What began as a small husband and wife team in the late 1980s has grown into an international movement. Starting with Rachel’s Vineyard: Healing the pain of abortionTM, Dr. Theresa Burke established one of the first programs for abortion loss. A confidential weekend retreat, it uniquely combined counseling techniques, group therapy discussions, and something Theresa had developed called Living Scripture exercises. These retreats were life-changing, and word spread quickly because of their dramatic effectiveness. Soon, people began traveling from around the country to attend. Our grassroots organization expanded rapidly throughout the United States and then the world.
In 2005, Dr. Burke created Grief to Grace: Healing the wounds of abuseTM, a week-long retreat that helps people who have experienced trauma discover the love, belonging, joy, and peace that are often missing in the lives of abuse victims. Different Living Scriptureexercises, together with group activities, therapeutic facilitation, cognitive restructuring, discussions, and grief work offer a powerful healing response to the devastating impact of clergy abuse. Many priests and nuns also attend to heal their own traumatic wounds in our safe, confidential, spiritually nurturing environment that also respects their vocations. Like Rachel’s Vineyard, Grief to Grace has also spread globally.
The third retreat model Dr. Burke created is Duty to Heal: Finding peace for a soldier’s heartTM, a ministry that helps Military Veterans, Law Enforcement professionals, and First Responders grieve and reconcile the traumatic moral injuries suffered in the line of duty. Whether it be the violence of war, the assault at school or work, the fire, or the natural disaster, Duty to Heal guides retreatants through a healing journey that that preserves our true identities. Honoring our Veterans’ experience, this ministry also gives tribute to the men and women who did not return home.
In all our retreats, the trauma and grief of participants are honored with reverence, empathy, and confidentiality. Many people tell us they felt misunderstood by counselors who often diagnosed or pathologized their symptoms and did little to foster their resiliency. Yet within our programs, they feel understood and respected, and they encounter God in the midst of their suffering. Thousands of people have reclaimed their dignity, freedom, and hope through these retreats.
The Living Scripture InstituteTM, also founded by Dr. Theresa Burke, provides training for these distinctive retreat programs. Our training also benefits mental health and medical professionals, pastoral care workers, spiritual directors, social services staff, or youth and young adult ministry workers. Dr. Burke provides clinical training for each retreat team and for the various organizations that successfully integrate our programs into their ministries.
Our three retreat ministries and The Living Scripture Institute are all not-for-profit organizations. Offered in group retreat format in a non-judgmental and confidential setting, these unique and empiricallyvalidatedprogramscombine spiritual and trauma-sensitive care, which fosters authentic healing and freedom. All our retreat programs use Dr. Burke’s Living Scripture meditations, whichprovide a sacred space where people’s trauma-history can be witnessed and validated. Participants from all our programs tell us that their experience was “life-changing.” Each retreat is run by a well-trained team consisting of a counselor, pastor/clergy person, and lay women and men, many of whom have experienced their own traumas and found healing through one of our retreats.
When people begin the journey to healing, not only are their lives changed, their hearts are changed—and they help change the hearts of people around them. Seen in that light, our healing ministries not only help God touch each person who attends, they breathe new life into each person’s family, friendships, workplaces, and churches.
