Episode 40
Healing Trauma and Building Secure Relationships: Insights from War Survivor and Therapist, Goumah Conde, LMFT
Hosted by Diana S. Rice, LMHC, CIMHP, QS
Welcome to The Holistic Counselor Podcast! I'm your host, Diana S. Rice, LMHC, CIMHP, CTP, QS—founder of Through the Valley Therapy and Transformed Mind Consulting and Coaching. This podcast is your space for inspiration, healing, and growth. Remember: You are…
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Welcome to The Holistic Counselor Podcast!
I'm your host, Diana S. Rice, LMHC, CIMHP, CTP, QS—founder of Through the Valley Therapy and Transformed Mind Consulting and Coaching. This podcast is your space for inspiration, healing, and growth. Remember: You are fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving God who has created you for connection, healing, and purpose.
Today's guest is Goumah Conde, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), clinical fellow with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and founder of Abiding Grace Therapy. Goumah's personal journey as a nine-year war survivor from Liberia, West Africa, and her professional expertise in attachment and trauma-focused therapy make her an incredible resource for those seeking meaningful healing.
What We Covered in This Episode
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Goumah's Story:
- Surviving the Liberian Civil War and immigrating to the U.S. at 19.
- How her secure attachment to her mother shaped her resilience and approach to mental health.
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Attachment Theory and Trauma:
- The foundational concepts of attachment theory as developed by John Bowlby.
- How early caregiver relationships impact adult bonds and relationships.
- Recognizing and healing attachment injuries in individuals, couples, and families.
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Cultural Sensitivity in Therapy:
- Navigating cultural differences with African-born clients, first- and second-generation immigrants, and couples from diverse backgrounds.
- Case study: Helping a Saudi couple navigate faith and cultural differences.
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Practical Tools for Healing Attachment Wounds:
- Start with small, healthy connections (e.g., joining groups or building friendships).
- Reflective practices, such as journaling your emotions and experiences.
- Using evidence-based books, tools, and frameworks for self-guided healing.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
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Books:
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk (Available on Amazon or YouTube).
- Finding Her Own Way: An Empowerment Book for Young Women by Goumah Conde.
- Goumah's upcoming book for women with mother wounds (Releasing February 1, 2025).
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Therapeutic Approaches:
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy.
- Narrative Therapy and Gottman Method for couples.
Connect with Goumah Conde
- Website: Abiding Grace Therapy, LLC
- Instagram: @YourMarriageVillage
- Facebook: Your Marriage Village
- YouTube: Your Marriage Village (original link no longer available)
Encouragement for Listeners
Goumah's favorite scripture, 2 Timothy 1:7, reminds us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Hold onto this truth and remember: healing is possible, and life is worth living.
Thanks for listening! Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to The Holistic Counselor Podcast. For more resources and faith-based counseling insights, visit Through the Valley Therapy.
Trust in the Lord, guard your heart, and renew your mind.
