Loyola University Maryland pastoral counseling faculty will offer a five-day workshop on trauma response for victims of sexual assault to members of the U.S. Air Force Chaplain Corps Aug. 16 – 20.
The program aims to better prepare chaplains to provide supportive trauma coping skills to victims of sexual assault and their families; equip chaplains with self-care tools for meeting the demands of ministering to those who have experienced sexual assault; offer new lenses for viewing post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma from the victim’s perspective; provide pastoral/theological intervention strategies for perpetrators and bystanders; share a step-by-step skill set for engaging in healing conversations with traumatized victims of sexual assault; and offer other critical techniques.
“For our armed forces personnel stationed here in the United States and overseas, as well as their families, military chaplains offer some of the most immediate and critical sources of care and healing in the wake of trauma,” said Sharon Cheston, Ed.D., professor of pastoral counseling. “We are proud to partner with the U.S. Air Force Chaplain Corps on this important program to prepare chaplains to minister to sexual assault victims, who face particularly profound challenges as a result of their trauma.”
Loyola University Maryland’s graduate programs in pastoral counseling offer students in counseling and other caregiving professions advanced expertise and techniques which blend the scientific with the spiritual. For more information on Loyola’s master’s degrees, doctoral program, and advanced certificates in the field, visit www.loyola/edu/pastoralcounseling.
For more information or questions regarding this story, contact Media Relations Manager Nick Alexopulos at nalexopulos@loyola.edu or 410-617-5025.