Our Services
FaithBridge Healing Workshops and Retreats are facilitated opportunities for women to come together in a collective sisterhood and "change the conversation" about their past hurt and trauma. Lisa Saunders, Executive Director of FaithBridge calls them "Crystal Gatherings".
Why Crystal? Lisa explains it like this:
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to take a good look at a beautiful piece of handcrafted crystal, or seen a beautiful crystal agate cut out of the earth, the many facets of that object is what captures your imagination. Every cut and groove, whether made by the human hand of a craftsman, or the unseen but very real hand of our creator, serves a purpose. Those very facets are what reflect light.
Well, my dear Sister, consider your life. Think about all the people, situations, and circumstances you’ve encountered in your journey through life. Think about their collective affect on who you are today. Now…let’s change the conversation! You know - the conversation we have with ourselves from time to time. That one that starts off thinking about a past hurt or painful encounter, and ultimately leads to us being: angry, bitter, distrustful, jealous, envious, etc. We can change THAT conversation today! We can’t change what happened in our past. But we can change how we view it and walk in it today.
Workshops and retreats are both intimate and lively. Attendance size is kept at a comfortable size as to allow for free flow of conversation. Confidence is strictly enforced. There's lots of laughing, crying, and ultimately, healing.
Check our UPCOMING EVENTS PAGE for our schedule of upcoming workshops and retreats.
FaithBridge welcomes opportunities to partner with local agencies to offer a program alternative for Black women in trauma recovery programs that speaks directly to their unique faith needs, and believes that access to faith centered services is indeed an EQUITY ISSUE.
But while FaithBridge is a Christian Centered organization, the workshops conducted for contracted partners are "faith neutral" -meaning that references to gaining strength from faith are not specific to any faith. While it is true that Christian faith is vitally important to Black women, these specific workshop gatherings are aspirational and not Christian specific. Women are free to exercise the faith of their choosing (or none at all).
Workshops are facilitated by Lisa Saunders, a Certified Peer Support Specialist in Adult Mental Health with lived experience in mental health and trauma recovery, and Executive Director of FaithBridge.
Why the emphasis on Black Women and Faith?
Because Black women don’t always have agency to choose how they heal, and because in times of extreme stress Black women seek solace in their faith.
According to “The Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation Black Women in America survey”:
In times of turmoil, about 87% of black women — much more than any other group — say they turn to their faith to get through.
Workshop content is aspirational and is not specific to a faith practice.