Healing and Support recognises that for some, abuse by church personnel may have an especially traumatic impact on the individual’s spirituality, deeply affecting their inherent trust of the church.  In the most severe circumstances, individuals have described being sexually abused as a child by a priest, as being sexually abused by God; fracturing their relationship with the presence of God within themselves and their lives.

As with other types of healing, spiritual healing is a complex and unique journey for each person.   Consequently, Healing and Support endeavours to develop individualised approaches to meet individual needs.

Spiritual support can include:

• arranging meetings with the Bishop or a priest as requested
• accessing resources such as books and articles on spiritual healing
• organising support groups to explore the way in which abuse of themselves or of their partner, child or sibling has impacted on their faith and/or spiritual being
• facilitating attendance at spiritual retreats
• facilitating services of healing, as initiated by the group
• arranging meetings with a spiritual director.