Episode transcript
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hello and welcome to the holistic counselor podcast I'm your host Diana founder of through the valley therapy and transformed mind Consulting and coaching I'm so grateful you've joined me today before we begin I want to remind you of something so important you are fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving God who has created you for connection healing and growth wherever you find yourself today whether thriving or just holding on remember you're not alone and Jesus loves
you I'm especially excited about today's guest GMA Candi a licensed marriage and family therapist and clinical fellow with the American Association for marriage and family therapy gma's story is inspiring as the work she does she's a n-year war Survivor and an immigrant from Liberia West Africa her personal experiences have shaped her passion for helping others heal and Thrive and she brings cultural sensitivity and empathy into every part of her practice GMA specializes in attack attachment and
Trauma Resolution Therapy working with individuals and couples in her private practice she has a special gift for helping others heal relationship injuries and she's passionate about seeing people connect in meaningful authentic ways Beyond her professional expertise she's been married for 22 years and is raising three wonderful daughters with her husband if you've ever struggled with relationships connection or simply finding your place in this world this episode will hopefully speak to you so GMA thank you so
much for joining us oh you're so welcome for having me it's a pleasure to be here yes yeah I mean so I'm I uh I'm excited because I think when we finally got on that we we we were both part of the Christian mental health professionals of well Florida now it started in Broward but not right and then we have these monthly like Mastermind meetings I call them and uh I had no idea about gma's story
until she shared it and that right there is when I realized I'm like I want you on my show and I think it's been months that we've been trying to figure this out right and here you are today so I'm really grateful so my first question yeah my first question for you all right because we're gonna just dive deep into everything all right as a nine-year war Survivor an immigrant from Li Liberia how how have your
life experiences shaped your approach to mental health and tell me a little bit about attachment Focus therapy yeah so thanks again for having me on um and and welcome to your your audience a being a war Survivor and how it has shipped mental health and what is attachment Theory that's the question yes so in I want to start with attachment I'm going to come back to the war um but I'm going to share and kind of
loop you as we talk about the connection there I think when I went into counseling um I was thrown to the attachment Theory immediately and to traa work immediately and I think we soon find out why part of it was just be because as I reflected on my own life like you said 9 years of living through or bral Civil War it was really really violent and I think about how I survived not just being alive
right but how I actually made it through day to day and when I started studying attachment work learning about Bobby who is the kind the founder of the attachment Theory and you know just really learning about his work I it made so much sense to me because I connected the dots in terms of my survival to my bond my secure Bond now that I know what it is my secure bond to my mother I was very
securely attached to my mother and throughout the war she just had a way of validating everything I felt right no emotion was too big or too unreasonable for her you know from moments of shaking uncontrolably because bullets were flying and you know knowing all the different sounds of the different guns and the machines that were been used yeah but all of those moments of me panicking and hearing about friends escaping the country and me thinking okay
I'm going to stay here and die I'm not going to get out you know to her just reassuring me and sitting by my side having me sleep with them in the same room you know because she knew I was afraid in so many ways she truly carried me through the war her pres right so in terms of attachment that's really what attachment is attachment theory is all focused on how we learn to be in relationship with
other people bed B on how we bonded with our primary caregivers right okay so the way I bond with my friends and my lover and you know my colleagues at work and all of these people is truly a result of how I learned to bound with my primary caregivers right so so being connected to my mom in this way prepared me to go through the war Learning to Lean on other people not being afraid to connect
with other people and also just going on into my own career so that's how the attachment Theory really shows up in terms of uh you know being a war Survivor being a clinician that connection now okay trauma PTSD you know when I learned about post-traumatic stress disorder again I I like to say that the theoretical part of the lesson or the studies as relates to trauma that part I had to learn right I had to practice
the theoretical part but the Practical right the Practical the experiential I didn't have to study much because I understood I grasp the concepts um very quickly as they were shared because I had lived through nine years of again of War so PTSD the symptoms they all just made sense to me can I ask you um it was nine years but how old were you where where where were you in your age you know what I mean
uh when the war started I was about 11 between 11 and 12 when it started so I was very young yeah but that's your teen years that's like really where I mean we know zero to six and you know for those that like we understand that because we had to studied that right right but that's still like okay all right I just wanted to know to and the audience so the audience knows how old you were
