Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete

Episode 14:  Human Flourishing and Forgiveness with Dr. Kelly Murphy Mason

Summary

In this conversation, Dr. Jerry Crete and Dr. Kelly Murphy Mason explore the intricate relationship between human flourishing and forgiveness. Dr. Mason shares insights from her work with the Harvard Flourishing Network, emphasizing the importance of forgiveness practices in promoting emotional health and resilience. They discuss the key components of flourishing, the understanding of virtue and character, and how forgiveness serves as a vital life skill that can lead to personal liberation and healing. The conversation also addresses the distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation, highlighting the necessity of volitional forgiveness in the journey towards flourishing. In this conversation, Kelly Murphy Mason discusses the profound impact of forgiveness on human flourishing, emphasizing its necessity in overcoming past grievances and fostering empathy. The dialogue explores the complexities of forgiveness in the context of societal polarization, the REACH model for forgiveness, and the interplay between forgiveness and repentance from both psychological and spiritual perspectives. The conversation also touches on the role of institutional religion in forgiveness and the universalist view of redemption.

Keywords

human flourishing, forgiveness, spirituality, REACH model, emotional health, personal growth, resilience, community, healing, virtue forgiveness, human flourishing, empathy, conflict resolution, REACH model, Christian perspective, universalism, institutional religion, repentance, psychological strategies

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Human Flourishing and Forgiveness

04:01 Key Components of Flourishing

08:03 Understanding Virtue and Character

11:46 The Role of Forgiveness in Healing

16:02 Forgiveness as a Life Skill

20:05 Forgiveness vs. Reconciliation

24:00 The Connection Between Forgiveness and Flourishing

25:49 The Power of Forgiveness

27:26 Navigating Polarization and Forgiveness

31:18 Empathy and Understanding in Conflict

32:34 The REACH Model of Forgiveness

36:05 Forgiveness from a Christian Perspective

40:47 The Role of Institutional Religion in Forgiveness

42:12 Universalism and the Nature of Forgiveness

46:24 The Interplay of Forgiveness and Repentance

49:10 The Good Intent of Creation and Forgiveness

Elijah Institute 

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute.  Find out more about Elijah Institute’s nationally approved, continuing education courses in spiritually integrated whole person care at elijah-institute.org.  

This podcast provides education, not treatment.  It does not replace therapy, diagnosis or professional care.  If you are in crisis:

• Call 988,suicide and crisis lifeline
• For an immediate emergency call 911
• Go to the emergency room
• Contact your provider
• Text HOME to 741741

Summary

In this episode of Post-Traumatic Growth, Dr. Gerry Crete engages with Dr. Jon Sperry, a professor in clinical mental health counseling, to explore the intricacies of case conceptualization in therapy, the importance of trauma training, and the unique therapeutic benefits of drumming. They discuss how integrating faith and spirituality can enhance therapeutic outcomes and promote resilience in clients. Dr. Sperry shares insights from his extensive research and international consulting experiences, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to mental health that considers the client's background, strengths, and spiritual beliefs.

Keywords

Post-Traumatic Growth, Case Conceptualization, Trauma Training, Drumming Therapy, Resilience, Faith and Psychology, Spirituality in Therapy, Mental Health Counseling, Therapeutic Techniques, Emotional Healing

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Post-Traumatic Growth

01:12 Case Conceptualization in Therapy

03:43 The Importance of Trauma Training

06:10 Drumming and Therapy: A Unique Connection

12:31 Understanding Case Conceptualization

15:44 Integrating Faith and Psychology\

20:24 Promoting Resilience and Growth

25:02 The Role of Spirituality in Therapy

27:22 Resources for Further Learning

Elijah Institute 

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute.  Find out more about Elijah Institute’s nationally approved, continuing education courses in spiritually integrated whole person care at elijah-institute.org.  

This podcast provides education, not treatment.  It does not replace therapy, diagnosis or professional care.  If you are in crisis:

• Call 988,suicide and crisis lifeline
• For an immediate emergency call 911
• Go to the emergency room
• Contact your provider
• Text HOME to 741741

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete will be coming to you from Vatican City as Dr Gerry starts a new endeavor.

In this episode, Dr. Gerry Crete speaks with Dr. Anthony Isacco about the intersection of psychology, spirituality, and the Catholic faith. They explore how faith-integrated clinical work can support human flourishing, better therapeutic outcomes, and a deeper understanding of the whole person.

