World Impact - Transforming Communities Together.

Training to Help You Create Spaces for Healing

World Impact partners with the Trauma Healing Institute (THI) to present their proven, Bible-based trauma healing approach.

Are You Looking for Training to Serve Adults and Teens in Their Healing Journeys?

Using a participatory model, groups of people are brought together in safe, supportive environments to help one another heal.

Healing groups are facilitated by trained leaders who guide participants through biblically grounded lessons, creating space to share their pain, listen to others, and experience God’s comfort and the encouragement of a caring community.

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Why Trauma Healing is Needed

Trauma is a deep wound of the heart and mind. It can hinder spiritual growth, strain relationships, and weaken communities.

Across the U.S., and around the world, people are carrying deep emotional wounds from violence, abandonment, systemic injustice, abuse, loss, disasters, or other painful events. Trauma affects how individuals see themselves, others, and God.

Without healing, trauma can hinder spiritual growth, strain relationships, and weaken communities. Trauma healing strengthens both individuals and congregations, aligning with World Impact’s mission to see healthier churches in communities experiencing poverty, domestically and internationally.

Trauma healing supports this mission by restoring broken hearts, equipping and empowering leaders, partnering with local churches, and creating resilient Christ-centered communities.

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Domestic Statistics

  • 70% of U.S. adults report at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. (National Council for Mental Wellbeing)
  • 1 in 4 adults experienced four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). (CDC)
  • Churches are often the first place people turn for help, but many leaders feel ill-equipped to respond to trauma.

Global Statistics

  • 1 billion children globally experience violence each year. (WHO)
  • Less than 10% in low-resource countries have access to trauma support. (World Bank)
  • Faith communities are often the most sustainable and culturally trusted sources of care.

How to Get Started on Your Trauma Healing Training Journey with World Impact

Isaiah 61:1 – “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

Attend a Mini Training

These shorter, stand-alone sessions address specific trauma-related needs and may also incorporate one or more of the six core lessons for targeted learning. These 90-minute to 3-hour sessions are great for introductory settings or one-day events.  Current offerings include:

  1. Moral Injury – Understanding harm done to one’s conscience or moral code.
  2. How Can We Help Children Who Have Experienced Bad Things? – Supporting children in trauma recovery.
  3. Rape and Other Forms of Sexual Assault – Care for survivors biblically and compassionately.
  4. HIV and AIDS – Addressing stigma, grief, and care.
  5. Domestic Abuse – Helping survivors find safety and healing.
  6. Suicide – Prevention, intervention, and postvention care.
  7. Addictions – Understanding root causes and supporting recovery.
  8. Caring for the Caregiver – Preventing burnout and nurturing those who serve.
  9. How Can We Live as Christians in the Midst of Conflict? – Biblical guidance for turbulent times.
  10. Preparing for Trouble – Building resilience before crisis hits.

Attend a Healing Group

Healing groups can meet in several formats: multiple days in a row, in a retreat format, or once a week over several months. The minimum time for a healing group is 12 hours. Optional lessons range from 1.5 to just over 2 hours.

A small group (6–12 people) meeting for 12–15 hours to engage in Scripture and the six core lessons in a safe, supportive space.

Six Core Lessons:

  1. If God loves us, why do we suffer?
  2. What is a wound of the heart?
  3. What can help our heart wounds heal?
  4. What happens when someone is grieving?
  5. Bringing our pain to the cross
  6. How can we forgive others?
  1. Initial Equipping (Step 1)
    Purpose: Explore personal heart wounds and learn to help others. Gain foundational knowledge of trauma healing content and facilitation skills.
    Outcome: Becomes an Apprentice Facilitator, authorized to conduct a practicum.
    Initial Equipping sessions require additional time to cover facilitator logistics training.
  2. Practicum (Step 2)
    Purpose: Apply learning by co-leading at least two healing groups using the participatory method, while submitting reflective reports.
    Outcome: Eligible for Advanced Equipping.
  3. Advanced Equipping (Step 3)
    Purpose: Strengthen facilitation skills, share practicum experiences, and plan for long-term trauma healing ministry.
    Outcome: Certification as a Healing Group Facilitator—the most important role in the program, leading healing groups and supporting participants.
  4. Training Facilitator (by invitation)
    Role: Continue leading healing groups while equipping others to become Healing Group Facilitators by organizing and co-leading Initial Equipping sessions, leading Advanced Equipping sessions, approving and mentoring Apprentice Facilitators, mentoring new facilitators, and helping expand the reach of trauma healing.
  5. Master Facilitator (by invitation)
    Role: Serve as a regional or national leader, organize and facilitate Advanced Equipping sessions, mentor Trainers, help shape development, strategize for program growth, and may establish or launch their own trauma healing ministry/program independently.

