The New Jersey Counseling Association is undergoing a major change in its structure and direction. Part of its change involves the status of each of its traditional affiliates. Unstable and inactive affiliates are being confined to the archives. To pump blood into the NJASERVIC, Michael Lazarchick, the founder of our affiliate eleven years ago, has initiated a plan to reconnect with the membership, organize programs, and benefit by our link with NJCA and the national group, ASERVIC, which involves the leadership of our own Phylis Philipson, a national Board member.
Members of NJASERVIC may be interested in workshops related to the concerns of our Association. Check the following:
The Road Back Gayle Potter, David Potter
The recovery process, after addictive illness, including reclaiming the
lost self...changing patterns that lead to an improved quality of life.
Experiencing Spirituality Michael Lazarchick
A short meditative process will lead participants into a sharing of
religious traditions or spiritual insights and perceptions.
Stress Busters: Daily ways to Wellness Adrian Restivo Levitt
Counselors need to include stress reduction in their daily lives to
model wellness and reap the benefits.
The world did not come to an end. NJASERVIC is still alive. It is the dawn of a new millennium. Enough of our members responded positively, in one way or another, to our survival plea published in our last newsletter. The danger of NJASERVIC losing its status as a division of NJCA has lessened. We have published this newsletter. We are holding elections. We are looking for our by-laws to be able to determine possible revisions. We have placed a basic page on the Internet. We have applied for a $500 grant to help revitalize this association.
Do You Need to Increase Your Participation?
So you joined the New jersey Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling. Might I guess why? Perhaps you wanted to add words like “spiritual” or “ethical” to your resume? Maybe you just checked off a free choice available with your NJCA membership? Or, was it to support the ideals of the association through the financial contribution called dues? We need the numbers! so, any reason is just fine with the Association. But, we feel it would be “unethical” not to inform you about all the potential benefits involved with increased participation. You will receive praise and accolades for working hard. You will make new friendships that may last a lifetime. You will interact with some of the most professional, most energetic and most successful counselors in New Jersey.
What to do? Contact Michael Lazarchick and volunteer to be more active in this Association.
The New Jersey Self-Help Clearinghouse brings people together with similar concerns. They support each other with an empathy and understanding that is rare among those who have not had a specific experience.
Ed Madara, Director, wants counselors to realize that the Clearinghouse offers help in dozens of different community self-help support groups throughout New Jersey. These groups exist without a fee and represent any type of illness, addiction, disability, bereavement concern, parenting problem, or other stressful life problem. The Clearinghouse has information on contacts for over 4200 self-help support groups that meet in New Jersey.
For further information contact Ed Madara or seek further information concerning the New Jersey Self-Help Clearinghouse at: 1-800-367-6274 or 1-800-FOR-M.A.S.H. (Mutual Aid Self-Help) or NJSHC Home Page or America's Self Help Groups
Did you read “The Spiritual Dimension of the Wellness Model and its Implications for Counselors,” in The New Jersey Journal of Professional Counseling (vol. 55, No.6)?
In her research, Shirley Roberts, a member of NJASERVIC, supports the opinion that the spiritual dimension not only represents one dimension of wellness, but it may actually be the means by which the physical, mental, emotional, social, and vocational interact, thereby integrating the personality into a healthy whole. She emphasizes such therapeutic interventions as meditation, experiential focusing, and logo therapy.
Discover Henri Nouwen
Those of you who have already discovered Henri, pick up Nouwen Then: Personal Reflections on Henri, edited by Christopher de Vinck. It is a book of selections by people influenced by the person and writings of Henri Nouwen.
“Henri reminds me to breathe. His books tell me that joy and sorrow are the parents of spiritual growth. He says to not be destroyed by despair, but to trust that a good God has allowed this to happen and is not surprised by what has happened. Henri reminds me that the God who created the galaxies is bigger than the mistakes of his children - bigger than what I have done and what I have left undone, bigger than my losses and sorrows and dreams.” (an excerpt from Kelly Monroe)
Or pick up Mornings with Henri J.M. Nouwen: Readings and Reflections. Get a sampling. Although he is steeped in a deeply inspired understanding of Catholic Christianity as a theologian and psychologist, anyone with a desire to raise the self to a new level of spiritual consciousness will not be disappointed.
Some excerpts:
“Actions that lead to overwork, exhaustion, and burnout can’t praise and glorify God. What God calls us to do we can do and do well. When we listen in silence to God’s voice and speak with our friends in trust we will know what we are called to do and we will do it with a grateful heart.” Can You Drink the Cup?
“When you pray, you open yourself to the influence of the Power which has revealed itself as Love. The Power gives us freedom and independence. Once touched by this Power, you are no longer swayed back and forth by the countless opinions, ideas and feelings which flow through you. You have found a center for your life that gives you a creative distance so that everything you see, hear and feel can be tested against the source.” With Open Hands
“The paradox of expectation indeed is that those who believe in tomorrow can better live today, that those who expect joy to come out of sadness can discover the beginnings of a new life in the center of the old, that those who look forward to the returning Lord can discover him already in their midst.” Out of Solitude
“There is within you a lamb and a lion. Spiritual maturity is the ability to let lamb and lion lie down together. Your lion is your adult, aggressive self. It is your initiative-taking and decision-making self. But there is also your fearful, vulnerable lamb, the part of you that needs affection, support, affirmation, and nurturing.
When you heed only your lion, you will find yourself overextended and exhausted. When you take notice only of your lamb you will easily become a victim of your need for other people’s attention. The art of spiritual living is to fully claim both your lion and your lamb. Then you can act assertively without denying your own needs. And you can ask for affection and care without betraying your talent to offer leadership. The Inner Voice of Love
“Not being welcome is your greatest fear., It connects with your birth fear, your fear of not being welcome in this life, and your death fear, your fear of not being welcome in the life after this. It is the deep-seated fear that it would have been better if you had not lived.” The Inner Voice of Love
“Perhaps the main task of the minister is to prevent people from suffering for the wrong reasons. Many people suffer because of the false supposition on which they have based their lives. That supposition is that there should be no fear or loneliness, no confusion or doubt. But these sufferings can only be dealt with creatively when they are understood as wounds integral to our human condition. Therefore ministry is a very confronting service. It does not allow people to live with illusions of immortality and wholeness. It keeps reminding others that they are mortal and broken, but also that with the recognition of this condition, liberation starts.
“No minister can save anyone. He can only offer himself as a guide to fearful people. Yet, paradoxically, it is precisely in this guidance that the first signs of hope become visible. This is so because a shared pain is no longer paralyzing but mobilizing, when understood as a way to liberation. When we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common search for life, those very pains are transformed from expressions of despair into signs of hope.” The Wounded Healer
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