INTRODUCTION

Psychology and Hope is a new site to bring the human sciences and spirituality to bear on current social issues. My name is Peter Powell. I am a semi-retired ordained minister in the Uniting Church in Australia and psychologist. I completed my theology and pastoral care studies in Sydney and Melbourne, my supervisory training in New Orleans, Louisiana and my psychology doctoral studies in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

I founded the charity, the Pastoral Counselling Institute (PCI) in 1992 to develop holistic counselling services. By the time I retired as the Executive Director in 2019, the Institute had developed the first integrated Pastoral Counselling Certificate 1V and diploma in Australia. Many thousands of people had received counselling services and a specific program for sexual abuse had been established to enable safety plans for families and children, as well as the treatment of men offending. Those services continue with an excellent staff of committed psychologists. My task now as the Centre Director of Westmead Hospital Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is the development of the Pacific School for CPE, based in Tonga and the Aboriginal CPE program in the NSW Northern Rivers Region, as well as education of CPE supervisors.