Healing childhood wounds
On November 24, 2024 I had the privilege of speaking to the laity and counsellors of the Catholic Counselling Ministry of the Diocese of Malacca Johore on the topic, Reclaiming Joy: Healing Childhood Wounds and Restoring Peace and Serenity.
Jan 03, 2025

Dear Editor,
On November 24, 2024 I had the privilege of speaking to the laity and counsellors of the Catholic Counselling Ministry of the Diocese of Malacca Johore on the topic, Reclaiming Joy: Healing Childhood Wounds and Restoring Peace and Serenity. I was surprised to find that over 80 people registered for the event. Besides the 19 counsellors and para-counsellors, the rest of the audience believed in an obvious human issue, child emotional and physical abuse.
As a counselling psychologist, I have specialised in trauma-related therapy for many years, but this was the first time in decades that I’d had the opportunity to present to a crowd of people interested in their own healing or the healing of others they know who have lived with the results of trauma. The audience was fully engaged, both during the early psychoeducational session and during the interactive portion of the day. Throughout the day, members of the audience approached me to talk about their own personal traumatic experiences and the ramifications for their life quality.
The culminating experience of the day was showcasing the effect of a trauma therapy session, for the sake of both the laity and the skill levels of the Catholic Counselling Centre staff, by doing a live session with a member of the audience who volunteered to share her own posttraumatic issues with me. I am always humbled by the courage that it takes for a person to sit onstage and divulge life secrets in front of a large group, and so it behoove me to become immersed in the therapeutic relationship with any volunteer. It is a great learning experience for counsellors to see an effective therapy session in action and to have the opportunity to discuss the session’s impact, as well as the reasoning behind the counselling techniques and methods I employ.
The lively discussion after the first counselling session, a video from my personal library of my professional counselling sessions, was carried by counsellors and audience members, illuminating the attendees' intense interest. Because of a lack of time after the live session, audience members were invited to write to me after the day was finished with comments and questions, which many did. It is obvious that many in the audience were moved and motivated to attend to their own ongoing therapeutic needs.
If I could engage in future therapeutic conversations with audiences from the Catholic Dioceses across Malaysia, it would be a most rewarding and fulfilling addition to my professional career. I want to thank Fr Norris Seenivasan, SJ (Head of Counselling Ministry of the Diocese of Malacca Johore) and the professional team from the Diocese of Malacca Johore Counselling Centres for organising the Nov 24 event.
Dr Louis Downs
Professor Emeritus
California State University, Sacramento
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