Equipping Counselors to Facilitate Abortion Healing

In July of last year, several members of the Vitae team had the opportunity to go to the campus of Benedictine College for a three-day strategic planning meeting. Thanks to Vitae and Benedictine Board member Craig Husting and Benedictine President Stephen Minnis,
we were able to spend some extremely valuable time planning for the future of our organization in a beautiful and special location. For me, this was as much of a spiritual retreat as it was an intense three-day planning and strategy session. The Benedictine wisdom of “Ora et Labora” (pray and work) shone through during our time at the college.

Building upon the foundation that was laid last July, under the leadership and vision of our President, Brandy Meeks, with the involvement of each member of our Vitae team, and the approval of Founder and Strategic Advisor, Carl Landwehr, Vitae Foundation has outlined an exciting strategic plan for the future.

What this looks like, firstly, is an ongoing commitment to serve the Pro-Life Movement as the leader in Emotional Research. By actively, intentionally and determinedly sharing research and messaging approaches with carefully selected groups of “culture influencers,” we believe we will be able to have a far-reaching impact on the culture. These key groups include pregnancy centers, pro-life peer organizations, policymakers, attorneys, conservative media, pastors, medical professionals and counselors.

I would like to focus, briefly, on the last group since our most recent study on abortion healing revealed several interesting findings related to women seeking counseling after abortion. Tragically, most of the women we interviewed had not sought any sort of counseling or healing from their abortion, despite experiencing significant sadness, grief, guilt, regret and other mental health issues. The ones who had sought counseling experienced mixed results: some reported that they did find it beneficial, and others, unfortunately, did not experience healing from the many problems associated with their past abortions. This could be because these professionals are not well-trained in how to guide people through trauma specific to abortion. It could also be because they minimize and even fail to treat abortion-related trauma due to their own pro-abortion viewpoint or that of the American Psychological Association. Regrettably, it will be difficult to change the mindset of pro-abortion mental health professionals (even with evidence-based research).

However, helping Christian and other open-minded counselors understand the emotional state of women (and men) who are in need of healing from abortion is achievable and vital. Our research findings can open the door for them to pursue additional training to be better equipped to help the millions of individuals who deal with brokenness from past abortions.

There are many excellent abortion healing programs and organizations, including Project Rachel, Deeper Still, Rachel’s Vineyard, Save One, Support After Abortion, and many others. Helping them become even more effective at messaging to women (and men) and encouraging them to seek out healing retreats and programs is very much in line with our focus on reaching counselors.

Our past research demonstrates a need for counselors to receive this critical information. Lives and souls are at risk due to the widespread fallout from past abortions. Women and men who have been involved in abortions need to know that healing and forgiveness are possible.

By edifying and empowering this unique group of culture influencers (counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists), we aim to have a multiplying effect, which will allow us to save many more lives and touch many more souls. This is an exciting prospect and one that I hope inspires Vitae supporters across the nation. Like so many other great things, it all began with a good bit of prayer and work!