Spirituality and Service: How to Make Meaning and Connect it for Healing

12:00pm to 1:30pm

LIVE WEBINAR

Presenter: Alyssa Gibbons, LCSW-R, BCD

NASW-NYS Members: Free

NASW Other Chapter Member: Free

Non-Members: Free

This workshop is approved for 1.0 continuing education credit hours for licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, and licensed marriage and family therapists

Workshop Description

According to Sharma et al. (2017) "Over the past three decades, there has been a significant growth in research examining the association between religion/spirituality (R/S), and mental health." The National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study collected personal accounts from many veterans and their use of religion and/or spirituality as a vital coping skill in living with their various illnesses (Sharma, 2017). Mental health practitioners can use the therapeutic process to integrate R/S into the healing process with veterans and service members (Shaler, 2016).

This workshop will provide mental health practitioners with a working knowledge of world religions and spiritual practices that can be incorporated into work with service members and veterans. Participants will learn how religion and spirituality can be used as a coping strategy, which promotes resiliency during and following military service. The instructor will also briefly discuss how spirituality can be integrated into the utilization of specific clinical interventions and the strengths treatment model.  

Learning Objectives

After the completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Define and describe the difference between spirituality and religion as a subjective experience to the Service Member/Veteran (SM/V) client.
• Explain how the SM/V uses religion or spiritual practice as a coping strategy during and after their service.
• Understand how to integrate spirituality into evidence-based practices to effectively determine how spirituality impacts the SM/V client’s processing of military experiences.
• Apply a holistic/strengths-based approach to assist SM/V clients in healing and moving forward.

This workshop is approved for 1.0 continuing education credit hours.

NASW-NYS is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (Provider ID #0014), licensed mental health counselors (Provider ID #MHC-0053), and licensed marriage and family therapists. (Provider ID #MFT-0037)

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Presenter:

Alyssa Gibbons, LCSW-R, BCD graduated from UNC Charlotte with her MSW in 2003 and has been in clinical practice since June 2003. She has worked with a variety of populations, mainly adults in various stages of recovery from MH/SUD issues. She served 6 years as an active duty Navy Medical Service Corps Officer from 2009 - 2016 as a social worker. She currently works for the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center in outpatient substance abuse and has a passion for spirituality as a recovery focus. .