SC 661 – Spiritual Trauma Informed Care for Survivors of Sexual and Spiritual Abuse

COURSE INFORMATION

This CE course offers a comprehensive exploration of spiritual trauma, focusing on the unique experiences of survivors of spiritual and sexual abuse within religious contexts. Students will learn to understand the theological, psychological, and emotional dimensions of trauma, as well as develop practical skills for providing trauma-informed care grounded in compassion and justice. The course integrates Biblical principles with contemporary psychological insights, emphasizing recovery, healing, and the responsible exercise of authority within faith communities.

Spiritual Trauma Informed Care for Survivors of Sexual and Spiritual Abuse provide an in-depth examination of the dynamics of spiritual and sexual abuse and their impact on survivors. Utilizing a biblical framework and mental health best practices, students will explore topics including the nature of spiritual abuse, the misuse of authority, trauma responses, and therapeutic approaches for healing. Through analysis of key texts such as Diane Langberg’s Counseling Survivors of Sexual Abuse, Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church, and Patrick J. Knapp’s Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery, students will gain critical insights into the processes of recovery, the importance of accountability, and the role of faith community leaders in creating safe environments for healing and restoration.

The course prepares health professionals, counselors, sexual assault advocates, clergy, lay ministry leaders and social workers to create safe, healing spaces for clients impacted by sexual and spiritual abuse.

Course Code: SC 661. Contact hours of education = 50.

BOARD APPROVALS:  The American Institute of Health Care Professionals is an Approved Provider for Continuing Education by the South Carolina Professional Counselors, Marriage & Family Therapists and Psycho-Educational Specialists licensing board, Provider # 4637.

The American Institute of Health Care Professionals is approved by the California Board of Registered Nurses, Provider number # CEP 15595 for 25 Contact Hours. Access information

This course, which is approved by the Florida State Board Of Nursing (CE Provider # 50-11975) also has the following Board of Nursing Approvals, for 50 contact hours of CE

The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the Arkansas Board of Nursing. CE Provider # 50-11975.
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the Georgia Board of Nursing. CE Provider # 50-11975.
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the South Carolina Board of Nursing. CE Provider # 50-11975.
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Professional Registered Nurses. CE Provider # 50-11975.
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the New Mexico Board of Nursing. CE Provider # 50-11975.

Course Refund & AIHCP Policies: access here

This is a guided, independent study CE Course. You are to study and progress at your own rate. There are no written assignments. It is recommended that you follow this process for completing the course:

Instructor/Course Author: Dr. Mecca S. Carter-Marshall, Ph.D., CCLC, CPLC, SCC-C

Link to Resume: access here

TIME FRAME: You are allotted two years from the date of enrollment, to complete all of the courses in this continuing education program. There are no set time-frames per course, other than the two year allotted time. If you do not complete the courses within the two-year time-frame, you will be removed from the course and an “incomplete” will be recorded for you in our records.

TEXTBOOKS:

TEXTBOOKS: There is three (3) required textbooks for this course.

Book 1: Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church By: Diane Langberg

  • ISBN-10: ‎1587434385
  • ISBN-13: ‎978-1587434389

Link to purchase on Amazon.com: Access here

Book 2: Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery: Discovering Essential Principles for Hope and Healing By: Patrick J Knapp

  • ISBN-10: ‎1725286505
  • ISBN-13: ‎978-1725286504

Link to purchase on Amazon.com: Access here

Book 3: Counseling Survivors of Sexual Assault By: Diane Langberg

  • ISBN-10: ‎ 1591605199
  • ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1591605195

Link to purchase on Amazon.com: Access here

Additional Assignments: This course contains assigned readings.

GRADING: You must achieve a passing score of at least 70% to complete this course and receive the 50 hours of awarded continuing education credit. There are no letter grades assigned. You will receive notice of your total % score. Those who score below the minimum of 70% will be contacted by the American Academy of Case Management and options for completing additional course work to achieve a passing score, will be presented.

ONLINE CLASSROOM RESOURCES AND TOOLS

* Examination Access: there is link to take you right to the online examination program where you can print out your examination and work with it. All examinations are formatted as “open book” tests. When you are ready, you can access the exam program at anytime and click in your responses to the questions. Full information is provided in the online classrooms.

* Student Resource Center: there is a link for access to a web page “Student Resource Center.” The Resource Center provides for easy access to all of our policies/procedures and additional information regarding applying for certification. We also have many links to many outside reference sites, such as online libraries that you may freely access.

* Online Evaluation: there is a link in the classroom where you may access the course evaluation. All students completing a course, must, without exception, complete the course evaluation.