Key Topics

• Why faith integration matters in clinical psychology
• The importance of seeing each person with dignity and worth
• How Catholic anthropology shapes therapy and training
• The role of cultural humility in working with Catholic clients
• Why vocational psychology and calling matter for human flourishing
• How forgiveness supports healing, repair, and growth

Dr. Isacco explains how the Elijah Institute and the program at St. Mary’s University is training clinical psychologists to integrate Catholic faith with evidence-based practice. He emphasizes that this is about a holistic view of the human person. The hosts discuss how therapy changes when clinicians see clients not as diagnoses or problems to solve, but as persons with inherent worth, meaning, and capacity for healing. Dr. Isacco argues that religion and spirituality are essential parts of cultural competence and that therapists should approach them with curiosity, respect, and humility. The episode closes with a reflection on forgiveness and relationship repair as essential parts of healing. Rather than defaulting to detachment or cutoff, they discuss the value of working toward reconciliation where appropriate, including self-forgiveness and divine forgiveness.

About the Guest

Dr. Anthony Isacco is a licensed psychologist, professor, researcher, and expert in the integration of psychology, spirituality, and the Catholic faith. He serves as program director and head of clinical research for the Catholic Faith Integrated Master of Science in Clinical Psychology program at St. Mary’s University in Minnesota.

Elijah Institute 

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute.  Find out more about Elijah Institute’s nationally approved, continuing education courses in spiritually integrated whole person care at elijah-institute.org.  

This podcast provides education, not treatment.  It does not replace therapy, diagnosis or professional care.  If you are in crisis:

• Call 988,suicide and crisis lifeline
• For an immediate emergency call 911
• Go to the emergency room
• Contact your provider
• Text HOME to 741741

In this episode, Dr. Gerry Crete speaks with licensed psychologist, executive coach, and workplace flourishing expert Dr. Karen Doll about what human flourishing really means in everyday life and at work. The conversation also explores how faith, meaning, and psychological care can coexist with pain, grief, and trauma without minimizing either one. They discuss workplace well-being, the difference between surviving and flourishing, and how post-traumatic growth can emerge without pretending suffering is good.

Dr. Doll serves as Board Chair of the Elijah Institute and teaches in its Catholic Christian Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy (CC-SIP) certificate program.

A note for listeners: part of this conversation reflects on a recent act of violence that took place in a church, and on the grief of the families affected.

Key Topics

• Dr. Doll's work as a psychologist focused on assessments, coaching, executive development, and workplace mental health
• Why she approaches people as whole persons rather than separating "work self" and "home self"
• How flourishing moved from a long-standing interest in humanistic psychology to a core theme in her work
• The role of the Harvard Flourishing Program and the Flourishing at Work Network in applying research to organizations
• Why spirituality matters as one of the domains of flourishing, especially when understood broadly as connection to something beyond oneself
• What makes a workplace regenerative rather than extractive
• The practical ingredients of flourishing at work:
  • manageable workload and capacity
  • respect and dignity
  • healthy relationships
  • belonging
  • mattering
• Why ROI language often dominates workplace conversations about well-being
• How post-traumatic growth differs from pretending trauma is good
• Why flourishing does not mean constant happiness or the absence of pain
• A continuum model of well-being, from flourishing to crisis, and why people can move fluidly along it
• Matching the intervention to the moment — why a practice that helps on an ordinary day may not fit acute distress
• How a Catholic understanding of redemptive suffering adds meaning that symptom reduction alone cannot
• Why Dr. Doll wrote her book for people who may never see a therapist or hire a coach

Featured Book

Building Psychological Fitness: How High Performers Achieve with Ease by Dr. Karen Doll — a practical, science-based guide to interventions that support mental health, flourishing, and resilience.

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Psychological-Fitness-professionals-organizations-ebook/dp/B09GJ6MSVF

Elijah Institute

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute. Learn more about the Catholic Christian Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy (CC-SIP) certificate program — continuing education in spiritually integrated whole person care — at elijah-institute.org. The Elijah Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7719.

This podcast provides education, not treatment. It does not replace therapy, diagnosis or professional care. If you are in crisis:

• Call 988, Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
• For an immediate emergency call 911
• Go to the emergency room
• Contact your provider
• Text HOME to 741741

In this episode, Dr. Gerry Crete speaks with Jennifer Madere about how trauma treatment, Catholic anthropology, and nervous system regulation fit together in real clinical work. They focus on EMDR, dissociation, ego state therapy, and how healing can happen without bypassing the body or the complexity of suffering. Jennifer also shares insights from her book, EMDR, Dissociation and Beyond, and discusses why safety and stabilization are not preliminaries, but essential parts of healing.

Key Topics

• They discuss why the Catholic faith can deepen trauma work by helping clinicians stay grounded in suffering while still making room for meaning, purpose, and hope.
• Jennifer describes EMDR as a way of helping the brain digest experiences it could not process when they first happened.
• Gerry and Jennifer talk about the importance of avoiding spiritual bypassing while still allowing faith to support healing in a genuine, integrated way.
• Jennifer explains why ego state therapy is useful for dissociation and complex trauma, especially when working with internal parts and movements that emerged from profound injury.
• They define dissociation as a disconnection or fragmentation in human experience that can be a protective adaptation, especially in childhood or overwhelming situations.
• The conversation distinguishes between single-incident trauma and complex relational trauma, including why events like shootings can carry an existential layer beyond the immediate event.
• They explore the importance of somatic healing, with both speakers affirming that healing often requires attention to body, mind, and spirit together.

