November 2012 Eastern Region Newsletter

Eastern Leadership March 2013

Chair:  Tom Willingham, tom@thomaswillingham.com

Vice Chair: Bob Gunn, robertgunn@mac.com

Secretary: Angella Son- ason@drew.edu

Treasurer: John Bauman, johnpbauman@gmail.com

Formation: Hennie Lavengood, hlavengood@aol.com

Leadership Development: Thea Crites, hithea2012@gmail.com

Certification: Paul Pitkin, pitkinpaul@hotmail.com

Theological and Social Concerns: Penny Gadzini,pennygadzini@aol.com

EASTERN REGION NEWSLETTER- October 29, 2012

Notices and News from the Region

 From the Chair, Eastern Region, AAPC:

Here's hoping that things are well with you and yours and that you are blessed in your ministry in pastoral care and counseling. 

The sands continue to shift in AAPC as we open our membership to all people of related disciplines who agree with our mission statement, while also continuing to credential those who seek certification.  Otherwise, through our  "Products and Services" division, the Association seeks to facilitate networking amongst membership and offer both programmatic and educational resources to support our members in their work.  If you haven't checked out the renovated AAPC website lately, give it a look.  If you have trouble logging in, call the Association office at (703) 385-6967 and someone will be happy to help you get connected. 

In other news, Henrietta Lavengood is now our "official" cluster group coordinator for the New York Metro area, including NJ.  Watch for announcements of local gatherings, which are wonderful opportunities for collecting some CEU's while enjoying collegial fellowship.  If you would like to see a cluster group form in your geographical area, let us know as we are looking to expand cluster groups into other areas of the region. 

Please plan to join with colleagues for our fall conference held again in conjunction with the Northeast Region at the Williams Inn in Williamstown, MA, November 9-10. The conference theme is a round "The Mosaic of Grief," presented by Melissa Kelly, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling and Faculty Director of the Professional Ministry Practicum at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.  Our "Distinguished Service Awards" at this conference will go to the Rev. Dr. Miriam Koo and the Rev. Dr. Joshua Hoyeong Jong for their work in the development and advancement of pastoral care and counseling training within the Korean community.

You can register for this conference through the Eastern Region link at <aapc.org> or by contacting registrar John Messerschmitt at (413) 499-4090, X 160.

Of interest may also be the fact that there will not be an Association Conference as usual in the spring of 2013, giving time for regions to focus locally and to anticipate the 50^th Anniversary celebration of the Association at our spring meeting of 2014 in St. Louis, birthplace of the Association. 

Best to all! Tom Willingham, Chair

NEWS FROM THE MEMBERSHIP

 Ann Ulanov has a new email address. It is ann.ulanov@gmail.com

The Riverside Church Pastoral Counseling Center has closed. Blanton Peale Counseling Center has moved into the tower at Riverside Church, and now offers pastoral counseling services there to members of Riverside as well as to the public.

Blanton Peale Institute has moved! The training center is now located in 475 Riverside Drive, The Interchurch Center. Watch for announcements of events celebrating Blanton Peale's 75^th anniversary year.

 B. Bianca Podesta writes:

               In 2011 I published my first book: Scleroderma Coping Strategies:www.sclerodermacoping.com 

As a person who has been afflicted for many years with this autoimmune connective tissue disease, I wanted to offer encouragement to other patients, as well as providing information for health professionals who may, because of the rarity of this condition, have had little awareness of or experience with it.  Scleroderma, a sister to Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis, is also called: Systemic Sclerosis.

               My training in psychology and pastoral counseling was an excellent resource for much of this project as I developed chapters such as "Groups", "Work and Love, and "Desperation Retreat".  Lee S. Shapiro, M.D., my rheumatologist and a scleroderma specialist, wrote the Foreword and reviewed the manuscript for medical accuracy.  Theological threads are woven into the text and journal excerpts. "Spirit", the last of the 17 chapters, begins by making a case for a contemplative reality, a concept introduced by Keriakos C. Markides inThe Silent Mountain.

My readers tell me the journal excerpts are what make them keep turning the pages because they provide windows into a life with the various ways one can be affected by this often handicapping condition. The excerpts also are a source of humor-- something this salt-of-the-earth wannabe could not do without.

In the summer of 2012, my writing coach invited his students to make submissions toPaddlewheel, a literary anthology published October, 2012 here in New York.  "Elmer Rising" and "The Yellow Truck", two personal essays of mine start off this book of poems and stories.  I continue to work on a collection of essays for what I hope will become another book--true reports about how different people experience God in 'miracles'.

I am deeply grateful for this new opportunity to listen and to create, as my visible life as pastor and pastoral counselor fades and my invisible life as a child of faith and vision begins to grow brighter.

SEND NEWS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOUR AAPC COLLEAGUES TO: hithea2004@yahoo.com