The American Bible Society has announced the launch of the Trauma Healing Institute, coming alongside the She's my Sister initiative as part of their Restoration Programs.

John Walter, executive director of Restoration Programs for the American Bible Society, explains:

"This addition provides technical and programmatic assistance to Bible Societies and other partners who are helping the Church respond to people’s deep spiritual and emotional wounds with God’s healing Word. It does so using the program model developed with She’s My Sister in Great Lakes Africa.

Dr. Harriet Hill, one of the four authors of Healing the Wounds of Trauma, has been appointed as program director. The Institute is already responding to requests from other parts of Africa, as well as Latin America, Haiti, and South Asia—in each case taking advantage of the existing expertise of the United Bible Societies in translation, contextualization, digital delivery, publishing and Scripture engagement.

The Institute is equipping and certifying master facilitators in trauma healing, who can then introduce the model to others in their region. This is one of the ways we are going to help the Church serve the estimated one in seven people worldwide for whom trauma is an obstacle to an encounter with God’s Word."

(Source: She's My Sister Update August 2012)

See the Trauma Healing Institute website for more information and for resources from the global Trauma Healing Community of Practice.