St John of God Richmond Hospital presents at Spiritual Care Conference

St John of God Richmond Hospital Chair of Trauma, Professor Zachary Steel and Pastoral Services Coordinator, Ian Maynard recently co-presented a workshop at the Spiritual Care Australia National Conference held in Melbourne.

17 Jul 2019

17 July 2019

Professor Zachary Steel and Ian Maynard’s presentation was titled “After the Event the Soul is Wounded - Moral Injury, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Spirituality”

Their presentation examined the questions:

How do people with Post-traumatic Stress injury make sense of their broken world?
How do people struggling with internal moral conflict, anger, guilt and shame begin to heal?
What is the role of posttraumatic growth in recovery?

Professor Steel presented an insightful outline of Moral Injury and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

Ian Maynard presented the “Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Spirituality” group which is presented every three weeks in our specialised trauma ward, Xavier Unit.

This group includes engagement in an exercise that explores meaning and purpose, connections and the feelings associated with these concepts especially in context of a 'lost–self'.

Tools to support the spiritual health of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder patients was also explored.

Throughout the workshop both Ian and Prof Zac shared their experiences in this field, drawing on anonymous patient stories.