Description & Objectives

Continuing Education Hours: 1 CE for LPC, SW, LMFT, and Psychologists - NBCC Approved

Description: Faith communities play a powerful role in shaping how victims of abuse respond to their circumstances. This session will explore how religious teachings can influence a survivor’s decision to stay or leave an abusive situation and how faith communities can either support or unintentionally harm them. Participants will learn practical strategies for engaging faith leaders in conversations about abuse and trauma, tailoring training sessions to maximize impact, and fostering safer, more informed faith spaces. The session will also highlight case studies from Called to Peace Ministries, demonstrating effective approaches to educating and transforming faith communities over the past seven years. 

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand how religious teachings and faith practices can impact a survivor’s decisions and experiences.  
  • Learn effective strategies for engaging faith communities in conversations about abuse and trauma.  
  • Develop key talking points to encourage faith leaders to seek training on abuse and trauma response.  
  • Explore how to tailor training content based on specific faith traditions, time constraints, and key challenges.  
  • Examine real-world examples of successful faith-based education efforts and their impact on survivors. 

Instructor

Joy Forrest

Joy Forrest is the founder of Called to Peace Ministries (CTPM), a nonprofit, based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, that has served victims of coercive control and sexual abuse in all 50 states and 27 nations, since 2015. CTPM offers free advocacy services, faith-based support groups, as well training for churches and people helpers. Joy is the author of Called to Peace: A Survivor's Guide to Finding Peace and Healing After Domestic Abuse and the Companion Workbook. She is a contributing author to Caring for Families Caught in Domestic Abuse, ed. Chris Moles. She holds an MA in counseling and is a certified advocate with the NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence. In the early 2000’s, Joy worked as spokesperson for a local domestic violence agency and developed a passion to help women who stay in abusive situations longer because of their faith. This passion led to the founding of CTPM, which has provided training to individuals and ministry leaders from over 1670 churches and faith-based organizations since 2020.