Spring 2002

The INNERLIFE
A Publication of the
Pastoral Counseling Centers of Tennessee, Inc.

Partners in Caring Since 1985

April is Child Abuse Prevention month. There are multiple commemorations being planned around the city and state to educate the community and improve the circumstances of our most vulnerable citizens. Over the past three years I have primarily worked in matters of child welfare. In this work it is sometimes difficult to hear any good news?any gospel message. When one looks at the statistics on children and youth in our contemporary culture we often want to join in Rachel's lamentation at the loss of the innocents?our innocence. There are piles of data and many stories to be told which are at once heart rending and terrifying. Yet, the overwhelming experience I have encountered time and again in children at risk is the courage, determination, and vitality, which enables their survival. I count myself privileged to know them.
I want to share with you what I know of the story of one child. I can tell you this story because I meet this child as a member of my extended community. His story is his own and I can only share broad strokes of how I find this young man to be a gift in our community and a genuine word of good news. It is important to him and his grandmother that you know from the first they are not Christians. Yet, I know them to be deeply spiritual people who live their lives in keeping with the Spirit of truth.

ONE CHILD'S STORY
What I know of the story begins with a recurring dream of his grandmother a few years ago. In the dream she experienced a profound leading to travel the three?hour trip where her daughter and grandson lived to be sure they were alright. Despite having no easy transportation to get there, despite her own difficult circumstances and limited finances, his grandmother was faithful to the leading of her dream.
When she arrived in the town, she eventually found her daughter high on crack. The daughter said she had not seen the boy in more than a week and did not know where he was. There was a large tree that served as a gathering spot for the "crack heads and drunks" in the neighborhood. At the big tree the grandmother began to ask those street people to help her find her grandson. These people who had lost so much in their own lives searched with her for several hours. Finally, working together they helped her find the boy. For seven days he had been fending for himself, eating and staying with people who were willing to help him. In telling me the story, the grandmother said, "Those people under the tree looked like outcasts, but for us they were angels."
His grandmother contacted the authorities and obtained custody of her grandson. She brought him home to live with her. Despite her own problems, she has seen to it that her grandson has been clothed, fed, enrolled in school, and surrounded with people who welcome him into their friendship.
I first met this young man at a picnic. Lots of children were playing outside. Then one amazing kid came running across the yard, made two standing back flips, held out both arms and told me his name. For an encore he flashed a smile infectious with the pure delight of being alive. This family has had rougher spots in their life than many people have ever known. Yet this young man knows how to land on his feet.
He is a resilient kid. When his mother could not continue to safeguard that resiliency, other people who loved him found and sustained his spirit. He continues to live with his grandmother. He makes good grades at school He is an active participant and volunteer in the after school program he attends. He has been a wonderful playmate with my child and her friends. His grandmother has been supported by a network of friends, and the linkage of public and private resources. He did not become a grim statistic. He is, and continues to become, a treasure in our midst.

HOW CAN ONE CHILD'S STORY BE RETOLD
How can we learn to retell this story in the lives of other children? Not all children have the gift of his remarkably resilient and positive spirit. Not all family members have the resolve and commitment to the future this grandmother demonstrates. Not all communities are willing to welcome a child "at risk", or their family.
In working with the terrible realities of child abuse and neglect, it is important to remember how little it can take to stabilize the lives, families and communities of children at risk. The time, resources, money and attention spent cultivating awareness and respect for young people is crucial not only to stabilize their lives, but to secure the future of our lives together. One of the most needed resources is simple delight in their very being. That investment follows the admonition of Jesus to "care for the least of these." Children embody the resilience and power of life in the Spirit.
If the headlines of the last few years have taught us anything, it is that not only children who grow up in public housing or in families on public assistance are at risk. Children born to material privilege must also struggle with the same issues of family instability, hunger for parental affection and affirmation, the cultural and spiritual contamination from addictions and emotional toxicity.
James Garbarino, a researcher in the field of youth violence considers the factors resulting in the increase of youth violence in the past few decades in the US. In his book, Lost Boys, (1999) Garbarino uses the analogy of a public health epidemic as an analysis of youth violence. What began in large urban underclass communities, or war zones around the world has now become pandemic even in suburban and rural communities. Garbarino links emotional privation early (often fetal) exposure to chemical addiction, media tolerance of violence, and materialistic over stimulation as elements contributing to a cultural toxicity for children. " According to recent statistics, each murder committed by an adolescent is matched by another teen suicide ...about twenty?three hundred each year." (Garbarino, 1999,p.9) Let's do the math: 2300 suicides (by data published in 1999) multiplied by 2 for homicides or other violent deaths in the US. That equals 4,600 kids. To get that into perspective, a 747 at full capacity holds about 400 people. Divide those numbers by twelve and it is roughly the equivalent of an airplane with 383 kids crashing every month. If we saw news reports of a plane full of young people crashing once a month what would we do?
There are lots of kids in our nation who are not landing on their feet. The Child Welfare League of America reported 5,000 children died as a result of abuse or neglect at the hands of their parents or guardians in the U.S. in 1989. There is a linkage between how we treat the children we have been blessed with, and who we are to become as a people. Changing the circumstances of children at risk of abuse or neglect is essential but do not let anyone ever tell you it is easy or simple. Then again neither is living like Jesus easy or simple. Just like the transformation of a life lived after the example of Jesus, God calls for us to effect change over lifetimes and generations. God calls us to reach beyond our comfort and control God calls us to welcome the children.