at the time so you were very fortunate or blessed because I don't you know I don't believe in luck um to have that with your mom because so many of us don't so I'm sure I'm sure you see that in your work because that's oh yeah right so um tell me like you came here how old were you when then when you came to America I came to the US when I was uh 19 I believe
turning 20 about 1819 1819 there about okay and uh how did you get it into becoming a I mean now you you have a master's degree right and do you and you know tell me like from 19 to n like well not in total detail because we don't have hours but like tell me like how it is now for you looking back and you know because to me there's audience members that are going through PTSD in
their own way right and they're also um women of color like us or they just have don't have that healthy attachment at all with because that's what we see as a therapist with many people um tell me like at 19 when you got here to the USA and all of a sudden how did you end up going into therapy so when I left uh Liberia I came on a on a scholarship on an academic scholarship that's
how I skipped the war so when I entered here I initially came to do law because that's what I always wanted to do when I was a kid I wanted to be a lawyer so I got here and of course you know to do law you have to have a first degree yeah so my degree of choice was psychology I took psychology and I took my first real Focus class in in in Psychology and I fell
in love and I've never looked back so that's literally how I went from doing law to staying in the field of mental health wow everything just made sense to me okay and so what school did you go to which uh I went I started college that's fine I started at benett College in it's the all girls HBCU in Greensboro North Carolina but then I actually transferred CH to Florida Memorial in Miami Gardens Florida I finished my
undergrad at fmu oh wow okay and then you got your Masters and then for graduate school I went to Asberry Theological Seminary so I did Theology and marriage and family counsel wow so you're very well-rounded I love that I love that okay um so H I want to understand this like you're now you've been in practice for how long uh close to 10 years now okay and it's has it always been like marriage family therapy it's
marriage family yes I did I did um I did my marriage and family counseling for my masters and after that I did some work with foster care um you know doing internship you have to see all populations so yeah like like we all do we all have to you know start yeah yeah yeah so I did that and then I quickly realized that I loved fer care didn't have a problem with it but I quickly realized
it's always been for me couples it's always been you know helping people have healthy love I've always been focused on that so yeah okay so how do you navigate cultural differences in therapy particularly with African born clients or first and second generation immigrants so listen one thing I I learned and of course we taught this but it became very real for me very early on in my career is that I never assume I don't assume anything
regarding my clients and their culture I just don't I ask to be taught I ask my clients to tell me about their background I ask them questions I'm curious I always leave with curiosity you know in my sessions so I learn what works in different cultures and the things that don't work and then I now apply the theories that I have because that's the advantage of having the theories right we can say for example someone comes
to me and they go well but you know in my culture we don't do eye contact and I can say yeah I can appreciate that right I I respect your culture then I can give you the science and say also here's some information regarding eye contact and why it works wow you a choice you decide what you want to do with it right right but I can give you that that that scientific knowledge and almost all
my clients have chosen scientific knowledge because it just makes sense they try it they practice and it works yeah I mean that's that's the beauty I mean like understanding like there some people come into therapy hoping for the miracle the magic you know a ma a Magic Bullet or you know whatever it is but to understand that exactly what you're saying is that we are trained with tools and a good therapist would continue to gather tools
right even though you might have your degree and you've been doing this for a long time right it's always I I learn from you I learn in our group meetings I you know but it's the client's responsibility honestly to they're paying us for a service and it's like are you going to actually do the work right yeah right I mean I I can understand that people come in with a lot of TR I mean listen we
could sit here and think about your story and quickly go into that like I could probably you could tell me story after story about what you experienced and then all of a sudden your brain what will do go back there and then you could get stuck there and I don't want to say like become a victim of it or you could choose to do the work and I love that that you give the tool yeah you
know and that's what I try I try my best to do as well and some people want to some people want to pick up the tool and then other people are not ready for it yeah that's right I think it's kind of like you know the way I think about this is when I go to the doctor M and and the doctor you know they're going to go through all of their protocols right and they're going
to give me prescription M if I go home and I put the prescription away and don't take the prescription or don't use it probably going to end up back in doctor's office at some point right or something else that's going to happen to me um even if they have to do surgery let's say it's surgery and you say what but they did the work because they did the surgery but even after surgery you have a plan
for Recovery that you have to follow so it's the same thing if you don't follow that plan for Recovery you end up back in the hospital with an infection something worse same thing with therapy we gave you the tools and then you have to like you say pick them up and use them yeah and use them or understand like as a practitioner too if there's because you know I have interns I'm a supervisor and and if