A Trauma Healing Hub is a safe and sacred space within a church, ministry, or local organization where trained trauma healing facilitators offer Bible-based healing groups to help individuals process and recover from emotional, spiritual, and psychological wounds.

These hubs serve both church members and the broader community—bringing hope, healing, and restoration through God’s Word.

Healing Hub 6-Step Process

Each Trauma Healing Hub follows a six-step process designed to ensure quality, consistency, and sustainability:

Step 1: Appoint a Site Coordinator

A pastor-approved ministry representative is selected to serve as the Trauma Healing Hub’s site coordinator and the primary liaison with World Impact Trauma Healing.

Step 2: Apply and Build a Core Team

The site coordinator completes the application process and forms a team of at least two individuals committed to being trained as facilitators.

Step 3: Schedule Training

Once approved, the site coordinator collaborates with World Impact Trauma Healing staff to schedule local or regional training sessions.

Step 4: Participate in Training & Practicum

The site coordinator and team attend foundational training and complete practicum requirements by co-facilitating trauma healing groups.

Step 5: Submit Reports & Evaluate Progress

The site coordinator submits group reports and feedback to World Impact, ensuring proper tracking, support, and growth.

Step 6: Advance to Certification

The team attends advanced training to become certified trauma healing facilitators, equipped to lead ongoing groups effectively.

Ongoing Support: Continuing Education

To ensure long-term impact and growth, World Impact provides continuing education sessions throughout the year. These sessions are designed to:

  • Deepen your understanding of trauma and healing
  • Enhance your facilitation and group leadership skills
  • Introduce updated tools and best practices
  • Foster community and connection with other facilitators across the network

Start the Process Today

Now is the time to take the first step toward creating a Trauma Healing Hub in your community.

Partner with World Impact Trauma Healing to:

  • Identify a committed site coordinator
  • Form a small team with a heart for healing
  • Begin the journey of training, healing, and transformation

How to Get Involved

Has God has called you to restore broken hearts?

When churches embrace trauma healing, they become powerful agents of transformation.

Become a beacon of hope and healing in your city. Let your church or organization be the place where transformation begins.

Contact us to request an application or schedule an interest meeting.

Start a Conversation

Frequently Asked Questions

If you still have a question after reading through these FAQs, please get in touch.

  • Equip your church or organization to minister to those carrying unseen wounds
  • Train a team of local leaders to offer safe, Christ-centered healing environments
  • Extend outreach beyond church walls to the broader community
  • Connect your ministry to a national network of trauma healing hubs
  • Receive ongoing learning and professional development through continuing education

Domestic & International Evidence

U.S. Context

  • 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. has experienced at least four Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which dramatically increase the risk for chronic disease, substance abuse, and mental illness.
    Source: CDC, 2021
  • 70% of U.S. adults report experiencing at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.
    Source: National Council for Mental Wellbeing
  • Communities of poverty are disproportionately affected by trauma due to systemic inequities, violence, and generational adversity.
    Faith-based, culturally responsive programs remain one of the most trusted support systems in these communities.
  • Faith-based interventions have been shown to significantly improve emotional well-being, reduce shame, and increase engagement in trauma recovery efforts.
    Source: SAMHSA & Baylor University, 2022
  • In urban areas, churches are often the first place people go for help, yet many leaders report feeling unequipped to handle trauma-related needs.

Global Context

  • 1 billion children worldwide experience violence each year, leaving deep psychological scars that often go untreated.
    Source: WHO, 2020
  • In low-resource settings, fewer than 1 in 10 people have access to adequate mental health or trauma care.
    Source: World Bank, 2022
  • Faith communities are often the most sustainable and culturally trusted networks in global contexts for delivering trauma support and healing resources.
  • Post-conflict nations and refugee populations face immense trauma. Trauma Healing Hubs could serve as scalable, faith-based models for collective healing.
  • Grounded in biblical truth and community relationships
  • Led by local facilitators trained in trauma-informed care
  • Reaches those least likely to seek formal mental health support
  • Creates safe, consistent, and ongoing spaces for healing
  • Scales to diverse cultures, languages, and contexts

When churches embrace trauma healing, they become powerful agents of transformation.

