The first book to explore the idea and effect of moral injury on veterans, their families, and their communities Although veterans make up only 7 percent of the U.S. population, they account for an alarming 20 percent of all suicides. And though treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder has undoubtedly alleviated suffering and allowed many service members returning from combat to transition to civilian life, the suicide rate for veterans under thirty has been increasing. Research by Veterans Administration health professionals and veterans’ own experiences now suggest an ancient but unaddressed wound of war may be a factor: moral injury. This deep-seated sense of transgression includes feelings of shame, grief, meaninglessness, and remorse from having violated core moral beliefs. Rita Nakashima Brock and Gabriella Lettini, who both grew up in families deeply affected by war, have been working closely with vets on what moral injury looks like, how vets cope with it, and what can be done to heal the damage inflicted on soldiers’ consciences. In Soul Repair, the authors tell the stories of four veterans of wars from Vietnam to our current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan—Camillo “Mac” Bica, Herman Keizer Jr., Pamela Lightsey, and Camilo Mejía—who reveal their experiences of moral injury from war and how they have learned to live with it. Brock and Lettini also explore its effect on families and communities, and the community processes that have gradually helped soldiers with their moral injuries. Soul Repair will help veterans, their families, members of their communities, and clergy understand the impact of war on the consciences of healthy people, support the recovery of moral conscience in society, and restore veterans to civilian life. When a society sends people off to war, it must accept responsibility for returning them home to peace.

Jeff VanVonderen, Dale Ryan and Juanita Ryan offer help in understanding abusive spirituality, addictive spirituality, codependent spirituality, anorexic spirituality and how to build a healthy, balanced spirituality.

Repair of the Soul examines transformation from the perspective of Jewish mysticism and psychoanalysis, addressing the question of how one achieves self-understanding that leads not only to insight but also to meaningful change. In this beautifully written and thought-provoking book, Karen Starr draws upon a contemporary relational approach to psychoanalysis to explore the spiritual dimension of psychic change within the context of the psychoanalytic relationship. Influenced by the work of Lewis Aron, Steven Mitchell and other relational theorists, and drawing upon contemporary scholarship in the field of Jewish studies, Starr brings the ideas of the Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish mystical tradition, into dialogue with modern psychoanalytic thought. Repair of the Soul provides a scholarly integration of several kabbalistic and psychoanalytic themes relating to transformation, including faith, surrender, authenticity, and mutuality, as well as a unique exploration of the relationship of the individual to the universal. Starr uses the Kabbalah’s metaphors as a vivid framework with which to illuminate the experience of transformation in psychoanalytic process, and to explore the evolving view of the psychoanalytic relationship as one in which both parties - the analyst as well as the patient - are transformed.

Lauren McKinley's raw glimpse of how to survive life in a destroyed marriage has inspired many by reminding women they're not alone. In Stop Wrecking My Home, she shares her personal story of the destruction an affair brings to a marriage, family, and community. Her words invite the brokenhearted to fight for their marriage while maintaining their self-worth. Her writing provides healing, hope, and restoration to the victims of betrayal. The pain you have endured may have broken your heart, but it does not have to break you.

Does it sometimes seem like your life is unreal? Perhaps it seems that your existence is more a nightmare than a dream. We never know about the private lives behind the façades people create for public consumption. Yet what shapes our lives is the raw, unvarnished, unstated, and camouflaged reality that defines our everyday existence. I grew up in such an illusion and suspected that my life was closer to the nightmare side than the dream. My dad was a recognized and renowned jazz musician. He played with and made records with the great musicians of the late twentieth century. Behind the mask of success and notoriety lurked a monster whom no one from the public would have recognized or believed existed. His own insecurity, fear, addictions, lies, and bad choices led him to be a violent abuser. Bars on the windows, secrets behind locked doors, terrors behind the mask of normalcy. I lived in a nightmare world and needed a way out. In the end, for me, there is a happy ending. What I didn't know was that, while I was able to escape the abusive situation, the abuse itself followed me. It sapped my joy and creativity. It wasn't until I fell into a hole of depression as a supposedly successful adult, a doctor, and the mother of three children that I realized there was a purpose to my pain. What did it take to crawl out of this hole? Join me as I take you on a journey of Reboot, Repair, Rebirth. Reboot your soul by breaking the silence, speaking your truth, and ending the isolation. Get to physical and emotional safety. Repair by getting help and consciously healing your mind, heart, and body. Conquer your demons and discover your inner light and resilience. Celebrate your Rebirth as a new, healing, wiser, loving, and centered being. Live intentionally and abundantly.

Throughout your life, you will try on many different types of shoes, only choosing to wear some of them. Soul to Sole: The Views from the Shoes presents shoe analogies that inspire you to find the shoe that fits. It encourages you to find the shoe that makes you feel comfortable and that supports the different seasons of your life. A spiritual and physical walk through life, Soul to Sole provides insight into the hearts and souls of several women as they discuss the life experiences that have made them into the women they are today. It also shares the perspectives of three women from three different generations: one from the Traditionalist Generation (19001945); one from the Baby Boomer Generation (19461964); and one from the Millennial Generation (19812000). The stories describe a range of experiences from women who have traveled different roads, narrating how they navigated the paths that led to their current stations. They highlight the importance of pursuing ones passion and discovering ones purpose and talents. Theirs are stories that show where love abounded and life unfolded; where determination persisted and success prevailed; and where the distance was run and the victory won. Through it all, they learned how to lean and depend on God.

"Welcome to the complex and dynamic terrain of social work. Some of you will be reading this book because you are planning to pursue a career in social work. Perhaps your image of the field is still fuzzy, waiting to be developed in the coming weeks and months. Others may encounter this book after years of experience in the social work profession. Perhaps your own life and work experiences, political commitments, or concerns about people's everyday struggles for survival, rights, and dignity have brought you to these pages. You may have a clear image of social work practice in mind. Depending on your experience, you may wish to emulate this image or you may wish to change it"--