they're listening it's like understand too like if you C you can't be everything for everyone because that's our training in the right like sometimes the psychology of a therapist is like okay we're here to help right and so we have to know your Niche you have to know your boundaries you have to understand like okay this is not working so we have to transition you out to someone else you know depending on you know how much
um trauma right someone might have like to me I was I would be like some of some of my clients I'm like sometimes I had be like okay we've been working three months I see you need something more here's an EMDR and I would you know recommend you and the handful of others that I know from the group that practice EMDR right but it's up to them to go okay I'm going to do it that's right
you corre so but let's talk a little bit more about the cultural differences too I mean I love seeing that you know you you're because you probably work with all cultures just like me like you know I do too and and I do understand there is a stigma in many cultures yeah for mental health um like I I've had uh a handful of those that are African born you know not black American or cariban but African
born and there there those are all three different uh cultures yes absolutely that we're not trained in and I know in my master's program I was in trained and honestly when I was trained a little bit it's an hour you know you can't learn all this in one hour the cultural diversity so tell me more about how um you know with the first and second generation immigrants and everything like can you share a story that illustrates
this work at all or an example well I think okay so when we're talking about immigrants we're talking you're talking about if I'm working with with the parents right let's the parents are 50 and above MH right you're working with that group The approach is different versus working with the children who may be under 50 that approach is different if you're working with teenagers that approach is different right and how so because with the parents a
lot of them are still deeply rooted in their culture experiences their values their Norms they're bringing all of those things to therapy yeah okay so a lot of psycho education a lot of that okay you know not taking for granted that that they're just going to come in and embrace therapy because that's not going to happen I mean you know they have to see the value in therapy so a lot of patience with them you educate
and you wait right I like to say I educate and I wait and I give them space to show up for themselves um and then if I'm working with you know the under 5050 group they're somewhere in between they have some of the cultural norm is still there and then at the same time they're trying to adapt you know to the American culture or the European way of doing things um and so it's it's going back
and forth with them is doing that dance with them you know helping them again say Okay help me understand why this is important to you why this particular value is important to you versus this other value um and then they tell me and I said okay well let's look at both and see how they've benefited you up to present right so let's take an example I once worked with um in this one is even it goes
even into religion because I worked with a couple who came from Saudi Arabia okay and you know different culture different religious experience you know all of that and I remember and then it was interesting because as we know I always say even within the cult within the larger culture you have smaller cultures right yes remember remember I remember working with the couple and the husband had a particular different set of values and the wife different set
of values and trying to navigate all of that then navigating the faith because she was now deeply deeply rooted in Islam and the husband had decided he didn't want to be anymore he was converted the Christianity yes yes yes yes yes and so I had to come in as a Christian therapist to work with both of them how do I appreciate her faith yeah right and also appreciate this journey that he's now on which is my
journey because I'm a Christian I'm a Believer so I understand that world okay but I've also been exposed to the Islamic culture because in my country we have Muslims you know so and I grew up with them and my father who is a stouch Christian was very good friends with a stouch Muslim man and I grew up with him so I was able to sit in that room and say tell me more tell me again why
this is important what do say look like for the two of you to have a conversation without dealing or minimizing or belittling the other person or without stonewalling without blocking the other person because you're tired hearing you know about all of these things that they're talking about so I think I always said to me that was one of to if you were to ask me what's a success story in therapy I always go back to that
one because that was the most complex relationship Dynamic that I I had to deal with and it was very early on in therapy for me I was a new therapist when they came and so the the fact that she stayed through therapy even though she was you know a Muslim and I was a Christian therapist um and he stayed and they didn't get a divorce and they figure out a way to work through and navigate separate
you know belief systems I think I think that's really for me that's what stands out when I think about navigating culture and you know the religion all of that combined even yeah so what are some common injuries or attachment injuries you see in couples or families or or you know and how can individuals begin to repair those bonds some common attachment injuries being emotionally unavailable because when we talk about attachment attachment I always say there is
this um statement I like to use that kind of helps people understand what a secure attachment looks like when I call you will you answer when I need you will you be there those are the questions if you can answer those questions what that tells me or what that tells any attachment therapist really is that you understand the language of of healthy connection healthy bonding right so when we talk about emotional neglect we're talking about your
