THE CARIBBEAN Graduate School of Theology is partnering with the Greater Grants Pen Ministers' Fraternal to provide training for pastors, church leaders and others to assist them in coping with community violence and in ministering to victims of violence. Two distinct workshops were planned the first was held on Friday and Saturday, April 7 and 8, with the second planned for April 21 and 22 at the Church of God at 93B Constant Spring Road. The training is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of its effort to curb crime and violence in the Grants Pen community.
The first seminar will be a basic workshop in Critical Incident Stress Management and Basic Grief Counselling to assist victims of violence immediately following a traumatic event. An advanced workshop for those who have completed the basic workshop will focus on helping those who are the victims of Acute Traumatic Stress events during the traumatic event. The second part of the advanced workshop will focus on Assessing for and Treating Traumatic Stress. This seminar will assist clergy, counsellors and others in recognising and treating those who have experienced traumatic stress and are unable to return to normal functioning.
RESOURCE PERSON
Dr. Kent Maxwell, who directed the Counselling Psychology Programme at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology from 2002 to 2005, is the resource person for the workshops. He is an ordained clergyman with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, was in private practice as a mental health therapist in Huntington, Indiana (U.S.A.) for 13 years prior to being named the director of the Counselling Psychology Programme. He and his wife Carol reside in Huntington, Indiana. While on the island, Dr. Maxwell is teaching a course in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy at the Graduate School.
