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| IHF is Expanding Our Reach to Restore Hope in the Hurting Home
This October, I was invited to speak at the International Federation for Therapeutic Choice in Counselling (IFTCC) conference in Budapest. This was my first visit to the beautiful country of Hungary. Amazingly, I have been counseling a young man in this country for a number of years, and, for the first time, we were able to embrace each other and talk face-to-face! I wish I could show you the photo, but due to client confidentiality, I must protect and respect Alexander’s (not his real name) identity. It was a surreal and special moment for us!
Sadly, many young men like Alexander cannot access professional therapy for unwanted same-sex attractions (SSA) in their European countries for a number of reasons. First, the political landscape (even in conservative countries like Hungary) in Europe is overwhelmingly intolerant. Second, the spiritual climate is decaying, and in some countries, is dead. Finally, and somewhat due to the first two factors, there is a lack of training and professional assistance for mental health clinicians to work effectively and safely with clients like Alexander who experience unwanted SSA.
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| Fortunately, the IFTCC is beginning to turn this situation around by training faith-based professionals and licensed mental health clinicians to provide ethical, effective assistance to those seeking help for sexual and gender identity conflicts! I was honored to present twice to this audience of over 200 people, first on my 2019 book The War on Psychotherapy: When Sexual Politics, Gender Identity, and Mental Health Collide. In the 400-page book, I describe a three-fold strategy on how political activists deceive the general public (and many political bodies) to brand any effort to help individuals with sexual and gender identity conflicts as “conversion therapy.” While activists have already passed dozens of “conversion therapy” laws in the United States, it wasn’t until recently that Europe experienced this movement. Countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany are now being inundated with these oppressive laws. In fact, it’s a crime punishable up to five years in prison to offer “conversion therapy” in New Zealand!
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| The second presentation I delivered was on IHF’s new family therapy program, Healing the Family. During my talk, I was able to share about the many families that have gone through intensive family systems therapy with IHF, and how much the program has been helping children struggling with sexual and gender identity honestly and safely process their emotional problems and experience relational healing with mom, dad, and the entire family!
One family member I recently worked with had this to say:
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| The family sessions were very “emotionally” clearing for me. I had the chance to work with each of my family members to share my emotional feelings towards them. Not in an aggressive manner but with love. I wanted to get to know them without having any reservations. Through the course I felt such deep compassion and love for them. I am very grateful for Christopher; his deep insight and desire to help our family heal from our wounds and trauma. I recommend this to all (dysfunctional) families to consider participating in the family healing sessions.
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| IHF’s International Reach is Expanding with Online Parent Education
IHF is standing strong in our efforts to heal one family at a time and fulfill our mission: Restoring Hope in the Hurting Home. That is why the focus of our work remains on parent education as the driving force to healing. In 2022, we enrolled sixteen families (the most we’ve ever served) in our year-long online parent’s class! Our course motto is: “Changing the culture of your family!” This year we worked with families across five continents, including North America, Central America/South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia!
IHF Needs Your Help to Fulfill Our Mission: Restoring Hope in the Hurting Home!
In 2022, IHF saw a large increase of families seeking help and support, so much so, that we had to expand our staff to meet the demand. Our parent-coaches are now teaching and coaching families every month! In 2023, we hope to expand by hiring a female therapist. But with more staff on board, our operating costs will increase. Record high inflation has also added more expense to our budget, especially with the rising price of facility rentals for our retreats.
We also want to continue offering scholarships to everyone in financial need, as many of our clients and families cannot afford the full registration fee to attend our retreats. Additionally, we heavily discount our therapeutic fees for clients like Alexander (in Hungary) who cannot afford the cost that clients in the United States are able to pay.
Will you help us with your partnership? Our goal for 2023 is to keep our therapy and weekend retreat fees the same as 2022. But we cannot do this without your generous support. |
| | This Summer, twenty-two men attended our Break-Free Your Inner Child healing retreat at Lake Anna, Virginia, and thanks to your generous donations, we were able to provide every man in financial need with a partial scholarship! In 2023, we hope to be able to provide even more scholarships for men, moms, and dads to attend our healing retreats.
But we can’t do it without your generous support!
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| Will you partner with us to help Restore Hope in the Hurting Home?
The work of IHF can only expand with your partnership! Please help us Restore Hope in the Hurting Home by giving a generous, tax-deductible donation by clicking here. Sincerely, |
| | Christopher Doyle, LPC, CCTP
Executive Director
Licensed Professional Counselor
Institute for Healthy Families
P.O. Box 3223
Manassas, VA 20108
703-367- 0894 (VA Office)
www.InstituteforHealthyFamilies.org
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Institute for Healthy Families (IHF) specializes in counseling solutions for individuals, couples, families, therapists, and ministry leaders. IHF is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit therapeutic organization located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. As a Judeo-Christian organization, IHF believes that the family is the foundation for healthy individuals, relationships, communities, and places of worship. While IHF is non-sectarian, we believe that God reveals His truth in both the Bible and Creation and that we can use this wisdom to help facilitate healing. IHF believes that through this synthesis of science and faith, we can help our clients form and maintain healthy families that will be able to help their children become the best versions of themselves and fulfill God’s will for their lives. For more information, visit our website at: www.InstituteforHealthyFamilies.org. |
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