partner trying to connect conect with you and you being dismissive or you rejecting that connection so yes a good example the two of you maybe are in the in the in the the gardman likees to like to call this um bidding for connection right um and John Gman is a is one of our Pioneers in marriage research work I mean that's just who he is but um but he lik to call bit for connection but say
you're riding a car together your partner say oh look at that tree it's so pretty the tree you know they're changing colors look at the leaves and you just keep driving you don't look you don't comment you don't say anything right and you drive another 10 minutes your partner go oh my goodness look how pretty the sky is it's turning dark blue and you just keep going right it's that kind of thing right it's not paying
attention to those little bits the ways that we can Bond or is leaving your partners your partner and traveling for days and not calling in to check and see how your your spouse is doing you know um um it's going for hours being the same space like you're not even there with each other no no talking no touching nothing you're just there you know not being concerned about what your partner needs what their dreams are what
their goals are no emotional connection no mind to mind connection no no heart-to- heart connection so that's one way that we see attachment injury shows up it's it's in that um another way we see it show up and that I'm giving for couples say in the individual life even if you at younger people for younger people you have you know parents who are really overly protective yes very controlling right when parents are controlling what it does
is it makes the children very anxious yes and that that that is an emotional injury sometimes we see it as a good thing but really it injures the child so those are different ways and of course you know the list goes on but take up all your time oh no no because listen this is what this podcast is about is to educ psychoeducational training and and then giving practical tips and tools because not everybody can afford
therapy or they don't even know how or there's the stigma or they don't even know where to start or you know the list goes on and on this is why this podcast was um created is to give the listener tools and understanding you know so like these people come to us with attachment injuries right or trauma or just or they need guidance or mentorship I mean there's so many different reasons that people come to to us
and and and we each have our own specialty right I can't do what gma's doing and I don't think she could do what I'm doing with certain people so you know um I just want to know like what because listen there's people out there too that are not in relationships at all and they're not even and they're longing for relationships because I do work with quite a few young women um who are single and stuff and
it's like or they have no emotional connection that's why they've been I mean we probably have seen some traumatic situations of like real like emotional neglect I mean foster care and mean alternative high schools like we've seen some stuff right so what would you say to a listener right now that um isn't in a marriage or or is longing for a relationship where could they start to develop or what tools or what can they do to
have some kind of attachment to help themselves like how how do you deal with your individuals or your singles well now that that question is a bit um they like to say loaded right because yeah yeah because because there are so many different ways um but if we're talking about just seeking connection and the reason I'm kind of careful with that is because when we're talking about trauma before we even start seeking connection with first to
be in a healthy Place somewhat healthy place right because that's why you hear people say over and over oh people disappoint me I can't trust people but that's because you're not really in a healthy place yet to be seeking this intense connection with other people so what I normally say is start slowly you know start by joining groups look for groups to join for example if you go to church join the women's fellowship or the men's
fellowship or some place is call it organization you know some just call a group join a men's group Jo a women's group and create that kind of group Culture group bonding with people right because what that gives you is the chance to test out different personalities right to see the people you feel safe with and then you not you not can pursue those individual connections let's have coffee let's have a drink slowly bonding with people and
building the connection I think that's the healthy way to pursue this rather than you know just going to whatever you know some happy place to find somebody there or you know all of those things that people do seeking connection then they end up getting even more hurt yes and and then they they get into a spiral yeah they get re wounded everything because so to me it's like what would is there any kind of um tools
or resources that you recommend for individuals or couples working through trauma or attachment wounds yeah one of the first things I always say and I'm going to show them this book since I have it right here um I'm really this is the first thing I always tell people it's called the body keeps the score get this book now the good thing about this book is that I do want you to buy basos book I don't want
you to go and start getting the bootleg version you know but I know that clients have told me that it's also on YouTube now you know on YouTube they have it the audio for free right so now you don't even have to pay for the book it's available to you if you're really in that some people can't AFF it let's just be realistic but it's there get the book read the body keeps the score okay this
