Dear friend,
I would like to personally welcome you to Rachel's Vineyard!
If the emotional and spiritual wounds of a past abortion have been sapping faith, love and joy from your life, I can promise, that if you enter this process for healing, your life will begin to change.
A journey into Rachel's Vineyard is a gift only you can open your heart to receive. The spiritual process of reconciliation with yourself, with God and your lost child will truly result in wholeness and freedom and a difference you will be able to feel inside your heart. This healing process will give you a deeper compassion for yourself. It's also a journey that will give you a new appreciation of your strength and courage.
By traveling a path of healing in Rachel's Vineyard, you will experience an end to isolation, despair and hopelessness. You will have the potential to revisit abandoned goals and dreams, and articulate your truest and deepest desires for your future.
Whatever your fears or hesitations may be, I encourage you to take the steps toward receiving the healing and peace that you deserve. Rachel's Vineyard provides a tried and true journey that over 100,000 women and men have traveled. You can be confident that there are wonderful people in Rachel's Vineyard who are ready and eager to accompany you.
You are not alone. A new chapter of your life awaits you. Take courage, God is calling you towards peace, love, hope, and freedom.
Dr. Theresa Burke
Founder, Rachel's Vineyard Ministries
Dr. Theresa Burke is the Founder of
Rachel’s Vineyard – the largest post abortion ministry in
the world. Her healing programs offer a unique sensory
based treatment which integrates emotional, psychological and
spiritual dimensions. The healing journey uses creative
“Living Scripture Exercises,” and rituals which engage the mind,
body, and soul. The Living Scriptures coupled with group
activities, prayer, therapeutic facilitation, cognitive
restructuring and discussions offer an effective process for
grief work grounded in Jesus Christ and the Word of God.
This distinct program provides an exceptional and effective
recovery process for victims of trauma and those who have spent
years in talk therapy, but still struggle to move beyond their
traumatic experience. Since 1993, the Rachel’s Vineyard model
has spread to 49 states and over 70 countries. The Rachel’s
Vineyard retreat is currently offered in 22 languages, with
other translations in progress.
Rachel’s Vineyard is a ministry of Priests for
Life/Gospel of Life Ministries.
Theresa has facilitated the Rachel’s
Vineyard weekend for women and men throughout the country,
training retreat teams in the method and process.
She has lectured and trained professionals
internationally on the subject of post-abortion trauma and
healing. Her books
include Forbidden Grief - The Unspoken Pain of Abortion
with David C. Reardon (Acorn Books),
The Contraception of
Grief – The Genesis of Anguish Conceived by Abortifacients and
Sterilization
and
Sharing the
Heart of Christ, with Kevin Burke.
Forbidden Grief is also available in Spanish, Duelo
Prohibido: El Dolor No Expresado del Aborto
and Russian, Запрещенные слезы. О чем не рассказывают
женщины после аборта.
Theresa also developed a five day program
for healing sexual abuse entitled – Grief to Grace –
Reclaiming the Gift of Human Dignity. This program has
been used to address all forms of abuse, including sexual abuse
from clergy and religious. Professionally crafted and
doctrinally sound, Grief to Grace provides professional
therapeutic staff and all treatment is based on a firm Christian
foundation as well as sound medical and psychological principles
and a perceptive understanding of trauma. Her treatment programs
are considered an intensive and uninterrupted “therapy for the
soul.” Theresa’s latest treatment model addresses the
spiritual and psychological trauma suffered by combat veterans.
The program is entitled Duty To Heal – Finding Peace for a
Soldiers Heart.
Future plans are also on way for two additional healing
programs: Genesis After Genocide, a program for
psychological and spiritual reconciliation and healing due to
the trauma of genocide, terrorism, and civil war; and Soul
Care to Restore the Foundation of Your Spirit: An Integrated
Psychological and Spiritual Sensory Based Treatment for Medical
Trauma for those who have suffered with trauma from cancer
treatments, surgical procedures, and other traumatic illnesses.
Theresa serves as a Pastoral Associate of
Priests for Life and for the newly formed Apostolic
Society, Missionaries of the Gospel of Life.
She recently presented as
an expert for the 2011 Pontifical Academy of Life’s General
Assembly. Her topic
was The Aftermath of Abortion: Data from Scientific
Literature.
Theresa’s counseling work has
focused on women’s issues, bereavement, pregnancy loss, sexual
abuse, eating disorders and anxiety management. She is the co-administrator and founder of Covenant
Family Resources, a licensed Children and Youth Agency which
supports couples as they build families through adoption. Theresa and her husband ran Mother’s Home, a crisis pregnancy residence, which provided housing and computer job training for women in crisis pregnancy and their children.
Theresa holds an undergraduate
degree in English Communications with a concentration in social
work. Theresa went on to Immaculata University to earn an M.A.
and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. She is a Nationally Certified Psychologist, a Certified
Diplomat of the American Psychotherapy Association, a Licensed
Professional Counselor, a Board Certified Clinical
Psychotherapist, and a Diplomat of the American Board of
Forensic Counselors.
She holds membership in the Society for Catholic Social
Scientists and the American Association of Christian Counselors. Theresa is the proud mother of five children.