Group Description
This online training group offers a great opportunity for people to learn the Immanuel Approach for Emotional Healing developed primarily by Dr Karl Lehman. No previous experience is necessary although doing the Approaching Immanuel one time workshop is helpful. Our goal is to help people learn and consolidate both basic and some intermediate level skills. Through guidance, modelling, practice, feedback and debriefing practice sessions each participant will have the opportunity to grow in mastery of this approach to emotional healing and to life.
Distinctive Features of this Training
- Layered training to simply and quickly build up skills.
- Hands on practice with supportive trainers.
- Live demonstrations and modeling from trainers.
- Learn through regular debrief of practice experiences.
- Regular handouts that summarize key topics
- Integrates with other Immanuel Approach trainings.
- Potential to form community with other group members.
- Emphasis on creating safety and offering participants choice at each stage.
- Immense value for a robust training experience.
- Learn from anywhere in the world without leaving home.
Video technology allows for both large group and small breakout groups.
Additional Description
The skills and processes taught in this training are grounded in the theory of the Immanuel Approach for emotional healing developed by Dr Karl Lehman and Dr James Wilder. They are a combination of what worked from earlier Christian inner healing approaches and what we now know about the brain from far reaching scholars such as Dr Allan Schore, Dr Daniel Siegel and others. These skills are immensely helpful for effective pastoral care, prayer ministry and therapeutic models such as Immanuel Focused Therapy and for extending possibilities in prayer times with friends or small groups. This training will benefit all who want simple yet effective practices to engage their brain’s relational circuits, increase their sense of peace, and establish an interactive awareness of God’s presence. Additional details about the Immanuel Approach can be learned at www.immanuelapproach.com
Who Would Benefit
Everyone who wants to learn these skills including pastors, counselors, spiritual directors, prayer ministers, mentors and ordinary friends. Everyone who believes God is with us and that this should make a difference.
Format
Two hour online groups normally meeting weekly for 6 weeks. In this small group setting we have a maximum of about 6 participants ( plus the facilitator) from anywhere in the world who gather to learn, connect, practice skills, get feedback, and grow. We typically use the Zoom videoconferencing platform which allows us to move back and forth between meeting as a whole group and breaking out into small groups. Most skills will be practiced in triads. Much of the teaching and debrief is done as a whole group.
Some of the abilities this extended training intentionally develops in its participants
- Learn to create safety at the beginning of Immanuel Approach sessions through: attunement, accurately communicating genuine interest in hearing another person’s story, offering choice at every step, adequately orienting the person to the process.
- Assist a person to be able to share with you a personal “God Story” or a story of a time where they felt connection or appreciation
- Help a person enter a state of calm and appreciation through reflecting back their feelings and identifying their appreciation points.
- Pray with a person using these appreciation points as the primary (only) content of prayer
- Accurately reflect a person’s feelings back to them creating resonance
- When the person is ready, help them direct their attention toward God’s presence and guidance
- Help a person open their perspective to the many possible ways they may become aware of God’s presence from visual to a felt sense, to spontaneous thoughts.
- Help a person learn to establish and maintain an interactive connection Immanuel by explicitly welcoming God’s presence/guidance and noticing/describing what comes to awareness.
- Help a person share subtle thoughts and feelings out loud which neurologically allows their brain to recognize their significance more clearly.
- Recognize common points at which people get stuck in the process and learn basic troubleshooting skills to help them resolve these stuck points.
Participants Will
- Be given a conceptual overview of the brain science being drawn upon
- See essential skills modeled
- See processes demonstrated
- Experience being led through the processes taught
- Practice leading others through the processes taught
- Observe peers leading others through the processes taught and learn how to debrief their experience
- Receive practical feedback on skills from peers and trainers (if desired)
- Have questions answered
- Be supplied with pertinent reading material
Right Brain Based Discipleship Model
Having completed the initial sessions of this training, participants will be equipped with a simple way to invite almost anyone into a direct experiential awareness of God’s presence. Most people find that these direct subjective experiences are neurologically a more engaging reason to voluntarily turn toward and follow God than left brain knowledge about God alone. This could be called a “right brain” discipleship model, or an “attunement based” discipleship model.
With these skills in place, we move on to learning more facets of the “Immanuel Approach.”
Summary
Essentially this training is to learn how to lead others into an interactive connection with Immanuel, the God who is with us and support them to keep interacting with Him. As this is played out Immanuel blesses, builds their capacity, removes blocks in their hearts to their relationship with him, strengthens their identity and brings emotional healing.
Cost in USA and Australia and GBP
Cost in US dollars: $250
Subsidized Rate $210
Generous Sponsor’s Rate $290 (Full rate plus covers one subsidy)
Cost in Australian dollars: $340 (for Australian Residents)
Subsidized Rate $285
Generous Sponsor’s Rate $395 (Full rate plus one subsidy)
Cost in GBP: £ 190
Subsidized Rate: £160
Generous Sponsor’s Rate: £ 220 (Full rate plus one subsidy)