Tending the Wounded Spirit: Trauma-Informed Spiritual Direction

This series is designed primarily for spiritual directors, yet chaplains, ministers, pastoral counselors, religious educators, and all who offer spiritual care are warmly welcome.

Together we will explore how trauma lives in bodies, relationships, and communities, and how our practices of presence, discernment, and compassion can help create spaces of safety, agency, and sacred repair.

5-part series, 90 minutes each
$50 for the whole series. Register here or click the button below.
$20 for individual workshops, registrations below.

Session 1: When Trauma Lives in the Body: Listening with Gentleness and Grounding

with Pastor Jacqueline Duhart

Tuesday, February 3 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT

Trauma is not just a story we carry—it lives in our bodies, our nervous systems, and even our spiritual practices. Pastor Duhart will guide us in noticing how trauma surfaces somatically and spiritually, and explore practices that tend to these wounds with gentleness and grounding. Together we will reflect on how our own trauma histories shape the way we listen and accompany others.

Pastor Jacqueline K. Duhart (she/her/they/them) is Director of Spiritual Care (where?) and a certified spiritual director with an M.Div. from Starr King School for the Ministry and an MSSW from the University of Texas–Arlington. A retired Air Force clinical social worker and former parish minister at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, she brings decades of experience in chaplaincy, social work, and ministry. She lives in El Cerrito, CA, where she gardens daily, dances to gospel beats, and commits herself fiercely to ushering in radical love and inclusive community.

Session 2: Spiritual Direction or Psychology? Clarifying Scope and Boundaries

with Rev. Dr. Sarah Moldenhauer Salazar

Tuesday, February 10 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT

What belongs to the sacred art of spiritual direction, and what requires the clinical skills of psychology? This session offers clarity around scope and boundaries, helping directors discern when we are accompanying and when a referral is necessary. Through teaching and practice, participants will learn how to honor the distinct gifts of spiritual direction while referring directees to therapeutic support with compassion and care.

Rev. Dr. Sarah Moldenhauer Salazar has served Unitarian Universalist ministry for over two decades in parish, community, and denominational settings. Holding two Masters in the field of psychology, an M.Div., and a D.Min., she has focused full-time on spiritual direction since 2016, working primarily with spiritual leaders across diverse traditions. Rooted in psychology, earth-based spirituality, and interfaith wisdom, she also supervises spiritual directors in trauma-informed practice.

Session 3: Trauma Work as Justice Work: Queer Experience, Courage, and Care

with Rev. Amy Beltaine

Tuesday, February 17 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT

Trauma shows up in both seekers and companions. This session will deepen our awareness of trauma in spiritual direction, including the unique challenges faced by queer and disabled people in spiritual spaces. Rev. Beltaine will guide us in seeing trauma work as justice work, and in reflecting on our own stories as we cultivate practices of courage, compassion, and care.

Rev. Amy Beltaine (she/her) is a spiritual companion, supervisor, teacher, and ritualist who creates sacred spaces for growth, healing, and connection. A faculty member at Cherry Hill Seminary and former president of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Amy companions individuals and groups with compassion, wisdom from many traditions, and a playful spirit rooted in love and justice.

Session 4: Ancestral Wounds, Living Stories: Trauma Across Generations

with Tandi Rogers

Tuesday, February 24 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT

Trauma lives not only in individual lives but also across generations. This session explores ancestral trauma and epigenetics in spiritual direction, particularly the moral injury experienced by adoptees and those with in-utero trauma. Through reflection and practice, we will consider how ancestor work and trauma awareness can open new paths for healing, meaning-making, and resilience.

Rev. Tandi Rogers is founding director of the Spiritual Direction Certification Program at Meadville Lombard’s LIGHT Institute. She is ordained to UU ministry, a certified spiritual director, and a Credentialed Religious Educator. An adoptee living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, she brings lived experience of resilience and complexity to her ministry. Formerly on UUA staff in multiple leadership roles, her writings appear in several UU meditation anthologies.

Session 5: Weaving It All Together: Practicing Trauma-Informed

Tuesday, March 3 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm CT

In our final session, we will weave together the insights of the series and apply them to our own practices as spiritual directors. With guided reflection and spacious breakout groups, participants will have multiple opportunities to share, practice, and integrate trauma-informed approaches. This is a time to deepen learning, embody new skills, and leave with tools for sustainable, grounded spiritual accompaniment.