Pastoral    Counseling   Center, Inc

INDIVIDUAL    COUPLE    FAMILY    AND   GROUP    PASTORAL    pYCHOTHERAPY

                                                                               Fund for Healing 2007

 One day an 82 year old arrived at his doctor’s office to have stitches removed. He was in a hurry, as his wife was awaiting him at her nursing home.

 He said his wife had Alzheimer’s and had not recognized him for five years. The nurse wondered why he would go every day to visit his wife even though she had lost her memory.  The husband said, “She may not know who I am but I know who she is.”

 When I first heard that story I never thought it would one day apply to me. One of my two brothers, Dave, is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s. He also has a secondary diagnosis of reduplicative par amnesia. He just turned 65. My sister-in-law has been through living hell the past couple of years, as she has taken close care of Dave.  He now lives in a memory care center.

Memory is mysterious. Sometimes we forget who we are. Sometimes we have barely known.  Sometimes we have felt compelled to be someone else. Memory is also sacred.

The Pastoral Counseling Center is a ministry that remembers who people are, even though they may have forgotten, or their unique identity has gotten lost in their job, marriage, family, parenting, addictions, diseases, traumas, or aging.

Weaknesses can overwhelm and we can forget our strengths. Superficiality can drive us and we can forget our depth. Easy answers can taste good and we can forget how complicatedly beautiful life is. Traumas and illnesses can paralyze us and we can forget our prayers.  Relationships can require us to sell out ourselves and we can forget our integrity. Daily life can drown in anxious pressure and fearful stresses and we can lose our perspective and our sense of humor.

The ministry of remembering who people are is at the heart of pastoral counseling. When I talk with my brother, often he is only able to listen. I have to tell him who I am and then the stories from long ago pour out, as he listens intently and we laugh, and sometimes we cry.  I often say “Dave, you are my brother,” remember?” He pauses and says “I remember.”  Behind his nightmare of Alzheimer’s is a person I will always remember.   

I have noticed that in being remembered our clients often find a healing wave of deeper life. Fresh courage is  often felt, reminding me of what Aninis Nin once said: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

Remembering our Fund for Healing with your generous contribution is immensely appreciated, as it helps us sustain the ministry of the Pastoral Counseling Center, which is now the only Center in central Connecticut.                                                                          Warmly, Bob

Offices:    Glastonbury       East Hartford       Manchester      Rocky Hill       Hartfordl       Windsor 

DIRECTOR: REV. DR. ROBERT S. HENDERSON