Healing and Identity Workshops

One of the many gifts that Margaret Vasquez brings to the Church is her in-depth knowledge and experience of the physiology of trauma. It is rare to find someone so deeply Catholic and simultaneously fluent in the impact of trauma on mind, body and soul. As a speaker, Margaret is compelling and the real-life stories she shares are deeply moving.  Every parish leader would find his or her ministry deeply enriched by learning from Margaret, both about the impact of trauma on the human person, but also about how authentic love is the antidote to all human brokenness.

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After going on a retreat with Margaret as the retreat master, I came away not actually knowing if the retreat would bear fruit because I had heard a lot of Margaret’s content before. (It had been helpful then). As I prayed over and began to use some of the material to help my anxiety and fear, I realized a pattern of sinful pride that had been in my life for as long as I can remember. Over the past 6 months, if has freed me and helped me set boundaries for myself that I did not know that I frequently violated. My spiritual director had said that a good retreat would last a year! I do think that this will last a year!

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Margaret's healing retreats focus on the primacy of the interior life for emotional and spiritual healing. Her background in professional mental health and her deep spirituality are the fruits of her own healing path to the Lord. She offers much for those hungering for deeper intimacy with the Lord. I highly recommend her.

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Margaret Vasquez draws from technical knowledge of trauma therapy, a deep Catholic faith life, and from an incredible charism of listening and hearing people. Because she is spiritually and emotionally present to the specific people she is talking with, each experience with Margaret is unique and breathes new life into whomever is attending. Her mission at my parish aided in a lot of healing. She heard and responded to us. I highly recommend attending any opportunity to hear Margaret.

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Dear Margaret,

Thank you for bringing to our diocese your wisdom and expertise on the neuro-biological and relational effects of trauma. I have already begun to incorporate your elegant model for traumainformed ministry and simple grounding techniques, and I’m amazed at the immediate response! With this riveting perspective on trauma -- and with God’s original plan for us in mind -- we can make the needed paradigm shift to listen and act more freely and effectively – i.e., from a place of deeper unity with Him, unity within ourselves, and unity with the person seeking ministry.

Your personal stories, sensitivity, and gentle humor helped us to see how applying your model within ourselves, as needed, will enable us to apply it to others. Clearly, this will foster greater understanding, compassion, connection, healing, wholeness, and spiritual growth – in a word, the unity in love that Jesus so desires for us. What a message of hope and a gift from God for these times and this culture so impacted by the devastating effects of trauma.

This education will surely help us respond more robustly to the call of Pope Francis: The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the Church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. ... And you have to start from the ground up. May the light you have shared, and the work God has accomplished in you, empower us to confidently bring that real presence, that healthy, healing nearness that builds the kingdom from the ground up, in Christ. I pray that many parishes and dioceses will seek out your giftedness and benefit from it, as we have!

Sincerely yours in Christ,

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The grace of the weeklong retreat in Ohio in September of 2022 was absolutely tremendous! It brought closure at last, releasing me from what was left of the long-term effects of trauma suffered in childhood. Now when a storm arises, not only do I remain calm, but the storm calms down, too, as I implement what I learned. Fascinating! Amazing! Your elegant model enables me -- in every situation -- to lean further into Jesus' call, "Remain in Me. Remain in My love." And it dovetails so efficaciously with what Jesus teaches about living in the Divine Will. I am in awe!

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