The Wayne E. Oates Institute is a Connected Learning Community exploring spirituality and health as a way to advance integrative care for the whole person. The Oates Institute is a non-profit educational organization made up of caregivers from the medical, spiritual and counseling communities providing a forum for joining together as an interdisciplinary dialogue toward understanding the relationship between spirituality and the healing process.

Is there a better time of year to think about doing continuing education online than January? It is a good time to settle in next to the fire and log in to connect with others around the country for a peer learning experience around pastoral care, professional ethics, counseling, or ministry in these changing times. From January 11-29, 2010, the Oates Institute is offering a wide selection of lifelong learning for ministry opportunities that you may participate in according to your schedule from anywhere you have Internet access; from home, neighborhood coffee shop, or office.

Registration is now open for the January online seminars. Nine seminars will be offered, each beginning on Monday, January 11 and continuing through Friday, January 29. The seminars will each offer presented resources, which may be read or viewed at your convenience, and peer group conversation reflecting on these resources and providing the opportunity to learn from each other, also according to your schedule.

• Care of Troublesome People
• Encountering Depression and Anxiety in Ministry
• Fiction as a Pathway to the Spirit
• Holding the Boundaries: Professional Ethics in Practice
• Hope as a Dynamic for Healing
• Nurturing Silence and Sabbath
• Preaching and Pastoral Care
• Resolving Conflict through Emotional Intelligence (6 weeks)
• When Religion Gets Sick

All but one of these seminars are three weeks in duration and utilize the Oates Institute's Connected Learning approach to provide participants with the benefits of interactive and reflective peer group learning. Registration for each of the seminars is limited to 12 participants. Registration is free for Oates Institute members and only $60 per seminar for non-members ($90 for the 6 week seminar).

Each of these seminars is approved for 12 contact hours of continuing education credit for chaplains, counselors, social workers, parish nurses, and pastors (note: the six week seminar on Emotional Intelligence is approved for 24 contact hours). The Oates Institute is an Approved Provider of continuing professional education with the National Board of Certified Counselors.