Elijah Institute

Individual Courses, Series 7: Assessment and Case Conceptualization

7.2–7.3 Attachment Security and Spiritual Resourcing

Faith can be where a client finds safety, or where old wounds repeat. Explore how Catholic clients relate to God, Mary, and the saints, and when spiritual resourcing helps or harms. For clinicians of any faith, with Peter Martin, PsyD, LP.

Individual Courses, Series 7: Assessment and Case Conceptualization

7.4 Tailoring Case Conceptualizations to Catholic Faith & Moral Theology

What gets missed when spirituality is left out of the formulation? Jonathan Sperry, PhD, LCSW, LPCC, integrates the eight Ps of case conceptualization with the Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person.

Individual Courses, Series 7: Assessment and Case Conceptualization

7.5 Building a Comprehensive Catholic Spiritual Case Conceptualization

What does a full Catholic spiritual case conceptualization look like? Jonathan Sperry, PhD, LCSW, LPCC, applies the eight Ps and the Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person to one case, from assessment to plan.

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.1 Catholic Practices as Psychotherapeutic Modalities: From Sacraments to Daily Prayer

How Reconciliation, the Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, prayer, service, and fasting parallel CBT, ACT, group work, and mindfulness, and how to offer them as the client’s own resource alongside evidence-based care.

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.2 Cognitive Restructuring with Catholic Virtue Ethics

Is that thought true, and is it charitable? Thomas Plante, PhD, ABPP, adds Catholic virtue ethics to cognitive restructuring, using prudence, justice, fortitude, hope, and charity to challenge distortions.

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.3 Behavioral and Experiential Methods Rooted in Catholic Practice

The Church already holds a full toolbox. Thomas Plante, PhD, ABPP, shows how prayer, fasting, almsgiving, the Mass, Reconciliation, pilgrimage, and sacred music can serve as behavioral and experiential interventions.

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.4 Catholic Contemplation in Clinical Practice: Interior Life, Integration, and Union with God

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.5 Forgiveness as a Therapeutic and Sacramental Tool, Part One: Defining Forgiveness – Review of the Research

Does forgiveness heal only in the life to come? Peter Martin, PsyD, LP, defines forgiveness with Robert Enright, separates it from forgetting and reconciliation, and reviews the research on forgiveness therapy.

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.6 Forgiveness as a Therapeutic and Sacramental Tool, Part Two: Applications of Enright's Four-Phase Forgiveness Model

How do you help a client actually forgive? Peter Martin, PsyD, LP, walks through Robert Enright's four phases, uncovering, decision, work, and deepening, with practical exercises for each.

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.7 Trauma Through a Catholic Anthropological Lens

Why do some clients who describe a happy childhood still carry trauma? Jennifer Madere, MA, LPC-S, frames trauma through Catholic anthropology and the window of tolerance, with a case of hidden relational trauma.

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.8 Safety, Stabilization & Nervous System Regulation in Catholic Practice

When is a client ready for trauma processing? Jennifer Madere, MA, LPC-S, explains why safety and stabilization come first and how to vet trauma approaches for scientific support and Catholic congruence.

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.9 Healing of Body and Soul

Individual Courses, Series 8: Interventions

8.10 Addressing Identity and Sexual Orientation with Fidelity and Compassion

How do you help a client hold faith and sexual orientation together? Julia Sadusky, PsyD, LP, presents sexual identity therapy as a third way and shows how to make your office emotionally and spiritually safe.

Individual Courses, Series 9: Moral Injury, Sacred Moral Injury, and Spiritual Abuse

9.1 Recognizing Moral and Spiritual Abuse

Some experiences of trauma cannot be fully understood through psychological symptoms alone. Clients may present with guilt, shame, betrayal, loss of trust, crisis of faith, estrangement from a faith community, or a changed relationship with God.

Individual Courses, Series 9: Moral Injury, Sacred Moral Injury, and Spiritual Abuse

9.2 Identifying Moral & Sacred Moral Distress & Injury

Why does the same betrayal wound one person and not another? Len Sperry, MD, PhD, defines moral and sacred moral distress and injury and shows how God image, attachment, and support shape risk.

Individual Courses, Series 9: Moral Injury, Sacred Moral Injury, and Spiritual Abuse

9.3 Recovery in Moral Injury and Sacred Moral Injury

When harm comes from someone who claimed to speak for God, therapy alone may not be enough. Len Sperry, MD, PhD, outlines six recovery steps and the collaborators sacred moral injury requires.

Individual Courses, Series 9: Moral Injury, Sacred Moral Injury, and Spiritual Abuse

9.4 The Moral Dimension in Clinical Practice: Discernment, Forgiveness, and Repair

How do you honor your faith when a client's choices differ? Gerry Crete, PhD, LPC, LMFT, pairs Catholic moral theology with curiosity and compassion, then shows how to facilitate forgiveness without pushing.

Individual Courses, Series 10: Ethics, Scope, and Ending Well

10.1 Advanced Ethical Decision Making

Is following the ethics code enough? Thomas Plante, PhD, ABPP, integrates professional codes with Catholic moral principles and a structured, prudent decision-making process for complex dilemmas.

Individual Courses, Series 10: Ethics, Scope, and Ending Well

10.2 Informed Consent and Scope of Practice in Faith-Based Contexts

Does your client truly understand what they agreed to? Thomas Plante, PhD, ABPP, covers informed consent, limits of confidentiality, boundaries of competence, and staying in your lane in faith-based practice.

Individual Courses, Series 10: Ethics, Scope, and Ending Well

10.3 Advanced Cultural Humility: Navigating Catholic Diversity in Practice

The Church your clients belong to may be wider than the one you know. Thomas Plante, PhD, ABPP, maps Catholic diversity and offers practices for humble, person-centered care across rites, cultures, and views.

Individual Courses, Series 10: Ethics, Scope, and Ending Well

10.4 Planning for Termination with a Focus on Catholic Spiritual Continuity

How do you end therapy well? Tim White, PsyD, frames termination as the best act of the play, covering referral, spiritually minded aftercare, rituals of gratitude, and continuity of care.