Martha Jacobi, Brainspotting Happens!, USAParticipants will: learn how towork with clients having religious/spiritual convictions, especially when the client’s beliefs differ from those of the therapist; learn how to identify and use Brainspotting to help clients process religio-spiritual traumas and life issues, including loss of faith, abuse by religious/spiritual professionals, and life/vocational discernment; become familiar with Comparative Theology and the Comparative Pastoral Theological method developed by the author; explore ways of integrating Brainspotting into local settings of religious/spiritual caregiving, in light of theoretical and theological parallels and dissonance. Therapy clients, from many religious and spiritual paths, often report transformational change that is spiritual as well as emotional, psychological, and physical. This participatory workshop, rooted in the author’s pastoral psychotherapy practice, will compare Brainspotting’s “focused mindfulness” with contemplative practices, and explore ways of using Brainspotting in working with religio-spiritual concerns that arise in psychotherapy. The workshop will introduce the comparative pastoral theological method developed by the author, and report and extend her research into applications of Brainspotting in the caregiv- ing praxis of religious/spiritual traditions.
