Making sense of your past for a flourishing future
He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. ~ Daniel 2:22
Healing begins when we stop rehearsing our own version of the story and start listening for what we've missed. ~ Dr. Curt Thompson
What is Story Care?
Shalom Story Care is a ministry that brings witness and skillful care to the past and present stories that frame our lives. Available individually, or as a supplement to church-led care, we offer trauma-informed narrative engagement that explores tender life experiences with curiosity and kindness.
Story Care, sometimes called story work or story engagement, gives individuals the opportunity to go deeper into the joyful and harmful stories that have particularly shaped them. Often these defining experiences occurred during childhood.
Everyone does story work a little differently. At Shalom Story Care, a typical story exploration looks like this: responding to a writing prompt, the client shares a 2-3 page narrative of a particular scene or memory. Then, the client and guide process the story together, usually over several sessions. Each story is an opportunity to explore significant themes in a person’s narrative, their style of relating which was formed and cultivated throughout their childhood, and the impact of their past story on their current relationships.
Making sense of our stories is foundational to healing and, ultimately, flourishing: living into God’s good design for each of us. We begin with the knowledge that God is the author of all of our stories and we are guided by the belief that each story can reveal something of the unique goodness and glory of God’s design for each person.
Is Story Care the same as therapy?
Story Care is not therapy, though the two may look and feel very similar to the client. The important distinction of therapy is that licensed therapists are qualified to diagnose and address issues of mental health. Individuals currently in crisis or experiencing acute mental health symptoms will be better served by a clinical therapist.
Clients choose Shalom Story Care to seek understanding of themselves and how s/he relates to others and to God. At times, they come seeking healing from harm or unprocessed trauma.
Examples of clients include:
A mom who wants to understand why she keeps losing her temper with her kids
An overwhelmed ministry professional drowning under the needs of others
A grandmother who wants to understand her story so she can offer repentance and repair to her adult children
A young father who wants to be more emotionally connected to his wife and kids
Some potential reasons you may want to pursue story care are a desire for:
Understanding how your past is showing up in your present
Deeper awareness of God’s presence in your story
Greater compassion for yourself and others
Healing particular places of shame
Moving towards present flourishing
Available virtually and in-person in Richmond’s West End.
Offerings
Recommended for those new to story work. Includes a 30-minute orientation call and seven 50-minute sessions engaging a minimum of two stories.
Introductory Story Exploration
Available to those who have completed a round of Story Exploration or NFTC Level 1 with The Allender Center. Includes five 50-minute sessions engaging up to two stories, with the option to continue.
Story Engagement
Co-counseling with pastors, elders and other care ministers, or limited one-on-one counseling with a congregant as part of a church-led plan of care.
Support for Church-Led Care
“In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight--a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed…”
~ Cornelius Plantinga Jr.
About Me
Erin Holler
I seek to be an honoring witness to the stories of others, especially those that are harder to share. As someone who is well-acquainted with grief, suffering, and shame in my own story, my courage and my kindness are handy in the hard-to-share places of others’ stories. I seek to be a lantern-bearer, inviting the light of the Holy Spirit into those shadowy places, where I believe there are clues to be found about how our past inhibits our present flourishing - our fully living into God’s good design for each of us.
Shalom Story Care stems from my years in church ministry, where I witnessed a gap between the level of care church leaders are able to provide and the clinical care offered by licensed therapists. I was one of those church leaders who, though desiring to care well for others, often felt inadequate in my skill or overwhelmed with demands on my time. The best option was referring people to licensed therapists, but not everyone needs clinical counseling or needs to address issues of mental health. Still, when we’re hurting, we all need another person to help us make sense of what we’re experiencing.
Today, I have over 20 years of experience in ministry and social-service settings and am certified in Narrative Focused Trauma Care® from The Allender Center, where I am currently a facilitator. My extensive training and supervision have trained me to engage categories such as attachment, betrayal, powerlessness, repentance, styles of relating, shame, and sexual harm. And my 15 years of direct care ministry have given me an added lens of curiosity around God’s presence and care in the midst of life’s hardships.
Personally, I first discovered I had a story in 2013 through The Barnabas Center in Richmond, VA, where I still reside. Since then, I have facilitated a variety of opportunities for people to grow deeper in their connections to themselves, others, and Christ.
“Erin is very gifted at creating a safe and warm space and so skilled at asking good questions. She is a wise and gentle guide. I loved being cared for by her.”
“As a pastor, I appreciate two things among many about Erin and the approach of Shalom Story Care: she desires to coordinate care with the local church in helping individuals and couples find healing and growth. Secondly, I have personally seen her care for folks in need with compassion and Christ-centered wisdom.”
“Erin held my stories with such gentleness and respect, and helped guide me toward naming what is true in my life, processing both the beauty and the brokenness I have experienced. It meant so much to be seen, heard, and accompanied in this way.”