book is going to really give you the awareness that you need yeah it doesn't if you're a couple read it together you know I love to assign my couple things that they can read together and you don't have to read the whole book in one sitting read it 15 minutes at a time 30 minutes at a time read to each other at night you know all of these things you can do but start with that book
yeah I suggest to um because this is how I read back in the day when I had to do my own work because I know GMA you had to do your own work too right and I had to do my own work so I highlight I have a highlighter and a pen and in the book itself or even on the YouTube video you could sit there and with a notebook and just write things that you're seeing
because that book is a wealth of knowledge that's one one of the many books that are out there is there anything else any other practical tips or resources or tools that you uh utilize well the other thing I'll say something like this listening to podcast you know we have a lot of Educational Tools out here now yeah I I I tell people there's no reason for anyone to be suffering or to feel alone when you have
resources YouTube University i j call the YouTube University here right go YouTube watch videos you know if you feel like you don't because what's happening and I'm I'm I'm not sure if you're finding this but what's happening is that some people are unsure whether they're even struggling for PTSD they don't know right that they are so if you if you know that you just have low mood you know you don't feel good half time you're not
really Bond and connecting with people much you know you try to make friends you can't keep friends you know you form relationship and they end very quickly if you find yourself in that place and you're wondering the question is always what's wrong with me that's not a good question by the way it's not what's wrong with me is what's happening to me but I love that say you say what's wrong with me then go to YouTube
and type in something as why am I always sad why why can't I keep friends these simple little questions and you will find videos popping up and you'll find resources you'll find podcast listen to them start there that's where you start of course if you're in the church talk to your pastor do all of those things as well because they can guide you yeah well you got to make sure it's wait wait we got yeah we
gotta make sure the pastor though is um informed trauma informed because there's pastors I've I've heard stories like I have quite a few clients that come to me with a lot of spiritual abuse because it's like that's Satan you know they go straight into that so we have to make sure that whatever resources you are picking because there is so much GMA out there that it is like it is evidence-based and informed and that whoever is
if you do have a spiritual leader you know the pastor or your Rabbi or who you know your Iman um um that they understand because that's the thing there's so much stigma in our cultures you know they it's like the American culture is more open I mean I have people that are like very proud like oh my therapist my you know it depends like where you're from but I do know in the Immigrant culture right you
see so yeah I would love that to you know ask questions yeah it is about asking questions now your your pastor I'm not suggesting your pastor is going to be trauma informed because most pastors are not exactly what I'm saying is the pastor could direct you to the right place a lot of pastors now are are learning the importance of collaborating with mental health professionals so they that would be a great question yeah this is beyond
me this is beyond me but I know so and so I'm going to send you there right that's that's what to me anyway a healthy Pastor would do exactly yeah so that's what I mean yeah healthy Pastor because that's the situation you want is to find people because we all need Community right like we I I have you know the pastor and then I have my acupuncturist I have my um functional doctor and I have my
masseuse and I you know these you have to but the body keep the score talks about all that like about all of that all of that that's right that's why I love the book that's why I said start there and then I would just give you little tip for those who may not start there one of quick tip is get a notebook go to the dollar store get you a composition book those little black and white
notebooks and just start to write out everything you're feeling everything you're thinking even if you don't go to YouTube to begin with you don't buy the body keeps the score to begin with but just start to write out everything you're feeling and thinking just write it you're going to see how therapeutic or how healing that is for you just start it yes yeah journaling and and there's a I mean is one there is so many resources
out there is there anything that you besides the body keep keeps the score anything else like I mean as a lmft are there any because I'm not an lmft so your your knowledge is very different than how I was train I'm really CBT cognitive behavoral therapy right so is there anything because I I hear a lot of gotman and The Four Horsemen and I'm like do I have time to go into that stuff like I don't
I never really studied that because it wasn't part of my um Master this is yeah this is why I'm not a couple therapist I just do individual oneon-one I know Bunches of them and I'll send them to you but if you want to do your individual work let's do it um so is there anything else like any other resources or websites or just say you know hey come see me and I'll you can hire me well
yeah hire me or hire others too right I mean there us here are here today but you know and of course I always recommend Christian therapist that's who I am so I recommend those um you know I'm not saying other therapists are not good that's not what I'm suggesting I'm just saying that the balance um you know the book perspectives help yes so um but yes there are lots of theorist that we use in terms of
C if we're talking about couples apart from Gman we have EFT which is emotionally focused therapy uh you know I that's heavily rooted in attachment Theory so I love EFT um you know a lot on terms of healing trauma and then bonding in healthy ways so we have that I mean you have Imago therapy you have you know there's so many different uh couples intervention with call them interventions out here so yes apart from God there