* Faculty Access Information: you will have access to your instructor’s online resume/biography, as well as your instructor’s specific contact information.

* Additional Learning Materials: some faculty have prepared additional “readings” and /or brief lecture notes to enhance your experience. All of these are available in the online classrooms.

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

UPON COMPLETION OF THIS COURSE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

  1. Define spiritual and sexual abuse within a biblical and psychological framework.
  2. Recognize signs and effects of spiritual trauma and abuse.
  3. Analyze the misuse of authority and power within religious settings and its impact on survivors.
  4. Employ trauma-informed approaches in pastoral, counseling, and community settings.
  5. Interpret biblical principles for justice, restoration, and healing in the context of abuse.
  6. Critically engage with the key ideas presented in the selected textbooks and relate them to real-life scenarios.
  7. Develop strategies for creating safe, accountable, and healing environments within faith communities.
  8. Advocate for survivors with compassion while maintaining ethical and theological integrity.

COURSE CONTENT

Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church By: Diane Langberg

This book discusses the notion power has a God–given role in human relationships and institutions, but it can lead to abuse when used in unhealthy ways. Speaking into current #MeToo and #ChurchToo conversations, this book shows that the body of Christ desperately needs to understand the forms power takes, how it is abused, and how to respond to abuses of power.

Part 1: Power Defined

  • The Source and Purpose of Power
  • Vulnerability and Power
  • The Role of Deception in the Abuse of Power
  • The Power of Culture and the Influence of Words

Part 2: Power Abused

  • Understanding Abuse of Power
  • Power in Human Systems
  • Power between Men and Women
  • The Intersection of Race and Power
  • Power Abused in the Church
  • Christendom Seduced by Power

Part 3: Power Redeemed

  • Redemptive Power and the Person of Christ
  • Healing Power and the Body of Christ

Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery: Discovering Essential Principles for Hope and Healing By: Patrick J Knapp

Currently there are at least four major, identifiable perspectives on how people best understand and recover from religious abuse. Both secular and faith-based (Christian) adherents can be variously identified in each of these approaches. This book examines these viewpoints and evaluates their various strengths and limitations. This book summarizes each viewpoint and suggests a larger contextual perspective, helpful to better understand involvement in and recovery from religiously abusive environments. A model (SECURE) is described that includes essential principles and practical strategies necessary for recovery from religious abuse.

Historical Overview

  • Section 1: Historical Relevance of the Problem

An Evaluative Standard and Apologetic

  • Worldviews: A Brief Overview
  • The Standard – A Christian Worldview

A Fifth Perspective (SECURE)

  • Section 1: SECURE – Six Basic Principles of Recovery from Religious Abuse
  • Section 2: ASCRIBED – Eight Core Recovery Needs and Associated Healing Activities
  • Section 3: A Seven-Stage Process of Recovery
  • Section 4: SECURE Advanced

Counseling Survivors of Sexual Assault By: Diane Langberg

This powerful book deals with the issue of how Christians, especially those called to counsel, can help survivors of sexual abuse find healing and hope. From 20 years of experience, Diane Langberg demonstrates how counselors can walk alongside people deeply wounded by sexual abuse as they face the truth about who they are, who their abuser was, and who God is as the Savior and Redeemer of all life. Counseling Survivors of Sexual Abuse issues a strong call to the church at large to walk with survivors through the long dark nights of their healing.

Part One: Foundations to the Treatment of Sexual Abuse

  • Why I Write
  • Meeka’s Story
  • Understanding the Nature of Personhood
  • Understanding the Nature of Therapy
  • Understanding the Nature of Trauma
  • Understanding the Nature of Child Development
  • Symptoms and Aftereffects of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Part Two: Treatment: Phase One

  • Helping Clients Feel Safe
  • Symptoms Relief
  • Memory Retrieval

Part Three: Treatment: Phase Two

  • Facing Truths about the Past
  • Facing Truths about the Present
  • Major Issues of Phase Two

Part Four: Treatment: Phase Three

  • Relationships
  • Reclaiming the Body
  • Re-creating Life
  • Treatment Termination

Part Five: Special Consideration

  • Dissociative Disorders
  • False Memory Syndrome
  • Male Survivors

Part Six: The Person of the Therapist

  • The Impact of Trauma Work on the Therapist
  • Strategies that Foster Endurance
  • The Spiritual Life of the Therapist

Part Seven: Profile of a Compassionate Church

  • The Church Community
  • How Can the Church Help Survivors of Sexual Abuse?