a Community Builder
• 10:00am-11:30am Education: What is RJ? Restorative Practices? Restorative Culture? How has RJ been used in the child welfare, educational, and juvenile justice systems?
• 11:30am-12:00pm Circle Components: How can RJ be used to heal spiritual and religious trauma?
• 12:00pm-12:30pm Practice: Restorative conversations and embodied practices
• 12:30pm-1:00pm Closing: Closing activities and homework for next time

Week 5: Restorative Practices for Collective Healing

• 9:00am-10:30am Introduction: Community Circle: Spiritual and Religious Identities
• 10:30am-11:45am Education: RJ as a Healing Modality, and how it has been used to inspire both individual and institutional healing in systems like the child welfare and juvenile justice systems
• 11:45am-12:45pm Practice: Healing Circle
• 12:30pm-1:00pm Closing: Closing activities and homework for next time.

Week 6: Integration

• 9:00am-10:00am Introduction: Community Circle #3 as a Community Builder.
• 10:00am-11:00am Education: How do we integrate RJ, mutual aid, and expansive theologies in our lives and in our work within child welfare, juvenile justice, educational, and social service systems?
• 11:00am-11:45am Reflection: Writing and embodied activities
• 11:45am-12:45pm Practice: Closing Circle
• 12:45pm-1:00pm Closing: Closing activities

Meet Our Trainers

Kelsey Pacha, MA, M.Div. is a transman who has worked with marginalized communities for 15+ years in a variety of settings. He holds a Master of Religion and Psychology, Master of Divinity, and Certificate of Sexuality and Religion from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Psychological Services from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He is the owner of Kelsey Pacha Consulting, which supports the work of institutions and individuals in increasing their capacity for cultural humility and social justice-informed institutional change. Kelsey offers educational trainings and LGBTQ workplace policy expertise with an emphasis on practical skills, identity awareness, and personal empowerment. He regularly works with corporate, legal, clinical, medical, and direct service (including child welfare and faith leader) personnel. He presents workshops around the country on the impact of inclusive spaces for LGBTQ people. Kelsey straddles the worlds of academia/theory and practice, serving as the Board President of Trans Bodies, Trans Selves, a national non-profit organization that publishes a 649-page resource guide of the same name, by and for the trans*, genderqueer, and gender-nonconforming communities. He has written academically on transgender people, religion, & spirituality. For more information, visit kelseypachaconsulting.com or contact Kelsey at kelsey@kelseypachaconsulting.com.

Dev Cuny, M.Div., is a storyteller activist, TEDx speaker,  restorative justice practitioner, and consultant. Dev also serves as an ambassador and advisory member for the #BornPerfect Campaign to End Conversion Therapy. Dev has shared their story in national media outlets including Huffington Post, The Guardian, VICE, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, New York Magazine’s The Cut, The Advocate, and Mashable. In addition to their work with #BornPerfect, Dev helps school districts create trauma-informed, restorative, and social emotional health systems and environments. A faith-inspired advocate, Dev's life has transformed from one of rejection and pain into a life filled with hope, reconciliation, and passion for collective liberation and healing systemic injustice. Holding a Masters of Divinity from the Graduate Theological Union, Dev completed their Clinical Pastoral Education for chaplaincy at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco where they worked with patients struggling with the impact of oppression including experiencing homelessness, mental illness, and addiction.

Each week's course meets the qualifications for (4.00) BBS CEUs for LCSWs and MFTs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.