WHEN HYPERCOMPETENCE FAILS US
By Amber Steffen, Communications & Design Summer often brings a different rhythm – travel, home assignments, teammates gone for extended stretches, a shift in pace as life around you slows down. (I don’t know about you but extreme heat means recognizing I’m just not capable of doing
Secondary Trauma
by Susan Butler, LMFT, LPC There’s one more aspect to our trauma series that is particularly relevant to cross-cultural workers. Secondary trauma is “the emotional distress resulting from indirect exposure to trauma” (source) and as you might expect, it shows up more commonly among workers who
Developmental Trauma
by Corinne Gnepf, LCMHC, NCC The previous articles in this series on trauma discussed what trauma is, how it affects the brain and the body, how it shapes our view of self and the world, and how it may impact our faith and trust in God. Today, we are turning to traumatic experiences that take [&hell
Trauma Doesn’t Affect Us All the Same
by Amber Goodloe, LPC “Trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you.” — Dr. Gabor Maté Last month’s article beautifully explained this quote; we may all go through traumatic experiences, but we will not all be traumatized by them
TRAUMA 101: The Brain and Body Remember What the Mind Forgets
By Nick Steffen, LMHC, Pastoral & Clinical Counselor This is the first of our series on understanding trauma, and we hope this will help those of you specifically working in (or with those in) cross-cultural ministry contexts. What We Mean When We Say “Trauma” ‘Trauma’ ha
Learning from Darkness
by Amber Goodloe, LPC “I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light.”― Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to
Counterweights: The Quiet Balancing Acts of Cross-Cultural Life
YEAR-END REFLECTIONS FOR YOUR LIFE OVERSEAS by Amber Nicole Steffen, Communications & Design As another year draws to a close, how would you sum up the last 12 months? What defined this year for you? Exhaustion or wonder? Profound joy or unresolved sorrow? For those of us living out our calling
Stones of Remembrance
by Lisa Green, LPC-MHSP, Executive Director “So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:7 We often see God do remarkable things in the midst of challenging and stressful circumstances, and truly, if we stop to pay attention, we can see his faithfulness
Window of Tolerance
by Corinne Gnepf, LCMHC, NCC Have you ever wondered why a person (child, teenager or adult) reacted in a way that made no sense to you, or that seemed like it came out of nowhere without warning? Or why the reaction was much more intense than usual? People all around us react in “irrational” way
AT THE CORE OF IT
HOW OUR CORE BELIEFS IMPACT OUR LIVES Written by Anna Collette, LPCC-S “The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves.” -Elvin Semrad The word “trigger” has become a buzzword of sorts, but it basically refers to experiencing an intense negative feeling brought on by an