Trauma-Informed Pastoral Care (D.Min.)

Program Overview

The Doctor of Ministry in Trauma-Informed Pastoral Care is for pastors, chaplains, and ministry leaders who sit with people after the worst thing that has happened to them. Trauma is not simply severe sadness. It changes the body's alarm system, fragments memory, reshapes what feels safe, and frequently damages a person's capacity to trust God, Scripture, and the church. Ministry offered without understanding this can wound further, however kindly it is meant. The program pairs theological seriousness with clinical literacy. Students study the biblical literature of catastrophe — lament psalms, Job, Lamentations, the crucifixion narratives — alongside current understanding of traumatic stress, dissociation, complex and developmental trauma, moral injury, grief, and post-traumatic growth. The pastoral core covers presence and pacing, listening that does not interrogate, spiritual struggle and the misuse of Scripture in suffering, the ethics of confidentiality and mandated reporting, competent referral and collaboration with clinicians, and the pastor's own exposure to secondary traumatic stress. Congregational and institutional practice follows: trauma-aware preaching and liturgy, safe disclosure environments, care after community disaster, and the specific dynamics of abuse within religious settings. The applied project strengthens care in a real setting: a trauma-aware care team, a revised protocol, a chaplaincy response plan, a training curriculum for lay caregivers. Graduates serve as pastors, chaplains, care directors, and trainers, and they teach trauma-informed ministry to others.

Core Courses

• TRC 801 — Theology of Suffering and Lament (6 credits)
• TRC 812 — Trauma, the Body, and the Person (6 credits)
• TRC 824 — Pastoral Presence and Trauma-Aware Conversation (6 credits)
• TRC 836 — Ethics, Reporting, and Referral (6 credits)
• TRC 848 — Trauma-Aware Congregations and Institutions (5 credits)
• TRC 860 — Applied Research Design for Pastoral Care (4 credits)
• TRC 899 — Doctoral Ministry Project in Trauma-Informed Care (24 credits)

Admission Requirements

• Master's degree in divinity, ministry, theology, or a closely related field
• Three or more years of pastoral, chaplaincy, or ministry leadership experience
• Statement of purpose describing the ministry setting and the problem you intend to address
• Endorsement from a church, denomination, or ministry organization
• Current resume or ministry profile
• Official transcripts from prior institutions when available