PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Rev. Dr. Myrna Thurmond-Malone is a pastoral psychotherapist and received her educational training at the College of St. Elizabeth, Berkeley College, Mercer University, the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), Columbia Theological Seminary, Higher Impact Training and Counseling (HITC), Anger Management Institute, and International Association of Trauma Professionals. In her quest for learning, cultivating, and crafting her skills, she pursued additional extensive training in clinical pastoral education, and clinical pastoral counseling and psychotherapy. She completed twelve months of clinical pastoral education at St. Luke's Counseling Center and Emory Center for Pastoral Services; and eighteen months of clinical pastoral counseling and psychotherapy training at Care and Counseling Center of Georgia. In her desire to provide relevant and transformative care, Rev. Dr. Thurmond-Malone is currently attending The Chicago School of Professional Psychology studying clinical psychopharmacology. In addition to operating her clinical practice, she serves as a staff chaplain/pastoral counselor in the Department of Spiritual Health at Emory Healthcare, an adjunct professor, researcher, author, wife, mother, daughter, and sister.
Dr. Thurmond-Malone offers a compelling and relevant metaphor, 'midwifing, ' for pastoral counseling with African American women. The empowering approach to healing proposed in this volume addresses both the ongoing contemporary stressors of racism and sexism, and the lasting intergenerational traumatic impact and psychic legacy of slavery on Black women's current reality. The stories she shares from women in pastoral conversation are spiritually and emotionally rich and compelling, and help to show a pathway from suffering to surviving to thriving. --Pamela Cooper-White, Union Theological Seminary