many other there many others okay so it's EFT um you have EF what was it again emotional emotional Focus emotional Focus okay emotional Focus therapy and I'm saying this because so people will that's the a way to start too on YouTube right just research on YouTube what is EFT and how does it help me and then boom right yeah yeah you put emot Focus therapy for couples you put in Gutman yes you're going to get Gutman
there's called IMO therapy it's out there that's not one that I use but I've read about it people like it it works um then the other one that I like is internal family systems ifs you have that also couples um you have ifs you have narrative therapy the the versions of it that are used for couples so there's so many different different kinds that you can use I love ifs I have been studying ifs now for
a while I was thinking about getting certified but I do a lot of well yes I try my best to to you know do it in my boundaries of of how I can do it but it's it is a wonderful um I'm actually trying to get someone to talk about it with me that is train yes yes ifs is great I I actually am now incorporating into my practice now so I'm now doing lots of they
call it Parts work speaking in Parts really well it makes sense I actually do it for me like okay here's a little tidbit to what I do for like in between my therapy session because I am a person that likes to to write and think and so and this is I know people are going to be like what AI but on chat GPT I honestly when I read my my chapter of the day that I'm studying
I will put like right now I'm in Proverbs so I'll put Proverbs 21 um how can this you know what is the wisdom in here what in context what is God saying and how can I apply this to my life you will not believe how amazing because it is a tool and either we're gonna have to learn to master it or it's gonna Master us and I'm trying my best to to learn how to master it
smart but so it takes my journal and I take my journal and gives me the questions and I answer those question questions and it's really helpful because so that's another way guys like if you're listening to is like there are so many you know just pick one thing to do you don't have to do them all yeah just pick one thing but I think the most important especially with trauma healing is um knowing your identity in
God in Christ you know like that's that's super important to especially nowadays like to have your faith um so how does your theological training influence your approach to therapy so talking about faith right um yeah and forgive me here with fixing my glasses over and over it's kind of I guess it's a good sign right maybe I am losing some of this weight but um I meant to throw that in there I knew it make you
laugh but anyway um but the way um the way that my faith um is has influenced and continues to influence my practice number one is I always say that when we talk about trauma one of the biggest things that we need as trauma survivors is Hope yeah it's hope yeah it's knowing that tomorrow will be better than today yeah and that the next day though it may bring some challenges if I just keep going the following
day can also bring some possibilities m and this is what my faith brings to my practice it is using the word of God to help my clients experience hope experience unconditional love experience Grace to help my clients truly know that no matter what's happened to them or no matter what they've done that there is always room for repentance and forgiveness and that if they just believe if they just believe that God truly truly not only accepts
them but he truly truly forgives them yes yes okay and that healing is possible and life is worth living yes yeah you have a purpose right yeah I love that coma that's I think that's where I'm going to end it today is there anything else you would like to share how do the how do people find you any kind of uh anything else you want to share before we end yeah well so you can find me
on uh www. abiding Grace LLC that's where I am on social media I am under the hashtag your marriage Village on Instagram your marriage Village on Facebook your marriage Village on YouTube same thing uh that's where I am I have a book out that I wrote for young women it's called finding her own way an empowerment book for young women that's on Amazon and I actually breaking news here have a second book that's coming out the
1 of February congratulations thank you that book is for all women it is a book written from kind of like the ifs um empty chair perspective it is for women who actually have called mother's wounds so if you have any Trauma from your relationship with your mother that book is for you it's a book of affirmations and encouragement and I speak to you I WR from a place of the the therapist but also speaking almost like
from the mother who is missing and I just communicate with you uh in that book and really give you affirmations and healing words and that's coming up the first oh my goodness I'm going to go order it because I am a I am a therapist who has mother wounds you know I mean we'll talk after here because I have something that I would like you to get involved with but we'll talk oh okay all right well
anyway um any last words to encourage the audience you know listen my my favorite my favorite scripture is second Timothy 1:7 and it says um God has not given you the spirit of fear but of power and of love and my favorite one of a sound mind yes okay so that's what I want to offer your audience today God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound mind
so whatever you're going through I want you to hold on to that that's a fact that's a fact right so hold on to it hold on to it God is with oh I love that yes of a sound mind all right everybody thanks for listening and remember trust in the Lord guard your heart and renew your mind bye and and now for the disclaimer to make sure you understand that you are responsible for you the content
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