Oct 10 - Nov 21

 

A Support Group For Adult Children of Divorced or Separated Parents

Dealing with our parents' divorce is not easy but confronting this wound with faith can allow us to find great healing.  This support group is offered as a safe space to meet with others who’ve had similar experiences, and explore topics related to healing, to become more fully who God meant us to be, a person created to love and be loved.

We hope that you will become part of our supportive community and receive the many graces available through this ministry.

This group is for (any of these):

• anyone with divorced or separated parents


• anyone whose parents had high conflict or are not together for other reasons


• anyone who has been on a Life-Giving Wounds retreat


• anyone interested in the Life-Giving Wounds retreat, or wanting to learn more about the Life - Giving Wounds ministry

The group will be "open" for the first few sessions, then most likely be closed for the remaining sessions, to help ensure the group dynamic.

If you are unsure about joining the group, please email Ed Hopfner (email address below) with any questions.

(Below is a "promo video" about the retreat, and the ministry)

Before registering, please be aware of the following:

• All are very welcome to join us whether you are Catholic or not, but please be aware that we will approach the group from a  Catholic perspective.


• Everything will be treated on a strictly confidential basis.  This is a spiritual and social group, not primarily psychological, but we will have a list of counselors available as a resource for those who are interested.

Support group leaders:

 Brean

    Originally from the Central Valley, Brean has worked as a business development professional in the specialty food/agriculture industry for the past 10+ years. She had her first retreat experience with Life-Giving Wounds in 2022 and felt called to give back to a ministry that blessed her immensely.
Brean studied agriculture & communications at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. From 2014-2018, she served as International Responsible for Youth Teams of Our Lady, an international apostolate, which she considers one of her life’s most humbling blessings and adventures. In 2020, she became an alumnus of the California Agricultural Leadership Program, a fellowship to develop leaders for a vibrant agricultural community.
Most recently, Brean uncovered a longstanding desire to serve as an instrument of God’s healing through the helping profession. In 2021, she began pursuing a Master’s Degree in Counseling at Divine Mercy University through their online program. She dreams of serving as a Catholic Mental Health Professional and offering reduced cost/complimentary mental health services to religious and consecrated life.
Brean lives in Ventura County and enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, reading, and all things food (cooking, dining, wine, & cocktails!) Most importantly, she enjoys learning more about the Catholic faith and finds it is truly an ocean of beauty, joy, rich tradition, and purpose.



 

Brother Dominic Anselm

Br. Anselm Dominic is a Dominican friar of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (Western Province), and is currently a student brother in initial formation for the priesthood, living at the Priory of St. Albert the Great in Oakland, CA.

He grew up in Portland, OR in a Catholic family, including his younger sister, mother, and father. He attended a Jesuit high school, and in his last year there his parents separated and civilly divorced. That event was the impetus for a period of spiritual and religious searching which led to his re-embrace of the Catholic Faith while studying Religious Studies and English at the University of Oregon, and eventually to his entering religious life as a Dominican friar after his graduation in 2020. Since then he has lived in San Francisco as a novice, in Oakland as a student brother, in Benicia, CA on a pastoral assignment, and now back in Oakland at St. Albert’s, studying philosophy and theology.

He attended a Life-Giving Wounds retreat for the first time in November 2023, and again in March 2024, both in Menlo Park, CA, and found both to be powerful encounters with the compassion of God, revealing and healing the shame, sadness, and anger that come from the experience of the separation of one’s parents. He hopes that God will use his own experience in his ministry now and in the future as a priest to bring others to an encounter with that same divine love.

He's an avid reader, especially of fantasy novels, and also enjoys playing basketball and role-playing games!

 



Janine   

 Janine currently works for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as the Executive Assistant & Marketing for the Office of Religious Education. She received an invitation to attend a Life-Giving Wounds earlier this year with her then boyfriend (now fiancé) and received a long-desired embrace from God's unconditional love. The retreat helped to strengthen a solid foundation for her relationship and to help it move forward with Christ at the center.

Janine, born and raised in Long Beach attended Cal State Long Beach for her undergraduate in Psychology and Chicano Latino Studies and her master's degree in Public Administration. For the past 12 years, Janine has been a catechist teaching First Communion and Confirmation classes at St. Anthony's in Long Beach and is assisting for the first time this year in the RCIA program.

Janine enjoys time reading novels, writing poetry and taking pictures. But most of all, she enjoys spending time with her family and fiancé as they plan their Catholic wedding for next year and prepare for a holy marriage.



 

Victoria   

 Victoria was born and raised in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado as a cradle Catholic and is the younger daughter of two children. She was fifteen when her parents divorced.

She then attended Colorado State University studying education. It was there where she first experienced faithful Catholic community and was formed in the faith. After graduating from Colorado State University, she served as a FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) Missionary at San Diego State University for two years and San Francisco State University for one year.

While serving as a FOCUS missionary, Victoria was introduced to Life Giving Wounds and attended her first retreat in November of 2023. After attending her first retreat, she experienced great freedom from the healing and community she experienced on the retreat. Through her ministry experience, Victoria has enjoyed walking with adult children of divorce as they process and seek healing and redemption in their wounds.