Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete will be coming to you from Vatican City as Dr Gerry starts a new endeavor.

In this episode, Dr. Gerry Crete speaks with Dr. Anthony Isacco about the intersection of psychology, spirituality, and the Catholic faith. They explore how faith-integrated clinical work can support human flourishing, better therapeutic outcomes, and a deeper understanding of the whole person.

Key Topics

• Why faith integration matters in clinical psychology
• The importance of seeing each person with dignity and worth
• How Catholic anthropology shapes therapy and training
• The role of cultural humility in working with Catholic clients
• Why vocational psychology and calling matter for human flourishing
• How forgiveness supports healing, repair, and growth

Dr. Isacco explains how the Elijah Institute and the program at St. Mary’s University is training clinical psychologists to integrate Catholic faith with evidence-based practice. He emphasizes that this is about a holistic view of the human person. The hosts discuss how therapy changes when clinicians see clients not as diagnoses or problems to solve, but as persons with inherent worth, meaning, and capacity for healing. Dr. Isacco argues that religion and spirituality are essential parts of cultural competence and that therapists should approach them with curiosity, respect, and humility. The episode closes with a reflection on forgiveness and relationship repair as essential parts of healing. Rather than defaulting to detachment or cutoff, they discuss the value of working toward reconciliation where appropriate, including self-forgiveness and divine forgiveness.

About the Guest

Dr. Anthony Isacco is a licensed psychologist, professor, researcher, and expert in the integration of psychology, spirituality, and the Catholic faith. He serves as program director and head of clinical research for the Catholic Faith Integrated Master of Science in Clinical Psychology program at St. Mary’s University in Minnesota.

Elijah Institute

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute. Find out more about Elijah Institute’s nationally approved, continuing education courses in spiritually integrated whole person care at elijah-institute.org.

This podcast provides education, not treatment. It does not replace therapy, diagnosis or professional care. If you are in crisis:

• Call 988,suicide and crisis lifeline
• For an immediate emergency call 911
• Go to the emergency room
• Contact your provider
• Text HOME to 741741

In this episode, Dr. Gerry Crete speaks with licensed psychologist, executive coach, and workplace flourishing expert Dr. Karen Doll about what human flourishing really means in everyday life and at work. The conversation also explores how faith, meaning, and psychological care can coexist with pain, grief, and trauma without minimizing either one. They discuss workplace well-being, the difference between surviving and flourishing, and how post-traumatic growth can emerge without pretending suffering is good.

Dr. Doll serves as Board Chair of the Elijah Institute and teaches in its Catholic Christian Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy (CC-SIP) certificate program.

A note for listeners: part of this conversation reflects on a recent act of violence that took place in a church, and on the grief of the families affected.

Key Topics

• Dr. Doll's work as a psychologist focused on assessments, coaching, executive development, and workplace mental health
• Why she approaches people as whole persons rather than separating "work self" and "home self"
• How flourishing moved from a long-standing interest in humanistic psychology to a core theme in her work
• The role of the Harvard Flourishing Program and the Flourishing at Work Network in applying research to organizations
• Why spirituality matters as one of the domains of flourishing, especially when understood broadly as connection to something beyond oneself
• What makes a workplace regenerative rather than extractive
• The practical ingredients of flourishing at work:
  • manageable workload and capacity
  • respect and dignity
  • healthy relationships
  • belonging
  • mattering
• Why ROI language often dominates workplace conversations about well-being
• How post-traumatic growth differs from pretending trauma is good
• Why flourishing does not mean constant happiness or the absence of pain
• A continuum model of well-being, from flourishing to crisis, and why people can move fluidly along it
• Matching the intervention to the moment — why a practice that helps on an ordinary day may not fit acute distress
• How a Catholic understanding of redemptive suffering adds meaning that symptom reduction alone cannot
• Why Dr. Doll wrote her book for people who may never see a therapist or hire a coach

Featured Book

Building Psychological Fitness: How High Performers Achieve with Ease by Dr. Karen Doll — a practical, science-based guide to interventions that support mental health, flourishing, and resilience.

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Psychological-Fitness-professionals-organizations-ebook/dp/B09GJ6MSVF

Elijah Institute

Post Traumatic Growth with Dr. Gerry Crete is presented by the Elijah Institute. Learn more about the Catholic Christian Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy (CC-SIP) certificate program — continuing education in spiritually integrated whole person care — at elijah-institute.org. The Elijah Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7719.

This podcast provides education, not treatment. It does not replace therapy, diagnosis or professional care. If you are in crisis:

• Call 988, Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
• For an immediate emergency call 911
• Go to the emergency room
• Contact your provider
• Text HOME to 741741