By James R. Coffman

Being Theological
My counselee quoted Galatians 5:22?23. And then she quoted Hebrews 1 l:l. Her discoveries of these passages had come through a devotional book and a business article. I was moved to hear this professional middle?aged woman recount the passages with the ardor of a latency aged sword drill warrior. In the first instance, she recounted each "fruit of the spirit" with similar cadence until she came to "patience," and here she enunciated with increased volume and slowed, focused attention. While the experience of patience was her least understood "fruit," it represented her deepest yearning for experience with the spirit of God. Pleased with this theological probe, she concentrated on the Hebrews passage and its reminder that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for," a reminder that she was in a process saturated with the spirit of God.
These passages did not appear by accident. Rather, they represented the desires of her heart. Separated from her husband, she yearned for a particular outcome: be reunited, secured, and about the usual business of marital bliss. Her passages reflected these personal desires.
Yet I also experienced that stretching sensation that I associate with visiting in the spirit's neighborhood. She knew her healing included her need to exercise patience, and she considered her hopes within the broad interpretative field of faith?a context where a believer acts without knowing the outcomes. I experienced this brief exchange as theological to the core, one representing the limitations of human finitude and the occasion for potential revelation.
Perhaps the distinguishing mark of pastoral persons is that they not only know theology, but they also understand themselves to be theological?we exist in theological universes. There are many theological methods, but a pastoral theological method begs for practicality. Liston Mills and I recently discussed a pastoral theological method which includes the following process:
1. To know
2. To understand
3. To accept
I have great appreciation for my counselee as she struggles in her experience of separation. She is separated from her personal goal and she is separated from her husband, but she is not separated from God. She knows. And she struggles both with what she knows and with that which she is unaware. She talks, feels, and listens so that she can understand these unplanned experiences in her journey. She appears to find peace as she accepts God's gracious presence in her experience, no matter where she may go.
There is a strong pastoral tone to this simple three?phase process. Frequently, persons come to us to talk about personal experiences that are both psychological and theological, and about which they want to know, understand, and accept. I am reminded of William James' concept of "the more" at the end of his The Varieties of Religious Experience. James quotes Frederic Myers in one sentence: "The Self manifests through the organism; but there is always some part of the Self unmanifested; and always, as it seems, some power of organic expression in abeyance or reserve" (Conclusions). James is one of the earliest proponents of the integration of mind and body. The purpose of mental activity is always a bodily change or activity (See Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling, p. 398). For James, the secret of character is selfcontrol. My counselee has wonderful will power, and she works very hard for what she wants. As wonderful as this is, it is not the whole. James suggests that "healthy?minded souls" can be described by cheerfulness, the opening of consciousness from sources beyond themselves. [Sick souls are intensely aware of evil all around and tend to accent chaos and conflict.] My counselee is so right to exercise patience, to let go, and to let God. I think her path not only provides health, but it also demonstrates the fruits of a faithful spirit in the time of trial.

PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTERS WELCOME VOLUNTEERS IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

• FRANKLIN-Tuesday, 5 p.m.-9 p.m.-615-790-1539
• CLARKSVILLE-Monday and Wednesday,
  4 p.m.-8 p.m.-931-648-9009
• RIVERGATE-Thursday, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. and
  Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.-615-855-2440
• MURFREESBORO-Tuesday and Thursday,
  8 a.m.-8 p.m.-615-904-8623
• BRENTWOOD-Monday, Wednesday and Friday-
  5 p.m.-8 p.m.-615-370-1539
• NASHVILLE (VINE STREET)-Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 6-p.m.-9 p.m.615-383-0792 or
  615-383-2115 x 23.

Any or all of these days and hours are available in any increments desired by the volunteer. During these hours receptionist duties, filing, mailing, and copying will be required on an as needed basis. Other needs for volunteers are in the Development office for mailing, filing, calling, computer data input and other areas to be determined. This is located in the Vine Street Center. Our Vine Street location is also in need of volunteers to clean on a regular basis. Perhaps your church organization such as Ladies Guild, Men's Group, Youth Group, Young Adults and many more would like to take a service project for a month and volunteer at any of the locations above. The possibilities are endless!
April is Volunteer Appreciation Month. We will be honoring our volunteers at a volunteer appreciation lunch at the end of the month. We will be inviting our current volunteers and hope to be inviting new ones as well! Please call the center nearest you to discuss volunteer opportunities of interest or email the following: ChrissaJennings@PastoralCounselingCtrs.org. We would love to see your smiling faces and look forward to hearing from you.

Founders' Fellowship
Martin Foundation

Advocates' Fellowship
Chariy Circle, Murfreesboro
Dr. & Mrs. John Tarpley
Ken Williams

Sustainers' Fellowship
Anonymous
Lee Corbett

HENDERSON AWARD TO:
Dr: Lawrence Clark, M.Div,D.Min.,
was awarded the Bruce D. Henderson Award in the February 2002 Board of Directors meeting. Lawrence has been with PCCT for 2 years and serves as a Training Supervisor and the Director of
the Franklin and Business Resource centers. The annual award recognizes a clinician who has made significant contributions to the system through the quality and quantity of accomplishments.
Lawrence's credentials include: Diplomate, American Association of Pastoral Counselors; Clinical Member, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy; Licensed Clinical Marriage and Family Therapist, State of Kansas and Licensed Clinical Marriage
and Family Therapist, State of Tennessee. Each person nominating Lawrence described him as compassionate and caring in his contacts with co?workers, clients and community. We extend our
heartfelt congratulations and gratitude to Lawrence for his presence at Pastoral Counseling Centers o f Tennessee.

CLINICAL PASTORAL THERAPIST PROGRAM
The Clinical Pastoral Therapist Program is a two-year pastoral counselor training program to help candidates enter a vocation in pastoral counseling and meet the requirements for certified membership in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and for certification as a Clinical Pastoral Therapist in the State of Tennessee. Qualified candidates may conduct therapy under supervision in one of the PCCT Centers as contract counselors or serve in other institutions for clinical hour requirements. Generous tuition scholarships are available. To receive information on the program, contact Jim Coffman at the Pastoral Counseling Centers main office. To receive the brochure and application for the program contact Carrie Seabolt at 615/370-9547. Interviews for Pastoral Counselors-in-Training for the Program will begin in May 2002.

PASTORAL CARE SPECIALIST PROGRAM
The Pastoral Care Specialist Program will begin in October 2002. The five-month program for clergy and lay caregivers will be conducted at the Pastoral Counseling Center of Brentwood on Wednesdays. The program provides training for one to apply for membership in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors as a Pastoral Care Specialist. To receive a brochure and application for the program contact Carrie Seabolt at 615/370-9547. Or candidates may talk with Lawrence Clark at the same number. Screening interviews for the October program will begin in July2002.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

Archived Issues:
Summer 2004
Winter 2003: Nuturing the Institution
Fall 2002
Winter 2002: Ethics In The Workplace
Fall 2001: Room for Laughter
Spring 2001: Suicide - A Loss of Hope
Winter 2001: Helping a Child Through Loss
Fall 2000: Adolescence and Substance Abuse
Summer 2000: Hospitality, A Context for Care and Healing
Spring 2000: The Cry of Anguish