To order videos by Fr. Martin, click here!
Join our email mailing
list -- Send your email address to
or call or write us
317.283.8872
4810 Central Ave Indianapolis IN 46205-1831|
|
Great Lakes Training Associates
... produces video programs for use in therapeutic and staff training settings ... was prime sponsor of the Great Lakes Conference on Addictions and Mental Health, held in Indianapolis for 20 years, and sponsors occasional day-long workshops.
July 2, 2010
Veterans Administration Chaplains Reflect on Spirituality and Recovery
Visiting the MyHealthyVet website recently, these two articles jumped out at me as being germane to our work.
Three Types of Spirituality
Contributed by Michael Pollitt, Deputy Director National Chaplain Center, US Veterans Administration
We can live on junk food, at least for a while. However, junk food is not for healthy eating. Junk food is for pleasure. In time, we pay the price of our food choice. We have poorer health. In a like way, if we feed our inner spirit with pleasing but not healthy matter, over time we become poorer in spirit.
Religious Spirituality
There are three types of spirituality. There is religious spirituality. Most of us know this kind. It involves belief in a being greater than oneself, church, and prayer. Some people try to be like the masters of spirituality in their church. Other people find their spirituality in the books of religions. It does not matter where or how they find their spirituality. For many people, their religious beliefs shape and define their spiritual lives. They are inseparable.
Non-Religious Spirituality
A second type of spirituality is non-religious spirituality. It centers on doing something positive. This gives a sense of peace in one’s spirit. Non-religious spiritual acts often mean creating things or making something by hand. This act gives a sense of satisfaction. Fans of the television show NCIS may recall a scene. After Agent Gibbs solves a disturbing crime, he retreats to his basement. There he quietly, carefully works on his hand made boat. The message is simple. The act of creating something fed his soul. The acts of destruction he saw took away his sense of peace. Building something of beauty gives back his inner peace. His spirit is nourished back to health. Making the boat gives meaning and purpose to his life. This is an example of non-religious spirituality.
Toxic Spirituality
The third kind of spirituality is toxic, or pseudo-spirituality. More often than not, this involves an action or the use of a substance. At first, this causes a good feeling, a rush. Too much use of drugs, alcohol, gambling, food, and the like all provide the person with a rush or feeling high. Even exercise, when done in excess, can make us feel good at first.
The action is repeated often to try to get back that good feeling. After all, it is only natural to seek things that make us feel good about ourselves. People want to believe that their lives have meaning. The problem comes up when such actions take over our lives. The action becomes meaning itself for us.
Choose Life
Once we see these different types of spirituality, we can make a choice. I doubt that any of us would choose a spirituality that kills. That is what toxins do. Toxins kill. We would choose a spirituality that brings growth and life. Religious and non-religious spirituality bring growth and life. Toxic spirituality brings death. Sadly, the choice is not always easy to make. The task for you is simple, yet most important: Choose life!
Learn More:
Active Learning
 | Managing Stress (MedlinePlus) |
| What is your stress level? (Healthwise) |
Watch
| Spirituality: Inspiring Hope in Healing (Complete Video): 20 minutes (My HealtheVet) |
Read
| Spirituality: Healthy Living Center (My HealtheVet) |
| How Can Spirituality Affect Your Family's Health? (Nemours Foundation) |
| Offering Spiritual Support for Family and Friends (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) |
| Positive Thinking (Healthwise) |
| Spirituality and stress relief: Make the connection (Mayo Clinic) |
Spiritual Injuries and Three Key Spiritual Life Tasks
Contributed by Keith Ethridge, Director, National Chaplain Center, US Veterans Administration
There are many different ways of thinking about spirituality and the expression of spirituality in our lives. Spirituality in its broadest terms is that which is "life giving or not" to us. Three very important questions reflect ongoing "Spiritual Life Tasks" that all people deal with daily. These questions are:
| "Who am I?" |
| "What will I do?" |
| "What does it all mean?" |
Self-identity, Purpose and Meaning
We are constantly updating who we are. We change our sense of self in light of our positive or negative daily experiences and activities. We change our sense of self in light of the meaning we give to our living. These are three very important spiritual life functions. Whether we think about it or not, we connect with our sense of self, purpose and meaning every day of our lives.
|
"What they (Combat Veterans) are most troubled by is guilt over killing,
the traumatic grief they suffer for beloved comrades brutally killed and
the fear that they may have let their comrades down (guilt & shame) at
some crucial point." |
Veterans have joined the military. They have gone through "boot camp" and have become the Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine or Guardsman. Their view of themselves in the world is based on their life in the military. When this experience includes war and combat, the trauma of the events can make it difficult for some Veterans. They may find it hard to find good answers to these three questions.
Spiritual Injuries
Dr. Dewey has worked with Veterans from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam for over twenty years. Dr. Dewey talks about "spiritual injuries." These injuries to the spirit can make it very hard for the combat Veteran to make useful answers to the three spiritual life questions. These Veterans may need special support and assistance. They deal with their memories of combat. They deal with their view of themselves as result of their military life. Many Veterans are finding meaningful work as they go back to civilian life. They are finding new meaning in their living.
Hope and Help
VA Chaplains are members of your health care team. This team is ready to support our Veterans. Many Veterans struggle with spiritual injuries. Combat Veterans may deal with the visible and invisible wounds of war. There is help and there is hope. Combat Veterans and their family members can find new meaning and purpose in life. They can create a hopeful and positive self-image. They can make a future story for themselves and for their fellow combat Veterans. It begins with acceptance and understanding. They need a listening ear from one who cares! For those who need it, mind, spirit and medical care is readily available. People are ready to help at Veterans Health Administration VET Centers, Outpatient Clinics, and Medical Centers. If you or your loved one needs help, please call your nearest Veterans Health Administration facility today.
Learn More:
Active Learning
| Spirituality (After Deployment) |
| Considering Professional Help (My HealtheVet) |
Watch
| Spirituality: Inspiring Hope in Healing (Complete Video): 20 minutes |
Read
| Spirituality: Healthy Living Center (My HealtheVet) |
| Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (My HealtheVet) |
| After Deployment: Information for Veterans (After Deployment) |
| How Can Spirituality Affect Your Family's Health? (Nemours Foundation) |
| Offering Spiritual Support for Family and Friends (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) |
| Positive Thinking (Healthwise) |
| Spirituality and stress relief: Make the connection (Mayo Clinic) |
Become a fan of Great Lakes Training Associates on Facebook
Are workshops and conferences still viable ways to train our providers?
Please review our video and audio products, letting us know how you use them in your practice or agency.
Our goal is to provide a forum to discuss what's important to us us as clinicians in an ever more difficult environment.
Please visit, become and fan and participate! Our field needs all the cross-pollenization we can give it!
We have added short clips of all our videos to the Facebook page. They are also available on YouTube.
NEW LOWER PRICES on Selected DVD's ...
... visit our Staff Training Page
Visit our Staff Training & Client Oriented pages to learn about each of the DVD's and Audio CD's we've produced featuring Cardwell C. Nuckols, Pat Sheehan and Dan Newman and others that we offer.
We occasionally publish articles we feel are useful to you as a professional dealing with mental health and addiction issues ... watch your inbox for our recurring newsletters.
To be placed on the mailing list, email us at info@indyworkshops.com
Last updated July 2, 2010