Invitation to CIL's
Graduate Retreat
(Last updated
August 21, 2003)
Alexis Johnson, Ph.D.
and
Judith Sarah Schmidt, Ph.D.
May 2 - 4, 2003
In this time of spiritual crisis, collective trauma, and economic uncertainty, this is the place to come to nourish your personal and professional selves, to connect with like-minded souls, to share and to learn. We hope you can join us! We are each offering a day on critical issues for our time, our selves, and for many of those we work with.
On Sunday morning, both Alexis and Judith will join you to explore the relationships between these two powerful themes.
This retreat, like all of our experiential teachings, will provide a safe and exciting environment in which to learn from lecture, imagery and art.
Capacity To Hope
From Falling Apart to Resilience
JUDITH SARAH SCHMIDT, Ph.D.
We all know how difficult it is to hold together in times of adversity. And we all know people who seem to bear difficult trials better than others. We say that such people possess the quality of resilience that protects them against what can be the agonies of depression, anxiety, and loss of hope in the face of hard times.
We will explore those qualities, understandings, and psycho-spiritual skills which you, as a healing professional, need to cultivate in order to help those who tend to fragment in the face of stress. The process of healing must provide a new beginning in which capacities unfold to bear what life brings with meaning and dignity.
During this day we will consider the following questions:
- Is resilience inborn and can it be generated by early relationships?
- What do recent brain studies tell us about fragmentation and resilience?
- How does faith dwell in the body and the body politic?
- How do we journey from futility to faith?
- What is the connection between hope and the capacity to protest one's condition?
- What qualities in the healer/therapist-client relationship foster or damage
the growth of resilience?
Transforming Shame:
From Humiliation,
Through Humility,
To Self-Esteem
ALEXIS JOHNSON, Ph.D.
Shame is the most painful affect, experienced as an inner unspeakable torment. Shame is the affect of failure, impotence, indignity, defeat, and transgression, alienating us both from ourselves and from others. It can be triggered internally by personal failure or externally by family or organizational judgment. Recovering from a shaming event is difficult.
Many of us struggle with shame and low self-esteem. When shamed, all of us find ways to avoid, deny, or otherwise defend against this primary affect. As long as shame is internalized and unspoken, it cannot be transformed. Only by speaking the unspeakable to another is true change possible.
During our time together we will consider the following questions:
- Why would some people kill or be killed rather than face humiliation?
- How does hanging the head in shame kill joy, excitement, and spirit?
- Why is shame so hard to talk about?
- How are both anger and withdrawal used to cover shame?
- Is there healthy shame?
- What happens when shame enters the healing relationship?
- How can you explore shame in your clients without inducing further shame?
- How can you restore healthy self-esteem to the shame-ridden client?
- What happens when nations experience shame?
COST: $550 (includes Friday and Saturday lunches)
LOCATION: Sheraton Danbury Hotel, Danbury, CT
TIMES:
Friday & Saturday - 10 am - 5pm
Sunday - 10 am - 1 pm
TO REGISTER: Send
$100 non-refundable deposit
(with address, email address and phone number), to:
Betsy Miller,
58 C Lawrence Ave,
Bedford Hills, NY 10507
FOR MORE
INFORMATION: Contact either
Alexis Johnson at 914-763-3201 (you can e-mail her at alexis@cloud9.net
)
OR
Judith Schmidt at 914-232-7370 (you can e-mail her at jschmruach@aol.com)
Website: www.intentionalliving.com
96 Bouton Rd. South Salem, NY 10590
