Dismantling Shame and Empowering Reconciliation

‘Dismantling Shame and Empowering Reconciliation’ is the focus of the Transforming Shame Network’s third online symposium. Taking place from 9.30am-12.30pm on Thursday 9th February 2023, it will comprise a mix of speakers, break out discussions and creative interludes. Each will offer different perspectives on the effect that shame has on our relationship with God, self and others.

Together we will explore the barrier that shame causes to reconciliation across all areas of our lives, an under-researched yet vital aspect of individual and community transformation both within and outside the Church. Our key contributors will be Laura Wheatley Downs, currently the vicar of St. John the Baptist church, Crowthorne, and Lucie Lunn, an Anglican priest who’s spent most of her adult life in Cumbria and now lives with her family on the Furness Peninsula.

What will the speakers talk about?

Talk 1: The Dis-regulating Other: identifying and reframing our personal stumbling blocks to reconciliation

Lucie Lunn was called to ordained ministry over ten years ago. In 2019 Lucie took part in the first Journey of Hope Pilgrimage with Reconcilers Together, an experience which brought into sharp focus her own story of ‘reconciliation with self’.

Talk 2: Impossible Resurrections: Tamar

Laura Wheatley Downs will concentrate on the biblical story of Tamar, identifying resources for reconciliation in faith-based settings as we seek to better understand Tamar’s shame. Laura is in the second year of her PhD looking at the relationship between trauma, shame, and reconciliation, thinking particularly about interpersonal abuse.

How can I participate?

There will be plenty of opportunities to take part, through:

• Breakout room discussions

• Creative reflections

When, where and how much?

The event runs online on Thursday 9th February 2022 from 9.30am to 12.30pm, with a number of short screen breaks. A link will be sent in the week before the event.

Tickets cost £15.

We only have 120 places available, so book soon to guarantee a place!

A reduced price is available for the unwaged. Please email shametransforming@gmail.com if you need this assistance. We don’t want anyone to miss out for financial reasons.

All proceeds will cover admin costs and support the on-going work of the Transforming Shame Network.

The Transforming Shame Network is a community willing and wanting to share human experience, ministerial practice, academic research and creativity with the hope of transforming shame within church and culture.

Find out more at: www.transformingshame.co.uk