Pastoral Counseling and Care hosted its biweekly class on April 17, this time highlighting the importance of ministry to the people with physical disabilities.
The training session was led by Office of Disability Accommodation Support (ODAS) Senior Executive Director Ester Warren and senior Stephen Storey. The goal of this event was to help inform graduate student counselors about how to mentor students with disabilities and provide resources for them to do so.
The idea was initiated by Storey, who felt that there needed to be a bridge between ODAS and the Office of Spiritual Development (OSD). Storey reached out to many faculty members, such as Warren and the Vice President of Spiritual Development Josh Rutledge for input and support.
Storey’s original idea was to help create a new LU Shepherd position to counsel those with disabilities, then the idea turned into in-depth training of current pastoral counselors at Liberty.
“So, it ended up getting transformed … what we can do is train the current counselors that we do have to hopefully fill that need,” Storey said.
Storey said the training session highlighted informational topics and also personable and real-life examples.
“This training session is — Dr. Warren is going to talk about all the statistics … and all the practical scenarios — I came up with them,” Storey said. “Each scenario that we are going to be walking through, I have personally experienced.”
Storey was born with cerebral palsy that affected his ability to walk. However, with strong encouragement from his family, his mentors and the brothers on his hall, his faith in Christ is stronger than ever before after his time at Liberty.
“I was able to have all my needs met through the guys on my hall, who loved me super well, who cared for me so much,” Storey said.
According to the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, there are more than 18 million people diagnosed with cerebral palsy globally, and it is one of the most common disabilities among children.
The entire presentation focused on topics such as sacred dignity, shared strength and secure belonging. These topics helped reinforce to counselors that each person is created in the image of God and taught them how creating a safe and encouraging community can help those with disabilities thrive.
President Dondi Costin and his wife Vickey made an appearance at the training to show support for Storey and the mission of the training session.
ODAS and OSD will continue to educate counselors on how to mentor and minister to those with physical disabilities.
For more information about ODAS visit https://www.liberty.edu/disability-support/ or visit https://www.liberty.edu/osd/ for details about OSD.
Gathje is the assistant feature editor for the Liberty Champion.