Trauma healing strengthens both the church and the broader community by:

  • Equipping leaders and laypeople with tools to care for the wounded
  • Restoring trust and emotional safety in the church environment
  • Rebuilding relationships strained by unaddressed pain and conflict
  • Encouraging forgiveness, reconciliation, and unity across generations and cultures
  • Offering a gospel-centered response to suffering and injustice
  • Increasing the church’s capacity to engage the community with empathy and relevance
  • Reducing stigma around mental and emotional health in spiritual spaces
  • Strengthens churches to become centers of restoration
  • Breaks cycles of generational pain through biblical truth

As individuals heal, families are restored. As families are restored, communities are transformed. Churches become places of healing, creating lasting spiritual and social impact.

A Healing Group is a safe, confidential, small group (6-12 people) where participants go through a series of trauma healing lessons (12-15 hours) led by trained facilitators.

These sessions include biblical teaching, honest storytelling, group discussion, creative expression, and guided activities to help participants process their pain, bring it to the cross, and begin healing.

We are actively expanding our Spanish-language trauma healing offerings, including training, materials, and facilitator development, to serve Spanish-speaking communities better both locally and abroad. Please contact us to learn more or participate.

Trainings are offered in online, in-person, and hybrid formats to meet the needs of diverse ministry contexts. This flexibility ensures that urban, rural, and global partners can be equipped without limitations of location, travel, or resources.

  1. Maintains personal well-being.
  2. Works effectively on a team.
  3. Supports traumatized individuals with care.
  4. Leads groups using participatory methods.
  5. Understands and communicates trauma healing content.
  6. Commits consistent time to the ministry.

Our train-the-trainer model is ideal for:

  • Pastors and ministry leaders
  • Lay leaders and small group facilitators
  • Christian counselors
  • Educators and youth leaders
  • Prison Ministry Teams
  • Community outreach workers
  • Global missionaries
  • Healing Groups: $25 per person
  • Initial Training: $50 per person
  • Advanced Training: $75 per person

(Book costs not included)

We use curriculum from the Trauma Healing Institute and other supplementary resources. Each material is designed to meet specific needs and ministry contexts.

Current Offerings:

  • Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help – The foundational program for adults, available as a Participant Book, Facilitator Guide, and Scripture Companion Booklet for those less familiar with the Bible.
  • Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help – Advanced Facilitator Handbook
    Designed for certified facilitators attending Advanced Equipping Sessions. This handbook supports the launch and development of healing group ministries and training programs in the Bible-based trauma healing model.
  • Life Hurts, Love Heals: Teen Journal and Healing Teens’ Wounds of Trauma: Facilitator’s Guide – Designed for teens and young adults, addressing identity, grief, loss, and trauma unique to youth.
  • Healing the Wounded Heart: Inmate Journal – An adaptation for correctional facilities, accompanied by facilitator and advanced facilitator guides.
  • Healing the Wounds of Generational Trauma: The Black and White American Experience – A practical guide for understanding the effects of slavery, racial oppression, and generational trauma.
  • Healing the Wounds of Trauma: North American Edition for Children – Facilitator Guide (Healing Hearts Club) – For children ages 9–13, this guide equips facilitators to lead Bible-based sessions that use stories and activities to help children understand and heal from emotional pain.
    • Healing Hearts Club Story & Activity Book – North American Edition – A companion for children in the Healing Hearts Club, offering engaging stories, activities, and Scripture to reinforce trauma healing lessons. (Available Summer 2026)
  • Unstuck – A short, Scripture-based resource that helps people identify and move beyond patterns of thinking or behavior that keep them spiritually and emotionally stuck.
  • Beyond Disaster: A Guide for Spiritual First Aid – Practical spiritual and emotional support for disaster survivors, best used after the initial shock.

Church leaders need to participate in the trauma healing training before offering it to their congregation.

By first experiencing the content themselves, leaders:

  • Deepen their understanding of trauma from both a biblical and psychological perspective
  • Create a safe environment of integrity and trust for their members
  • Model vulnerability and healing, encouraging others to engage authentically
  • Are better equipped to support those in pain with wisdom and compassion
  • Ensure that healing groups align with church culture and spiritual direction

When leaders are trained first, they help establish trauma healing as a vital and sustainable ministry in their church, setting a tone of care, confidentiality, and Christ-centered restoration.

An introduction for pastors and ministry leaders to experience and understand the trauma healing model, its biblical foundation, and practical applications for ministry.

A training designed to prepare participants to lead healing groups. Conducted in three steps: Initial Equipping, a Practicum, and Advanced Equipping. Some participants are later invited to serve as Training Facilitators or Master Facilitators.

A network of facilitators gathering for peer support, collaboration, professional growth, and prayer.

Our Ministry Developers Are Ready to Help

Have a Question?

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