CTS will host its 24th annual Spirituality and Psychotherapy Conference on Friday and Saturday, April 1-2, 2022. This year’s event will be online and will feature as its keynote speaker and convener Katie Asmus. The theme of the conference is “Weaving the Strands of Body, Earth, and Soul: Relationship with Nature for Self-Care, Consciousness, and Connection.”
Asmus is a renowned therapist, coach, educator, mentor, workshop facilitator, and ceremonialist. She founded Somatic Wilderness Therapy Institute “to bring more connection to our bodies and the Natural World.” The Institute is devoted to supporting growth and healing across the stages of life and through the complexity of human experience. The organization and its members aim to “respect and acknowledge the innate wisdom as well as challenges that each of us uniquely holds. We recognize that our health and wholeness are inextricably connected not only to the well-being of our own bodies, minds and spirits, but also to that of our communities, the natural world, and our planet.”
Asmus has spent years exploring the many connectionsf between mental health, human wellbeing, and the natural world. “What I have found in this lifetime of exploration is that at our core, as humans, we all long for basic safety and care. We all have good times and hard times, and emotions based on these experiences,” she wrote. “I also believe that we all secretly want to be connected to something bigger than ourselves, whether to human community, the natural world, the deeper meaning of our life purpose, or that mysterious essence within and beyond this life.”
This year’s Spirituality and Psychotherapy conference consists of three sessions facilitated by Asmus. The first, on Friday evening, is entitled, “Not Two, Not One: Exploring the Many Facets of the Human-Nature Connection.” The second, on Saturday morning, addresses, “Grief and Gratitude: Nature Connection as Resource for Health and Healing.” The theme for the final session on Saturday afternoon is, “Doorway to the Sacred: Nature Connection as a Bridge to Belonging.”
Christian Theological Seminary’s Counseling Center launched the Spirituality and Psychotherapy Conference in 1999 as a forum for dialogue among mental health and pastoral care professionals interested in the spiritual and psychological dimensions of life. Each year, the conference hosts a different leader in the field of spirituality and psychotherapy, who offers workshop sessions for professional development and learning. This conference is made possible through the ongoing support of Family and Community Partners and IU Health Spiritual Care Services, Chaplaincy Education, and Congregational Care Network.
Register for this years Spirituality and Psychotherapy Conference here.
