From the author: If this information helps the professional caregiver, it will help the employee; if it helps the employee, it will help the company! A Pastoral Counselor's Model for Wellness in the Workplace: Psychergonomics takes the concept of ergonomics beyond physical and environmental concerns to include a holistic interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit. This unique book examines how psychosocial factors like family, conflict, emotional stress, addiction, and financial pressures can impact an employee's health and well-being. It incorporates a new paradigm of health care into wellness in the corporate setting, adding a new dimension to human health and safety. A Pastoral Counselor's Model for Wellness in the Workplace explores the workplace reality that illness and injury are not just the result of simple linear causes. Companies have data to determine how much they spend on insurance and worker's compensation claims but no way to measure the effects absenteeism, productivity, quality of work, and employee morale have on operating expenses. Using a holistic model of understanding, employers may now consider that an injury may be the result of an employee's depression, an accident might be caused by substance abuse, and an illness could be brought on by being worried “sick.” A Pastoral Counselor's Model for Wellness in the Workplace examines how employees—and employers—can be affected by: money troubles marriage problems depression grief stress conflicts addictions alcoholism anger A Pastoral Counselor's Model for Wellness in the Workplace: Psychergonomics is an essential resource for all helping professions, particularly in the areas of mental health and addiction. The book is an invaluable tool for pastoral counselors, chaplains, human resources managers, employee assistance professionals, psychotherapists, health care professionals, and educators.

Know how to answer those most-asked questions—by using a scriptural perspective The search for answers remains a valuable catalyst for the growth of personal faith. Ask Anything: A Pastoral Theology of Inquiry provides a fresh approach to answering questions of personal growth, facing problems, and building community. The questions most asked of today’s pastors and pastoral counselors are answered by integrating psychological with biblical/Christian perspectives. Jesus’ own questions from scripture are presented as a response to those difficult questions, sparking a self-reflective personal dialogue that illuminates as well as inspires. As each of us journeys through life, urgent questions arise even for the most faithful. Each chapter of Ask Anything: A Pastoral Theology of Inquiry takes parishioners' most-asked questions about the basic issues of life, death, and faith, and connects them with Jesus' questions from scripture, allowing a new depth of introspection and thought. These questions open a free flow of ideas that refreshes personal perspectives and leads to a spiritual resolution for the issue at hand. Jesus' teachings spring to life through the questions from the gospels and the probing thoughts of contemporary authors and scholars, stimulating a productive inner dialogue and positive direction for reflection. Each chapter is carefully referenced and includes helpful exercises and questions for group discussion, counseling conversations, or personal contemplation. Appendixes are included with complete listings of Jesus' questions from the gospels as well as a complete bibliography to facilitate further research. Ask Anything: A Pastoral Theology of Inquiry discusses these questions often asked of pastors: Where do I find meaning in life? How can I succeed? What can I do to protect my children? How can I know which leaders to trust? What can I do about my battle with depression? What can I do about my burnout and fatigue? How can I know God loves me? What is prayer? What happens when I pray? Why is my prayer unanswered? Why is there suffering? Where do I find hope? What happens when I die? What can I do about the pain of grief? Ask Anything: A Pastoral Theology of Inquiry is inspiring, eye-opening reading perfect for pastoral and other Christian counselors, ministers with responsibility for preaching, and any layperson hoping to gather greater insight into Jesus’ personal answers to their own questions.

Explore shame's revelatory and transformative potential within Christianity and the Church Learn to understand shame to allow for positive change in your clients and parishioners. This book explores psychological, spiritual, and theological aspects of shame and shame's transformative potential. It will help pastoral care givers and mental health workers to identify shame issues and become agents of healing. By examining shame in the gospel accounts of the life, ministry, and death of Jesus, it shows that shame is a vital part of what defines us as human, and how shame can draw us into the mystery of our relationship with God. From the author: “This book develops the thesis that shame is a necessary and ontological part of the human condition. Shame can become pathological, undergirding and dominating the entire personality, making it impossible to feel oneself either part of the collective or an individual in one's own right. Transformation of shame is a large part of the psychic meaning of the Christ event, what Christianity is about. Transformation of shame is the experience of grace. The great saints and icons of Christianity have used the Christ event to transform shame and experience grace. The more completely they have done this, the deeper their experience of unity with God.” With Transforming Shame: A Pastoral Response, you'll explore: the phenomenological meaning of shame the psychological meaning, implications, and etiology of shame shame in the context of scripture and Christian theology the methodology for contextualizing theories of depth psychology in theology and religious experience human defense mechanisms to shame shame's usefulness in coming to a deeper understanding of personal identity the role of the institutional church in helping its people find meaning in shame and experiencing the grace that comes from shame's transformation how to address the Church's role in fostering toxic shame With practical examples drawn from pastoral ministry and a thoughtful, interdisciplinary approach, this book will help you understand both the psychology and the spirituality of shame and make the essential connections between the two. Extensive references and a handy bibliography point the way to further reading on this fascinating subject.

