Mighty prophet/wounded healer

Abstract

The concept of wounded healer is revisited from the perspective of a pastoral counselor working in a pastoral counseling center, and this experience is generalized to pastoral caregivers working in other settings. Three types of wounds are reviewed: wounds resulting from the life experience of the caregiver, wounds resulting from listening to and containing the horrendous content and emotionally laden nature of client stories, and wounds brought about by doing our work within an unsupportive culture. Properly dealt with, these wounds offer a foundation of shared life experience connecting us with our clients. Coupled with messages clients bring us about hurtful and destructive aspects of our culture, these wounds also call us to become mighty prophets. In this role, we are urged to move outside our normal practice contexts into the larger community, and to speak out against social forces that hurt and destroy the selves and souls of persons.