This clinical presentation is a brief overview of the Baars-Terruwe Model that therapists can utilize to build upon the anthropology of St. Thomas Aquinas in their clinical work. Understanding and communicating Aquinas’ view of the role of the emotions in supporting reason and will towards the choice of the good is a touchstone for clients who distrust their emotions and feelings for one reason or another. Development of affectivity, or the capacity to be moved by the emotions of love, desire and joy, provides a way to promote integration of intellect and will with the emotions. Aiding clients to develop their emotional life through cultivating affectivity overcomes the objection that one must always use one’s willpower to do what is right– which can make Christian life seem an obligation and a drudgery. This model promotes the growth of the emotional life so that life becomes more effortless and joyful.
Target Audience: Students, psychologists, social workers, counselors, marriage & family therapists
Course Content Level: Intermediate
Learning Objectives:
This program does not qualify for NBCC credits
Dr. Sue Baars has worked extensively in the field of counseling since 1986 in both hospital and outpatient settings. She provides individual, marriage, and family therapy in Irving, Texas, where she is privileged to collaborate with a team of Catholic therapists and psychiatric nurse practitioners at In His Image Counseling Center. Sue bases her treatment of emotional and spiritual problems on the integration of the Christian anthropology of St. Thomas Aquinas with modern psychological discoveries. She has presented at Catholic conferences around the country and has been a guest on EWTN’s Women of Grace. She often presents the work of her late father, psychiatrist and author Conrad Baars, a pioneer in the field of Catholic psychology. Sue cites the cultural erosion of the family as the root of the lack of affirmation from which many people in our time suffer.
Sue’s lectures include a series of talks given to priests: The Abode of Love: Developing the Heart. She and a colleague edited a collection of her father’s articles and monographs related to the priesthood entitled, “I Will Give Them a New Heart: Reflections on the Priesthood and the Renewal of the Church.” Sue was on the faculty of the Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF) from 2008 to 2015, where she taught diocesan seminarians. Sue has also written several book chapters on priestly formation. At present, she is working on developing a curriculum to train therapists in the Baars/Terruwe Model of psychotherapy. Sue is a Past President of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association and holds a doctorate in Family Therapy from Texas Woman’s University.
Information about Affirmation therapy and the Baars/Terruwe Model of psychotherapy may be found at www.BaarsInstitute.com. For appointments, please visit ihicounseling.com.