Seminary & Spiritual Emergencies

Abstract

An on-going joke for seminarians is, “Seminaries are the only safe-place to say “God is tallking to me” and you won’t get commiited to a mental hospital.”That said, one would expect Seminaries to be a haven for people who have had STE. As I discovered, that is rarely the case. Seminaries are think-tanks for the “study of God” and not for “experiencing the Divine.”
In this breakout session we will discuss: (1) How opening the door and saying ‘yes’ to STE’s is different, yet in many ways our paths are similar to someone with a NDE. (2) Multiple STE’s and how they affect our lives on an daily basis. (3) Once we’ve said ‘yes’ we can never close the door.

Presenter bio

Pamela began to actively participate in her Spiritual journey over 20 years ago when she was introduced to Holotropic Breathwork with Dr. Judith Miller. During that time, Pamela felt Called to Seminary after having had many Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STE). She earned her M.A. in Theology with a concentration in Psychiatry & Religion from Union Theological Seminary in NYC. Her Master’s thesis was on “Mysticism and Schizophrenia.” She then completed post-graduate residency training in Clinical Pastoral Education followed by a Master of Divinity from Drew Theological Seminary. Through many deep spiritual and mystical experiences in the past six years, she has decided to continue her training by enrolling in a 3-year Transpersonal Psychology program in Wittnau, Germany under the direction of Dr. Ingo Jahrsetz and Dr. Judith Miller.
Pamela’s ministry has been as a Pastoral Counselor, Preacher and Chaplain for Hospices in Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida for over 15 years. She has provided community education on topics including but not limited to: “Domestic Abuse, Violence & Healing,” “Transitioning from Life to the Dying Process,” “Dying in Spiritual Peace,” “The Good Wife – Empowering Women through Wisdom Literature,” and “What does it mean to be Born Again – a Spiritual Journey.”

She received “Chaplain of the Year” award with hospice for her excellence in Psycho-spiritual counseling to staff, terminally ill patients and their families. Pamela has witnessed hundreds of people transition to their death with spiritual peace. She has facilitated numerous individual and group bereavement support to surviving loved-ones. As a former member of ADEC (Association for Death Educational Counseling) her expertise has been in thanatology in order to help individuals find Spiritual Peace when confronted with a terminal illness.