Elijah Institute 

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute.  Find out more about Elijah Institute’s nationally approved, continuing education courses in spiritually integrated whole person care at elijah-institute.org.  

The book EMDR, Dissociation, and Beyond, Reexamining and Expanding the Frame for Impactful Trauma Treatment by Jennifer Madere and Michael Coy can be found here:

https://www.routledge.com/EMDR-Dissociation-and-Beyond-Reexamining-and-Expanding-the-Frame-for-Impactful-Trauma-Treatment/Madere-Coy/p/book/9781032712352

This podcast provides education, not treatment.  It does not replace therapy, diagnosis or professional care.  If you are in crisis:

• Call 988,suicide and crisis lifeline
• For an immediate emergency call 911
• Go to the emergency room
• Contact your provider
• Text HOME to 741741

This episode focuses on the practical gap between a parish noticing someone is struggling and actually knowing where to send them for help. Dr. Gerry Crete talks with Dr. Dorothy Goulart about the Elijah Institute’s certification program, the role of Catholic faith in clinical work, and the new Accompanied Network being piloted to connect parishes with mental health and support resources.We discuss why trust, competence, and ethical integration matter when faith and therapy meet, and how a parish can become a real point of coordination instead of just a place where people are prayed for and left without next steps.

• Dr. Dorothy Goulart’s background as a licensed independent clinical social worker who also teaches graduate social work students
• The Elijah Institute certification program and how it helps clinicians integrate Catholic faith and mental health practice ethically
• The Accompanied Network as a parish-based referral and care coordination model
• Why trust and vetting matter when parishes refer people to therapists, psychiatrists, and other support services
• The challenge of finding specific providers, especially Catholic clinicians with particular demographic or specialty needs
• Moral injury and moral questions in trauma work, especially in military and combat settings
• Why spiritual competence can improve care even for non-Catholic clinicians working with Catholic clients
• The importance of meeting clients where they are and letting their faith tradition inform the clinical conversation

parish care, mental health, faith integration, Catholic counseling, referral network, moral injury

spiritual assessment, clinical competence, trust, pastoral care

Elijah Institute 

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute.  Find out more about Elijah Institute’s nationally approved, continuing education courses in spiritually integrated whole person care at elijah-institute.org.  

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete

Episode 8 with Rebecca Brubaker, founder of the Elijah Institute. 

Healing After Trauma: Building Long-term Support Systems in Catholic Communities

In this episode, Dr. Gerry Crete and Elijah Institute founder Rebecca Brubaker discuss the long-term support needed after traumatic events, emphasizing the importance of spiritual and community care. Rebecca shares her firsthand experience responding to the 2025 church shooting in Minneapolis and explores how faith-based mental health initiatives can foster healing and resilience.  

• The emotional journey of grief and trauma over time
• The role of the church and community in crisis response and ongoing care
• The setting up of the Elijah Institute to train clinicians in spiritually integrated psychotherapy
• Practical resources activated after the 2025 Minneapolis church shooting
• The significance of faith, moral, and spiritual dimensions in mental health treatment
• Evidence supporting the effectiveness of faith-integrated mental health care
• Developing programs for youth mental health in Catholic schools
• The importance of accessible care pathways for families in crisis

Timestamps: 

00:00 - Introduction

01:00 - Response to the Minneapolis church shooting

02:28 - The Elijah Institute’s mission to train clinicians in faith-based psychotherapy

04:03 - The importance of spiritual support in trauma recovery

05:01 - Practical support organizations involved in crisis intervention

06:20 - Building a care network grounded in Catholic faith

07:16 - Trauma and healing in families with adopted or special needs children

08:23 - The need for longer-term, continuous support systems

10:02 - The growing need for high-quality, spiritually integrated therapists

11:20 - Personal stories of trauma and faith's role in healing

12:31 - Challenges in finding Catholic mental health care

13:00 - The formation of Elijah Institute to fill this gap

14:22 - The potential for global impact beyond Catholic communities

15:10 - Developing effective training programs for clinicians

16:10 - Addressing mental health needs in the Catholic population

17:08 - Evidence that faith-based therapy enhances healing

18:20 - Integrating different dimensions of faith in therapy

19:12 - The universality of spiritual needs across faith backgrounds

20:32 - Research on flourishing and the role of religion in well-being

21:37 - Promoting wellness and active engagement in faith communities

23:32 - Moving beyond trauma healing toward living abundantly

24:16 - The importance of meaning, purpose, and community support

26:50 - The Elijah Institute's programs for clinicians and faith leaders

27:06 - Opportunities for training and credentialing in spiritually integrated psychotherapy

29:23 - The call for clinicians to serve Catholic families

36:44 - Reflection on biblical foundations of community care

37:04 - The vision for a more supported and loving church community

37:32 - Final encouragement for clinicians and families to seek integrated healing

38:21 - Closing thoughts: supporting families and seeking help when neededResources & Links:

Find out more about Elijah Institute’s nationally approved, continuing education courses in spiritually integrated whole person care at

elijah-institute.org.  

