To Register:

contact Valencia at valencia@bosplace.org or at (713)-942-8339

 Schedule:

5:30pm - Arrive and checkin, light dinner served

6:00pm - Introduction - Rev. John Graham, M.D.

The Grief Journey - Ann H. Weiss, L.P.C.

Metaphors and Meaning - Stuart Nelson, M.A.

A Clinical Story of a Spiritual Journey - James Lomax, M.D.

     Q&A 

Experiential Exercises - Cyrus Wirls

Closing Remarks

9:00 pm - End

Speakers:

John Graham, M.D., D.Min. - President CEO, Institute for Spirituality and Health. 

President and C.E.O. of the Institute for Spirituality and Health since March 2010, Dr. John K. Graham is both a physician and a priest. He received his M.D. Degree from Tulane Medical School and is board-certified in two medical specialties – otolaryngology and plastic & reconstructive surgery.  In 1990, he left medicine to attend Fuller Seminary.  He received his Master of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, and in 2001 completed a Doctor of Ministry from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary.  Following ordination to the priesthood, John served at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Austin, TX, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston and, for twelve years (1998-2010), as Sr. Associate Rector at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where he established several ministries including a Prayer Ministry Team, a Christian Meditation Group, and a Spirituality-in-Art class.  He has served as chaplain for Daughters of the King, Cursillo, the Men of St. Martin's, and the Single Adult class.  In the diocese of Texas, John was a founding member of the Board of Directors of St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, a ministry to the medically under-served.  Dr. Graham retired from active ministry in November of 2009 and completed a two-year fellowship in Psychotherapy at the Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute.  He then served as a spiritual director at the InterFace Samaritan Counseling Center.  He is the author of two books, Mold Me and Shape Me and Graham Crackers and Milk: Food for the Heart and Soul.  He and his wife, Pat, have five grown children and eighteen grandchildren. 

James Lomax, M.D. - Chair of Psychiatric Education, Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Lomax is the Brown Foundation Chair in Psychoanalysis, Karl Menninger Chair of Psychiatric Education, and Associate Chairman and Director of Educational Programs in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. He was chosen as the Distinguished Faculty Awardee by the Baylor College of Medicine Alumni Association in 2009. He serves on the Board of Regents of the American College of Psychiatrists. He received his B.A. from Rice University before completing his M.D. and Residency at Baylor College of Medicine.  He went on to pursue and complete Advanced Trainings at University of Oregon Affiliate Hospitals, BCM Affiliate Hospitals, and Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute.  Author of numerous articles and his scholarly interests include the interface between religion, spirituality, and healing from a psychiatric and psychoanalytic perspective; and sources of meaning in medicine.

Ann H. Weiss, L.P.C. - Program Director, Bo's Place

Ann H. Weiss, M.A.T., M.Ed., L.P.C. has a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Houston, a master’s degree in teaching from the University of Virginia, a bachelor’s degree in History from Louisiana State University degree, and is a licensed professional counselor in the state of Texas.  She is currently Program Director at Bo’s Place, a bereavement center offering multiple grief support services to children and their families.  Previously, she was the Outreach Director of a therapeutic school, and a high school teacher.  Ann is married, has four children, one daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters and one grandson.

Stuart Nelson, M.A. - Vice President, Institute for Spirituality and Health.  

Stuart Nelson graduated from Rice University with majors in Cognitive Sciences, Religious Studies, and Psychology.  Realizing that new environments and experiences can significantly change people's systems of meaning, he went on to study this phenomenon through his completion of a Masters in Religious Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara.  Originally hired as Project Manager for the ISH, he has since become Vice President.  As such, he is more instrumental in managing the long term vision, strategic plans, and general operations of ISH. Stuart’s broad goal (inspired by work done at UCSB with Dr. Ann Taves) is to apply theories and methods from cognitive science of religion in mental health settings.

Cyrus Wirls - Program Manager, Institute for Spirituality and Health. 

Cyrus Wirls graduated from Rice University in December 2013, with a Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Sciences and Mathematics.  An intern for ISH in the summer of 2013, he coordinated a conference on music and the mind.  Now as program manager, Cyrus organizes monthly educational and interactive programs relating to spirituality and healthcare.  Cyrus also works part-time as a medical assistant for the Texas Voice Center - an ear, nose and throat clinic in Houston Methodist Hospital - where he puts into practice the philosophies of holistic care espoused by ISH.  In turn, he brings the perspectives and immediate needs of the patients he sees to the research and programs organized at ISH.  In Fall of 2014, Cyrus Wirls completed Compassion Cultivation Training, developed at Stanford, and is particularly interested in how guided self-awareness practice can change perspectives of the world, of the self, and of others.