Connecting Horizons

What specific contribution can a spiritual counsellor or pastor make to the trauma-healing process alongside other professionals? With his own competence in the religious domain, the pastor can guide the counselee in tackling the 'Question of God' and help to restore the connection with God. This pastoral counselling demands a safe setting, safeguarding of the counselee's autonomy, and a 'non-anxious presence' by the pastor. Especially important is that the pastor adopts an open attitude which does not shy away from the counselee's (sometimes unspeakable) suffering and that he does not, in advance, take an apologetic stance. The Book of Job can help people understand and express the conflicting emotions evoked by trauma, especially in relation to God, others, and oneself. The language of Job offers words to articulate the experience of suffering and the existential questions arising from it.