Elijah Institute

In part 2 of our discussion with Dr. Thomas Plante, we continue to explore the Examen, a five-step daily prayer from St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The Examen invites us to reflect on the day with God by noticing gratitude, reviewing our thoughts and emotions, acknowledging where healing or forgiveness is needed, and choosing one small step toward greater love and purpose.

This simple 15-minute practice can help deepen spiritual connection while also supporting emotional awareness, hope, meaning, and mental health.

Featured Resources

The Elijah Institute offers a downloadable Examen card along with two research papers exploring the psychological benefits of Examen-based practices:

• “A Clinical Trial of the Examen and Mindfulness Within a Secular Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program”
  Christopher M. Buenrostro and Thomas G. Plante, Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling, 2024.
• “A Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Psychological Benefits of a Daily Examen-Based Practice”
  Thomas G. Plante, David B. Feldman, Jacqueline Ge, and Anthony Cortese, Journal of Religion and Health, 2025.

Download the Examen card and research papers here:

https://elijah-institute.org/white-papers-and-research

Elijah Institute 

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute.  Find out more about Elijah Institute’s nationally approved, continuing education courses in spiritually integrated whole person care at elijah-institute.org.  

examen, Jesuit spirituality, mindfulness, trauma healing, spiritual practices, mental health, research, therapy, religious integration, post traumatic growth

key  topics

The examen prayer and its elements

Research findings on the examen's effectiveness

Adaptations for diverse populations

Comparison with mindfulness and secular practices

The role of imagery and visualization in healing

Christian distinctives in spiritual practices

Music and other sensory elements in spirituality

Implications for trauma and addiction treatment

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Examine and Its Impact

02:04 The Role of Gratitude in Therapy

09:03 Understanding Post-Traumatic Growth

12:01 Acceptance and Suffering in Healing

18:07 The Influence of Saints and Spiritual Models

22:47 Personal Journey and Embracing Faith

31:32 Integrating Faith and Evidence in Therapy

In Episode 7 of Post-Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete, Dr. Thomas Plante introduces the Examen, a five-step daily prayer from St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The Examen invites us to reflect on the day with God by noticing gratitude, reviewing our thoughts and emotions, acknowledging where healing or forgiveness is needed, and choosing one small step toward greater love and purpose.

This simple 15-minute practice can help deepen spiritual connection while also supporting emotional awareness, hope, meaning, and mental health.

Featured Resources

The Elijah Institute offers a downloadable Examen card along with two research papers exploring the psychological benefits of Examen-based practices:

• “A Clinical Trial of the Examen and Mindfulness Within a Secular Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program”
  Christopher M. Buenrostro and Thomas G. Plante, Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling, 2024.
• “A Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Psychological Benefits of a Daily Examen-Based Practice”
  Thomas G. Plante, David B. Feldman, Jacqueline Ge, and Anthony Cortese, Journal of Religion and Health, 2025.

Download the Examen card and research papers here:

https://elijah-institute.org/white-papers-and-research

Elijah Institute 

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute.  Find out more about Elijah Institute’s nationally approved, continuing education courses in spiritually integrated whole person care at elijah-institute.org.  

examen, Jesuit spirituality, mindfulness, trauma healing, spiritual practices, mental health, research, therapy, religious integration, post traumatic growth

key  topics

The examen prayer and its elements

Research findings on the examen's effectiveness

Adaptations for diverse populations

Comparison with mindfulness and secular practices

The role of imagery and visualization in healing

Christian distinctives in spiritual practices

Music and other sensory elements in spirituality

Implications for trauma and addiction treatment

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Post Traumatic Growth

01:36 Exploring the Examen: A 500-Year-Old Prayer

05:18 The Five Steps of the Examen Prayer

10:21 Research Findings on the Examen vs. Mindfulness

12:21 Imagining Tomorrow: Visualization in Recovery

16:18 The Power of Experiential Prayer

22:16 Christianity's Unique Approach to Suffering

25:52 Researching Sacred vs. Secular Music

30:02 Integrating Music and Spirituality in Therapy

34:24 Conclusion and Next Steps in Therapy