Recovery 101: Pastoral Care and Abuse

Most of the lectures in this course were part of a class entitled “Pastoral Care and Abuse” taught for many years at Fuller Theological Seminary by Dr. Dale Ryan. So what you will find here is the kind of material that might be helpful to pastors-in-training. Expect it to feel fairly protestant and generally evangelical (or post-evangelical, semi-evangelical, quasi-evangelical) in tone — if these things are ‘triggers’ for you, I encourage you to do what you need to do to take care of yourself.

Just about everything in this class needs a ‘content advisory’ or a ‘trigger warning”! Please don’t skip the first video on “Why is it difficult to talk about abuse?”. Remember that you and your well-being are far more important than anything you will find on a web page. Practice good self care!

Many of these lectures will contain references to the ‘forums’ – these were part of the class when it was taught at Fuller. No forums are currently available for discussing this material.

There is a LOT of material here – almost 16 hours of video. So plan accordingly. If you want to view all of the content I recommend watching, at most, two presentations a week. Take your time.

CLASS PRESENTATIONS:

1. Why is it so difficult to pay attention to abuse? [50 min]
2. What is abuse? [46 min]
3. Abuse Over the Life-span [48 min]
4. About Abusers and the Abused [46 min]
5. A Closer Look: Self-harm [55 min]
6. A Closer Look: Spiritual Abuse [55 min]
7. A Closer Look: Institutional Issues [70 min]
8. Roles in Abusive Systems [51 min]
9. Core Issues: Distorted Images of God [54 min]
10. Core issues: Distorted Images of Self [43 min]
11. Core issues: Distorted Images of Others [47 min]
12. Pathways to Recovery [42 min]
13. A “stages” model of Recovery [no video]
14. Forgiveness (and repentance) [53 min]
15. A Relational Model for Recovery [46 min]
16. An Integration Model for Recovery [69 min]
17. Abuse Recovery at Church [60 min]
18. Working with People who have been Abused [60 min]
19. Vicarious Trauma and Self Care [48 min]

Lecture Notes (no video)

• Impact on Abused Persons
• Impact on Abusers
• Impact on Family Members
• Impact on Family Dynamics
• Spiritual Distress

• Old Testament Overview
• N.T. Overview: Gospels
• Texts Abusers Abuse
• Potentially helpful texts

• Theology and Affect
• Good Self or Bad Self?
• Obedience and Submission
• Speed

• Preaching
• Worship