Mary Pat Henehan

Mary Pat Henehan sees her poetry as an intervention bringing awareness and healing. Her poems will stir the reader to keenly observe nature. In 2003, The Haworth Pastoral Press published her book, "Integrating Spirit and Psyche: Using Women's Narratives in Psychotherapy." "Nature Speaks" is her first book of poetry, inviting the reader to see the beauty and power of creation. The book is divided into four parts: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. Mary Pat has many years of experience in the healing professions of Nursing, Marriage and Family Therapy, and teaches as Adjunct Faculty at Washington University, in The Brown School in St. Louis. Writing is a life-long habit. She uses journaling and poetry with clients as a means to healing and encourages her students to express their ideas courageously.

In this extraordinary collection, the voices of women's experience ring out loud and true! The power of narrative in therapy for women is undeniable. Used well, other women's narratives can help us to understand and rewrite our own. Here, women bare their souls, reflecting on self-enhancement and growth, on discrediting negative family scripts, on seeing through demeaning cultural messages, on living in the modern world, on their wildness, wisdom, spirituality, and a great deal more! Each chapter includes questions for reflection to help readers incorporate these narratives into their own lives. From the author: “This book began with the women's groups I facilitate. Some themes arose many times: I feel bad about myself; I can't speak up at times; I don't feel like I have any rights; I feel stupid; I feel like I am bad. But as therapy progressed, new narratives were expressed: I do have a voice; I am knowledgeable; I like being who I am; and I can work through this conflict.“As a writer and therapist, I have taken a stance about ideas that are presented in sessions with clients and that exist in their culture. This book elaborates on those ideas and offers readers an opportunity to think about them in their own lives. Women can rewrite their lives as they become aware of their stories.” Some of the narratives that you'll find in Integrating Spirit and Psyche: Using Women's Narratives in Psychotherapy explore: women as second-class citizens putting the self in context women's spirituality in its many forms anger as it relates to gender societal pressure on women to bear terrible burdens in silence ways that various cultures have demeaned women-infanticide, foot binding, genital mutilation, dowry deaths, etc. societal messages that encourage feelings of helplessness, shame, anger, and inhibition in women ways to resolve conflicts, take credit where it’s due, and express ourselves mind-body connections women to look to for inspiration--Virginia Woolf, Marie Curie, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Margaret Thatcher, and many more aging and wisdom women's spiritual practices--meditation, T'ai Chi, Chakra Awareness, practices from the Judeo-Christian traditions, and more!

In this extraordinary collection, the voices of women's experience ring out loud and true! The power of narrative in therapy for women is undeniable. Used well, other women's narratives can help us to understand and rewrite our own. Here, women bare their souls, reflecting on self-enhancement and growth, on discrediting negative family scripts, on seeing through demeaning cultural messages, on living in the modern world, on their wildness, wisdom, spirituality, and a great deal more! Each chapter includes questions for reflection to help readers incorporate these narratives into their own lives. From the author: “This book began with the women's groups I facilitate. Some themes arose many times: I feel bad about myself; I can't speak up at times; I don't feel like I have any rights; I feel stupid; I feel like I am bad. But as therapy progressed, new narratives were expressed: I do have a voice; I am knowledgeable; I like being who I am; and I can work through this conflict.“As a writer and therapist, I have taken a stance about ideas that are presented in sessions with clients and that exist in their culture. This book elaborates on those ideas and offers readers an opportunity to think about them in their own lives. Women can rewrite their lives as they become aware of their stories.” Some of the narratives that you'll find in Integrating Spirit and Psyche: Using Women's Narratives in Psychotherapy explore: women as second-class citizens putting the self in context women's spirituality in its many forms anger as it relates to gender societal pressure on women to bear terrible burdens in silence ways that various cultures have demeaned women-infanticide, foot binding, genital mutilation, dowry deaths, etc. societal messages that encourage feelings of helplessness, shame, anger, and inhibition in women ways to resolve conflicts, take credit where it’s due, and express ourselves mind-body connections women to look to for inspiration--Virginia Woolf, Marie Curie, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Margaret Thatcher, and many more aging and wisdom women's spiritual practices--meditation, T'ai Chi, Chakra Awareness, practices from the Judeo-Christian traditions, and more!