WEEK 1: A Narrative Mind and the Importance of Story

Because we have a narrative mind, humans make sense of life through story. This truth helps the listener understand the importance of engaging the stories of those they lead and care about.

OBJECTIVES
• Participants will understand the implications of having a narrative mind.
• Participants will be able to describe key terms such as coherence, integration, metanarratives and counternarratives as they relate to listening and storytelling.
• Participants will be able to differentiate the intention and experience of empathic listening compared to other levels of listening. 

 WEEK 2: The Soul, Integration & Wellbeing

Conceptualizing the soul can empower the listener to see beyond and beneath the story being told. This module offers a model of the soul that provides a visual representation to remind listeners to be attuned to both the seen and unseen dimensions of the story. This awareness and intention allow the speaker to feel more fully known.

OBJECTIVES
• Participants will be able to identify key dimensions of the soul (heart, spirit, mind, body, behavior and relationships) as they relate to integration and wellbeing.
• Participants will begin to understand the importance of attunement to each of these dimensions both within and between the listener and the speaker so that an individual feels seen, heard, and understood.
• Participants will recognize the role shame and self-protection play to disconnect
both listeners and speakers from the truest story about their past/present
experiences.

WEEK 3: The Nervous System: Right/Left Brain

This module will offer a brief overview of the right brain and left brain as it relates to embodiment, presence, and attunement. Since these are primarily non-verbal skills, listeners need to understand how and why implicit communication (non-verbal, right brain to right brain) is far more important than explicit communication (verbal, left brain to left brain) while listening.

OBJECTIVES
• Participants will begin to understand the role of the right brain as it relates to embodiment, presence and attunement.
• Participants will learn how the left brain often serves to cut off and overshadow the present experience for both the listener and the speaker/storyteller.
• Participants will be able to integrate this knowledge with listening skills that focus on non-verbal communication.

WEEK 4: The Nervous System & Stress/Anxiety.

Empathic listeners recognize the role that stress/anxiety play in a person’s life. They also know how co-regulation can positively influence the state of a speaker, thereby reducing a protective stance and increasing vulnerability in the way they share parts of
their story. This module will describe the role of the nervous system in the felt experience of stress and anxiety.

OBJECTIVES
• Participants will be able to state what the nervous system is always looking to be safe, seen, soothed, & secure.
• Participants will understand how fight/flight/freeze/fawn responses within the speaker and the listener play a role in both storytelling and engagement with the story.
• Participants will learn basic tools to help them regulate themselves so that the speaker can co-regulate and express themselves more safely and freely.

WEEK 5: Attachment

This module will build on the nervous system modules to help the listener understand how attachment styles are always at play in relationships. Listeners benefit from knowing that they can foster a more secure attachment style in others simply by the way they hold space, reflect the heart of the Father, and engage a story.

OBJECTIVES
• Participants will understand the basics of attachment theory.
• Participants will recognize how the Grand Narrative of Scripture highlights God as the ultimate attachment figure, always offering a secure base and safe haven.
• Participants will learn how attachment styles impact both the listener and the speaker in they see or dismiss, engage or disengage parts of a story.

WEEK 6: Pain & Shame

Empathic listeners play an important role in extinguishing shame and inviting vulnerability as they reflect the presence and posture of the Great Shepherd. This module will explain the four broad categories of pain and the impact that these have on the soul. Because shame is likely to presence itself where there is pain, protective responses that serve to hide and dis-integrate the soul will also be explored.

OBJECTIVES
• Participants will be able to name the four categories of pain.
• Participants will increase their understanding of shame as a weapon of the Enemy to disrupt, disconnect and ultimately destroy individuals.
• Participants will understand how empathic listeners extinguish pain by offering compassionate presence as individuals name difficult and painful parts of their stories.

WEEK 7: Primer on Trauma

This module will offer a brief overview of the impact of trauma on the mind, body, spirit, and relationships. Participants will deepen their understanding and compassion toward individuals impacted by traumatic upbringings or experiences. Listeners will learn how to reduce re-traumatization and maximize safety.

OBJECTIVES
• Participants will increase their understanding of the impact of trauma.
• Participants will understand how fragmentation and dissociation impact mental health and their ability to connect and tell stories in a coherent manner.
• Participants will be able to implement helpful strategies that empower them to safely and effectively engage with individuals who have experienced trauma.

WEEK 8: Soul Care

This module will focus on the importance of soul care in the life of an empathic, spirit-lead listener. Fostering integration in others requires integration or connections within and between dimensions of your own soul. Helpful practices to help the heart, mind, body, and relationships remain connected within and between oneself, God and a community of witnesses will be discussed.

OBJECTIVES
• Using the biopsychosocial spiritual model of the soul participants will be reminded of the importance of an ongoing attachment relationship with God and a community of safe witnesses.
• Participants will attune to and assess each dimension within themselves to name where they may benefit from increased care.
• Participants will increase their awareness of helpful practices that facilitate connectivity within and between their own heart, mind, body, behavior, and relationships.