This was the second SLG seminar I've attended. It was challenging and informative beyond anything I'd imagined. I found Arthur's personal testimonies very helpful. He is a master storyteller who speaks with authority, because he's been there, on both sides of the journey. The messages for practitioners give meaning to those times of pain and powerlessness and to the silences of God. Arthur continually challenges me to go beyond myself and my capabilities, to where God has to come through in order for something to happen. It's sometimes frightening, but always exhilarating to move forward.
I was especially fascinated by the information on the brain. Arthur gave detailed strategies for moving from pleasure to joy and for healing the brain. As usual, his assignments are practical, doable, fun, and life-changing, for those who will follow through. I am finding tools for helping others, as well as ways to continue my own healing journey. And that's all about that. These are best explained and understood in the context of the seminar. :) I'm looking forward to the next seminar in June!
Rosemary from Virginia
I think the most important aspect of the seminar for me was that therapy is relational. In inner healing the therapist or prayer partner is going to ask the one seeking help to go to places that are difficult. That there is a significant amount of trust that is going to be needed. It will take time to establish this...perhaps weeks or months. To not think a quick deliverance prayer is going to heal the situation. It was timely that Arthur talked about areas involving our senses that bring joy. As I started thinking about it, I found that I have many areas involving all of my senses that bring me joy. That in itself was encouraging and healing. It was a place that I can lead people and help to build them up.
Arthur shared from very vulnerable areas of his life, a life full of the testimony of the goodness of God. I found it to be real and deep. Holy Spirit was present and I could see Him ministering to each person in the area of their need.
Maggie from South Carolina
I'm not a therapist. I attended this seminar to learn how to be a better friend and "alongside"-er to people I love. This material is beneficial to all of us. Topics included the struggles of powerlessness, failure, and legitimacy and the cultivation of trust and dignity. Counselor or not, I found these applicable to my own journey and relationships. The strategies were practical for implementing with my own children—whether fostering left- and right-brain integration in a seven-year-old or helping a teenager to celebrate her joy. Arthur's hawk-eyed perspective and fellow-pilgrim tenderness just shine in this teaching.
Margaret from Florida
I attended the "Strategies for DID Part 1" seminar in Spartanburg, SC. Respect and dignity are part of the infrastructure for Arthur's models of inner healing and deliverance and he was true to this in this seminar as well. The seminar has great tools for practitioners, as well as being a safe place for those with DID to come and receive new insights for healing.
As a survivor of SRA, I found this time to be healing and restorative. Just being in an environment where dignity and trust is fostered, brings hope and healing. One tool given is learning about the office of personhood. In order to be in the office of personhood, you need to enjoy your joy. This is a big aspect of healing for survivors who are not allowed to have joy, likes, or even dislikes. Having joy and enjoying things was not allowed and resulted in punishment. To embrace joy and to enjoy my joy is now at a place where I am able to look forward to it and can do it with lessening fear of punishment that can be debilitating.
Friend from Tennessee
This seminar was rich! Two areas gripped me: trust and powerlessness. I came away with a solid understanding of why building trust with my clients is so important along with the tools to do so. And I have a much better appreciation for powerlessness. There will be times where I have exhausted all wisdom and all tools and still no movement. How I package that will determine how I move forward with God and my client. Arthur's question really arrested me, "how long can I experience the silences of God without losing my peace of mind will determine my relationship (conviction of the nature of God) in that place of powerlessness. This is legitimacy."
We are all on a healing journey, not just our clients. Be real with them. Tell them I don't have answers but I'm willing to walk with them while we seek God together. Then ask myself those hard questions. God in His wisdom is being silent in order to prepare me for things I don't understand now. The more I can discuss, language and explore God's processes, the more I can be at peace with powerlessness. The more I can savor all those places on the journey where the hand of God deliberately shaped something in my place of pain. The safest counselors are on a healing journey.
Kristan from Virginia
While at the Seminar in SC for Strategies for DID I felt I came away with a stronger foundation in inner healing. Arthur began the seminar with his story intermingled with a very strong foundation in the history of inner healing. I love how God had Arthur share more and more clarification of His heart for those who struggle with DID. I will add that I was one who struggled with DID for years.
As I have walked this road myself the strategies for building trust were huge to me. I realized as the instructions for building trust were shared I never would have been healed without it! I am excited for those who are beginning this journey and this Seminar is an amazing tool for those whose heart is longing to bring healing to others.
Sharon from Virginia
This teaching is for everyone not just for DID or counselors, although there are sections more directed to them. Arthur's teachings from this seminar, which I attended, can also help those who have struggled with depression, negative thinking, or even a lack of joy. One of the things I really love about the exercises, is that anyone can use them by themselves or to help someone get more stable and into joy. A great tool for those in ministry and those with loved ones they want to help.
He teaches on several subjects such as building trust and dignity, and how to handle powerlessness. My favorite section was his teaching on how to rewire the neurlogical pathways in the brain. This is a necessary but often overlooked part of the healing journey for many people. Arthur explains some simple exercises to help build pleasure centers in the brain which can help you calm yourself when you get upset and bring you back to joy. I've used this with several people and even have a friend who started doing it with her husband and is having great results.
Diane from North Carolina
What really sparkled for me at the D.I.D. Seminar in Spartanburg was the sentiment that as counselors, we don't have to produce answers when we have no answers, and that has helped us to give the gift of dignity in the face of temporary powerlessness. I am grateful that I do not have to have the answers and be the person to fix a counselee's every issue or else lose legitimacy; Legitimacy is not based on what I do not know, but on the fact that I am loved even when I do not have the answers.
Secondly, the Christmas tree and the ornaments really stuck out to me. Before we can work on fixing the issues associated with DID and SRA, we must build out a framework through giving dignity and fostering trust. The foundation and framework that trust and willingness to walk with someone else forms beneath them is really a low-pressure context that can form trust, which appears deeply lacking in a Charismatic/Pentecostal/Evangelical context that still judges badly based on appearances.
David from South Carolina