Linda Doyle
The Grace Lutheran Mental Health Ministry will host a guided gratitude meditation program on Saturday.
The meditation will be led by retired licensed clinical social worker and CONTACT volunteer Linda Doyle in the church fellowship hall.
The program is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, December 9, at Grace Lutheran, which is at 131 West Gettysburg Avenue behind Woodland Elementary School in Oak Ridge.
The presentation is free and open to the community, and child care will be provided, a press release said.
It said the guided meditation will be ecumenical in nature and appropriate for people of all faiths.
“Research in recent years indicate a correlation between an individual’s happiness and the extent to which they practice gratitude,” the press release said. “In a story published in 2015 by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley online (Greater Good Magazine, June 30), entitled ‘Four Great Gratitude Strategies’ by writer Juliana Breines, it is suggested that practicing gratitude can bring about positive emotions and help people stave off depression.”
Those who attend the meditation program also will receive a gratitude journal filled with writing prompts, the press release said.
“The ministry team wishes to provide encouragement for those seeking a healthier outlook during the upcoming winter months, when many are affected by holiday stress, loneliness, and seasonal depression,” the release said.
Doyle has been retired from her practice for three years after having practiced for 34 years with adults of all ages in individual, couples, and marital psychotherapy, the press release said.
A member of the Academy of Certified Social Work, she was also a Board Certified Diplomate, and had been a clinical member of the American Association for Family Therapy (AAMFT). Doyle earned her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1980 and her bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico in 1972, where she majored in elementary education and minored in library science, the press release said.
Prior to graduate school, she was executive director of CONTACT in Oak Ridge, an ecumenical telephone listening and suicide hotline and referral service, and she has also served as a volunteer in various capacities for the organization for 42 years.
An additional personal interest is mindfulness meditation: Doyle helped begin a meditation group in 2008 and is still practicing with that group.
For more information, call Grace Lutheran at (865) 483-3787.
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