Counseling Individuals from the LGBTQ+ Community Certification Course
Welcome!
Hello, I am Dr. Jane Simington, PhD. I am a grief and trauma therapist, author and educator. I have a professional background in both nursing and psychology. I am a CCPA (Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association) qualified supervisor for an applicant to become a Canadian Certified Counselor.
I have considerable experience helping people of all ages and from various cultural backgrounds, heal life crisis that significantly impact their lives in numerous ways, including my professional work in supporting and counseling individuals from the LGBTQ+ communities and guiding their friends and family members in a direction of positive action.
I developed the Counseling Individuals from the LGBTQ+ Community Certification course to assist other professionals and semi-professional in providing effective support to those from the LGBTQ* community and to their friends and family members.
In the Counseling Individuals from the LGBTQ+ Community Certification course, I provide up-to-date knowledge to increase awareness of the needs of people from the LBGTQ+ community, and I guide the development of effective culturally sensitive therapeutic approaches to support their wholistic needs.
Healing Approach
In 2000, I developed a Model for Helping people experiencing difficult life circumstances. The strategies taught and applied in this model are based upon up-to-date theory, research and clinical practice and address the healing needs of body, mind, emotion and spirit. The results of the evaluation indicate that when the methods taught in the model are used consistently, they provide safe and effective counselling, and support client healing. These results have been statistically analysed and published.
References
A Different Approach to Healing
Recognizing that the crisis that drives us inward in search of answers to the nagging questions that plague day and night, is often rooted in spiritual distress and feelings of spiritual disconnection, I designed this course to addresses first, the spiritual distress being experienced, and incorporate measures to heal the spiritual disconnection being felt by many who acknowledge that their sexual orientation may be in conflict with the larger culture.
Within the context of this course, spirituality is described as a human being’s personal relationship to what is meaningful to him or her, and what gives direction and purpose to their life. The spiritual needs as identified by Carson and co-authors in Spiritual Dimensions of Nursing Practice are love, trust, hope, forgiveness, belonging, and meaning and purpose in life. According to these authors and other researchers, all people are considered to have a spiritual dimension regardless of if, or how, it is expressed or practiced. Spiritual distress is the suffering experienced when one or more of the spiritual needs are not met, as frequently happens during times of personal crisis.
To address spiritual distress, course participants are introduced to the work of Carl Jung who noted that if you want to address soul you must speak soul’s language, the language of the brain’s Right Hemisphere, the language of symbol and metaphor. In this course participants learn to incorporate therapeutic art, and guided visualization as spiritual interventions, and learn to help their clients interpret the symbolic messages being revealed.
References
- Jung, C. G., & Von Franz, M. L. (1964). Man, and His Symbols. Doubleday.
- Jung, C. G. (1959). “The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious” in Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 9. Princeton University Press.
