Sanctuary of Healing - by Julia Matallana Freedman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A powerful and compassionate guide for clergy and lay religious leaders seeking to help their parishioners navigate trauma and cultivate their physical and spiritual well-being.

With compassion and insight, pastor Julia Matallana Freedman empowers religious leaders to address the prevalence of trauma in their congregations with empathy and care. Bringing startling data about the prevalence of sexual, racial, and generational trauma in the U.S. to light, she asserts that holding space for parishioners' traumatic life experiences--truly delving into and exploring the pain of their past in one-on-one sessions--can help transform places of worship into what she calls "sanctuaries of healing." Through practical tools and a call to "hold space," this guide offers actionable steps to create safe, intentional environments where healing and wholeness--both spiritual and physical--can flourish.

Review Quotes

"At once deeply spiritual and eminently practical, this compact book offers resources for leaders who must minister to those in recovery from trauma--which is pretty much everyone. Julia Freedman's refreshing honesty about her own life grants permission for a similar honesty in the reader, as well as the assurance of safety in the project of speaking one's truth. Leaders, both lay and ordained, will find it a treasure."-- "The Rev. Barbara C. Crafton, retired priest and author of Jesus Wept: When Faith and Depression Meet"