behold, listen, attend

SoulTending 

spiritual direction in the Jungian tradition

bio

Patricia Brenneman

For over 30 years I practiced as a psychotherapist, working within a variety of non-profit settings and then in private practice. My therapeutic lens entailed a body/mind/spirit approach, and I enjoyed deep work with many clients, tending to childhood wounds, grief and loss, trauma, depression, anxiety. Meanwhile, in my personal and professional life, I delved more and more deeply into spirituality- through my own personal work with a spiritual director over the past 16 years, and through volunteering as spiritual companion to people in hospice, training in Jungian approaches to soul work, exploring the use of sandplay, writing, art and dreamwork as spiritual practices, practicing meditation, and within my current enrollment in a spiritual deepening program at the Christine Center. I am "retiring" from my role as licensed psychologist; however, the depth and breadth of training, experience and wisdom I acquired as a psychotherapist will continue to inform my work. My new practice, SoulTending, offers spiritual direction in the Jungian tradition, inviting exploration of Soul/Psyche through deep listening, exploration of imagery and symbol via sandplay, active imagination, dreamwork, and the use of writing and art-making as spiritual practices.

I have a MA from the University of Minnesota, completed the Chicago Jung Institute's 2-year certification program in Jungian psychotherapy, and am currently immersed in the 3-year Spiritual Deepening for Global Transformation program at the Christine Center. I am a member of Spiritual Directors International, The Minnesota Sandplay Therapy Group, the Minnesota Coalition for Grief and Loss, and the MN Chapter of the International Enneagram Association.
In addition to my private practice, I volunteer at Pathways, a health crisis resource center, facilitating groups and individuals in using sandplay to explore health/body/mortality concerns. The images and scenes in the sand are "not an assessment of the psyche but...a creative act...an act of healing." (Rachel Naomi Remen) A "Hero's Journey" group using the Innana myth, and other groups exploring themes such as grief and loss, have been rich and satisfying in helping participants as they search for meaning, wholeness and community in the midst of serious and life-threatening illness. Exploring death as a another developmental stage of life, as something to be faced with open eyes and heart, has been a strong interest for me in light of my own encounters with serious illness.