Ceremony as therapy Formal ceremonies seem to be universal in human experience, addressing something very deep and basic in the human psyche. They tap into that vast subconscious reservoir of wisdom and strength that every human being possesses. To these qualities ceremonies add their own understandings of life and of God. They emphasize the presence of God in all things. The important transitions in our lives inevitably create anxietyeven happy transitions, such as weddings. We move from the familiar to the unknown. Our role in the community may change, which means that we will be treated differently. Sometimes it is our own sense of who we are that changes. We seek to live differently. All of these changes have an anxiety of their own. Ceremonies use the languages of the heartmetaphor, poetry, meditation, music, liturgy, and dramato address those anxieties. Bypassing the sterility of logic and analysis, a ceremony evokes the power to affirm and to heal that straightforward rational communication cannot touch. A ceremony has the quality of set-apartness. Something special is happening! Words spoken in a ceremony will have much more impact than those same words would have in a more ordinary context. A ceremony brings new perspective to things with which we struggle. Many ceremonies enlist the support of one’s community. The leader often represents one’s spiritual tradition, and other members of the community may be present. Even if the ceremony is done in the privacy of one’s home or of a therapist’s or pastor’s office, others are present in the participant’s imagination. Ceremonies also involve God, whose presence is acknowledged and whose blessing and support are assured. The ceremonies presented here are down-to-earth and practical. They can easily be adapted to many situations, and can stimulate the reader to create his/her own ceremonies to meet the unique needs of the persons to whom he/she ministers. Some of the ceremonies in this book are for use in a public place: weddings funerals a ceremony for grieving Others are more private, for use in a pastor’s/therapist’s office or in one’s home: adoption funeral for an aborted baby support for a rape survivor the commitment to stop smoking addressing children’s phobias leaving home forgiving another person forgiving oneself and more This book is a first! Not just a discussion about ceremonies, but a collection of ceremonies addressing a wide variety of situations! It will be innovative and insightful reading for pastors, therapists, and others for whom the languages of analysis and logic are not enough.

Divine Entreaty is a great resource for all who are called upon to offer prayer for gatherings that include people from diverse backgrounds. The prayers written by Dr. Menz provide us with sensitivity training and show that he is both a verbal artist and philosopher.Suellen Mazurowski, JD; Hilton Head, SC Teach us to pray was the elementary request of the first disciples of Jesus. Yet their desire is a universal one; a spiritual longing at the heart of persons of all religions and cultures. In this remarkable little volume Dr. Menz captures both the complexity of cultural sensitivity and also the commonality of public prayer. This is a resource for both guiding those who are called upon to articulate a prayer in our diverse world and encouraging business and civic leaders who feel the need for the prayers of the people to be voiced. James Gebhart, PhD, clinical psychologist; Columbus, Ohio Bob Menz and I have a friendship that goes back twenty-plus years revolving around human resource conferences and issues. Bob has shared prayers with people for decades and I would like to thank him for giving others a place to begin as we seek communication with our Creator.Bill Henry, human resources manager; Ava, Missouri We live and work in a culturally, religiously, and spiritually diverse world. For those of us who are challenged by issues of diversity every day, Dr. Menzs volume, Divine Entreaty, is a welcome resource calling our attention to the necessity of inclusiveness. Both the famous prayers of the past and those for public and diverse settings will enlighten your own sense of oneness with humanity.Carl Kyle, DMin, board-certified chaplain; Jacksonville, Florida Divine Entreaty offers a collection of inclusive prayers for leadership in civic, business, education, politics, ministry, and other disciplines to adopt or modify when communities seek to clarify their purpose and capture the moment.

Pastoral care and its theology get a gentle boost from some of the best in the business of caring for the soul. When a person hurts, they often look to God. Several pathfinders give new light from their specialties, each one speaking powerfully, uniquely, and artfully from decades of experience. Dr. Amos Yong’s article on disability forwards the amazingly helpful term, “temporarily able-bodied.” Greek Orthodox Dr. Vasileios Thermos and Roman Catholic Dr. Robert Fastiggi enlighten next to the powerful testaments of Professor Godfrey Harold on South Africa and Dr. Samuel Yonas Deressa on Ethiopia. Each weathered author contributes universal insights into the grace of our great God and challenges pastors throughout the Christian world to kindly consider the heart of the afflicted. These finely hewn stones can be used by anyone in the ministry to sharpen their serve. Mattis and Maness offer this third collection from Testamentum Imperium with a prayer that these will open new avenues of sensitivity to the hearts and souls of those in travail and aid those who are called by God to serve those in pain.