Forgiveness
Donna Liu, Tony Goldsmith, Dr. Suzanne Freedman, Rosemary Herrick, Connie Pelesh, and Patricia Kosinski |
There are
many “F” words out there but this “F” word is a big deal in the world of
psychology. The “F” word of treatment is “Forgiveness.” I had the opportunity
to attend an all day seminar at Widener University’s main campus in Chester, “The Power of Forgiveness:
Challenges for Both Therapist and Client,” the 10th Annual Child Sexual Abuse
Treatment Conference: Opening Pandora’s Box. The seminar held on Thursday, June
13th was sponsored by the Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology
and the Center for Social Work Education at Widener University, along with
Family Support Line.
The seminar which focused on the
psychology of interpersonal forgiveness taught the 4 phases of Dr. Richard
Enright’s model that explored the role of anger, the difference between
forgiving and excusing, the implications for mental health professionals, and
the relationship between forgiveness and reconciliation. The purpose of the
seminar was to help clinicians and educators who want to know more about using
the process of forgiveness with their clients or students or anyone who simply
wanted to learn more about the powerful healing process of forgiveness from a
psychological perspective.
The seminar
featured Dr. Suzanne Freedman, an associate professor of human development at the University of Northern
Iowa. She has been studying the topic of forgiveness for over 20 years and her
publications focus on the psychology of forgiveness with both adults and
adolescents. Freedman, who received the American Psychological Association
Dissertation Award in 1993 for her ground breaking research on forgiveness and
incest survivors, has given numerous workshops on the psychology of
forgiveness.
What did I learn from this seminar? “Forgiveness is a
choice.” You have to be willing or ready to forgive someone. Genuine
forgiveness comes over time. Why do we need to forgive in the first place? If we
get hurt, it may lead to anger. Anger is not bad. It is what we do with anger that
can be good or bad. Dr. Freedman believes that “what we see now are kids who
are angry and getting angrier and reacting to the anger leads to violence. We
need to find a way to help children deal with anger.” Dr. Freedman spoke about some
of the school violence that comes out of these kinds of anger. Education is
important to forgiveness. “We have to
meet the child cognitively… teachers should start to teach forgiveness to children
from first grade.”
The seminar ended with
an expert panel discussing abuse and dealing with forgiveness. A total of 6 continuing
education (CE) credits can be earned from each seminar in the series. A
certificate can be earned after attending 6 seminars. Interesting seminar, if
you want to learn more about the series please call 610-499-1083.
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