Whether you are a mental health or medical professional, your main job is to heal wounded hearts, minds, and bodies. This symposium will focus on the calling to help people in physical, emotional, and spiritual trouble. Participants will reflect on their own spiritual journeys and explore ways of meditation and contemplation. They will learn the difference between soul and spirit and see how they can blend psychological counseling with spiritual guidance. The shadow elements in psychotherapy and spirituality will be examined both personally and theoretically. The role of dreams and the arts in therapy will also be explored. Finally, participants will consider ways to care for themselves spiritually and emotionally and prepare themselves as persons for the deep work of psychotherapy.

In this symposium, participants will establish an idea of the very nature of healing and ways of becoming an effective healer. Participants will explore biographies of men and women who were and are effective doctors, nurses, and counselors as well as figures from the world's religions, mythology, alchemy, literature, and film and how they offer deep insight into healing. Participants will view filmed interviews of healers, and examine poetry, fiction, and the visual arts in order to obtain a complete picture of the qualities needed to be a healer. The “shadow” side of being a counselor or medical professional - problems of eros, power, money, belief, insecurity, and burn-out - will also be addressed.