Web Sites of Interest

Counseling/psychology/religion | Addictions/Recovery | Ritual | Mental Health

Counseling, Psychology, Religion:

Psychology of Religion home page.
This highly recommended site covers a comprehensive selection of religions, discussing psychological implications for these religions and vice versa, treating the varieties of religious experience in sympathetic fashion. The author is a Mormon.
Dancing the Path of Feeling: An Emotional Healing Workbook.
Part of this site discusses important aspects of the client/facilitator relationship. Discussions are pertinant to spiritual healing, in this case an inclusive and open-minded Catholicism.

Addictions and Recovery:

Angel Lady's Web Weavings.
A well-designed site for recovery issues.
Web of Addictions.
Discusses many programs and concepts of addiction and recovery.
Recovery Online.
A comprehensive listing, including descriptions, links, and other contact information for just about any recovery program can be found at this site.
Online Recovery Resources.
Another comprehensive listing of resources, including links and contact info for lots of recovery programs.
Pagan 12-Steps.
An interpretation of a 12-Step program in a Pagan framework, by Anodea Judith.
Pagan Paths 12 Step.
Info about Pagan 12-step programs, and links.
Pentacle Pagan 16 Step Recovery.
Geared towards Pagan women, but applicable to men as well.

Some Specific Organizations:

Secular Organizations for Sobriety (Save Our Selves).
They encourage non-dogmatic approaches to attaining sobriety.
Women for Sobriety.
A secular group for women (although a fledgling group for men has been started under their auspices).
SMART Recovery.
They gear for a rational approach towards substance abuse.
Moderation Management.
A program for early alcohol-dependents who may opt for moderation or for abstinence.
Alcoholics Anonymous.
The one you've all heard of.

Ritual:

A Ritual of Catharsis.
A ritual written by Judy Harrow facilitating a cathartic approach to one's dealings with difficult situations.

Mental Health, general information:

(Comments and descriptions below are by Judith Harrow.)

This is a delicate issue. I definitely would not advocate a coven leader undertaking actual psychotherapy unless they have secular professional training. On the other hand, if a coven member has some diagnosable condition, like depression or some sort of addiction, and is undergoing treatment, it's a good thing to become informed.

There's a lot of information out there intended for patients' immediate families, helping them understand what's going on and how to be supportive of the therapeutic process. To my mind, covens are another sort of immediate family, and may well want to know where to find this sort of information. So, here are a few entry points into the Web. Some of the information on each of them is intended for professionals and may be more complicated than most folks really need. Each site also contains information intended for patients and families, plus a huge number of links.

Internet Mental Health.
This one, which I've found most personally useful, is Canadian based.
Mental Health Net.
Particularly recommended by Counseling Today. This one has a major section on self-help resources. On the other hand, one topic within that section is "cults," and I was distressed to find the repeating uncritically the old cult scare line. So since they're not entirely sophisticated in their choices, users will have to exercise some caution.
Online Psychological Services - Mental Health Information Link.
Very easy to use and broadly eclectic.

The Counseling Basics for Wiccan Clergy Home Page

Last Updated: May 7th, 1999.

Jehana Silverwing, Webeditrix