What’s Religion Got to Do With It?

Training description

This training is exclusively for Healthy Families Massachusetts staff.

Talking with someone about the role that faith plays in their life or their connection with a faith community can sometimes feel awkward, inappropriate, or irrelevant. When you add in the complexities that domestic and dating abuse can bring to a situation, it can sometimes feel easier to just not bring up the subject at all.

While avoiding – or not thinking to include — discussions about faith or things related to religion or spirituality might feel most comfortable, it often means that providers miss opportunities to connect with a person about what’s going on in their life. It also might mean that providers aren’t aware of additional supports the person might have or additional barriers that person might consider when they think about telling someone about the abuse. In this workshop, we’ll talk about…

• Recognizing ways that one person might use faith or religion to harm their partner (spiritual abuse)
• Supports and barriers that faith, spirituality, and religious communities might present to someone experiencing harm from their partner
• Ways that providers can broaden and deepen their support for people who are being harmed by a current or former partner.

We hope you will join us for this important conversation! Please discuss this opportunity with your supervisor before registering.

This training is limited to Healthy Families Massachusetts staff. Registration by non-HFM staff is not permitted.