Thank you for your interest in OINTMENT, the Orthodox Institute of Neptic Training for Mental, Emotional, and Noetic Therapy. Our mission is to promote the awareness of the living therapeutic tradition of the Orthodox Church as the chief means of healing individuals. We seek to accomplish this through ongoing symposiums and by facilitating the connection of like minded clergy and clinicians during the therapeutic healing process of souls. Many people in the world and in the Church are dealing with complex or debilitating symptoms of mental illness, addiction, personality disorders, and other spiritual deficiencies which often become the point of focus for caregivers; therefore, addressing the spiritual core of the soul’s illness and fostering a true spiritual relationship with Christ proves to be more of a challenge for many priests.
Our hope is to provide a directory of both clergy and clinicians that have undergone a screening process, ensuring that all members who are listed agree with our principles and understanding of the therapeutic process. The following list serves as a basic understanding of our core principles:
- The Orthodox Church contains within Herself all that is needed to facilitate the healing of a broken soul. Ultimately an individual must participate in active repentance through engaging the sacramental life to be fully transformed.
- Clinians provide support for clergy in the form of additional time spent and providing tools for praxis in day-to-day struggles. Clinians must be aware that they are not operating outside the church on a trajectory parallel to sacramental life, but within an integrated union. Therefore the ability to communicate the timeless truths of the Church in contemporary terms is critical.
- The origins of many psychotherapy techniques are not rooted within the therapeutic understanding of the church, and therefore much discernment is needed on behalf of clinians and priests when deciding which modalities to implement. Ideally, these practices are blessed and understood by the priest.
- Both clergy and clinicians must have the desire to learn and understand the appropriate circumstances in which they would make a referral to one another. They must be able to identify and diagnose to a certain extent an emotional, mental, or spiritual issue, while also recognizing that it is often detrimental to compartmentalize any of these components.
If you are a clergy member or a clinician who is interested in joining our directory and/or participating in ongoing educational opportunities, please provide your email and a little bit about yourself. If you are not a clergy member or a clinician, you are welcome to send us questions or prayer requests. Please pray that God continues to bless us and support us in this work that we whole-heartedly believe will benefit the souls that are in need of healing and reconciliation with Christ and His Church.