Citra (front row, second from right) with her mentor Madga and the participants of her first workshop.
My journey to become a PRH educator
I began my PRH journey 18 years ago in a quest to discover myself. It has been an incredible journey. PRH has helped me develop my capacity to taste life in greater fullness, to be guided by a deep sense of direction and purpose, and to foster a deeper connection with others. I feel more and more whole.
Along the way, I have discovered that my calling is to help others on their own quests. My journey has always been a quest to understand humanity in its depths. I became a doctor, a psychiatrist. I took my masters in women’s health and my PhD on how people overcome disasters. I lecture at the university and give seminars for the public. In my work, the tools and gifts that I gained from PRH are the most precious and useful. Hence, since last year, I became a PRH educator, so I can share PRH with others.
It was around 9-10 years ago that I began to sheepishly recognize my growing vocation and asked Zofia about the process. I took the long and winding road to get here, but now as I help others to actualize their calling, I know it does not have to take that long.
The simplest pragmatic explanation of the training process would as follows: The first stage is purely working on ourselves. It starts with the workshop “Who Am I” to understand the “what” – the parts that make us whole, then the workshop “Exploring my inner world” to learn the “how” – the main tool used in our discovery: PRH analysis. This is followed by the FPM* program – a growth program that allows us to work more independently throughout the year. In the meantime, we take other workshops that help us in our process, such as “Living more harmoniously”, “Clarifying my relationships”, “Understanding myself in depth”, etc. as well as work on more specific aspects of ourselves in Helping relationships and Group accompaniments.
The second stage is if for those moved to help others with the tools. This starts with the workshops “How to help and be helped” and “Becoming effective in helping others” then entry to the FRA* program – where we start practicing how to help others in one-on-one in helping relationships. At this stage we are usually also a PRH collaborator, actively promoting PRH so that more and more people could benefit from it. There is a workshop to prepare us to facilitate 3-6 hour workshops/short modules.
The next phase is the FP* – a Professional Formation to prepare us to become a PRH educator in full. It begins by a workshop that asks “Do we have a calling to the PRH Foundation?” We learn what it takes to become a PRH educator, the spirit of PRH, and we are equipped with training in practical aspects of the trade. Then we prepare ourselves to run our first “Who Am I” dual control with the presence of an experienced educator to accompany us. After that, we have to submit a dossier to apply to get our PRH educator license and contract.
Two years ago, I retook the workshop “Who am I” as an intern (student-participant) in preparation to run the workshop myself. During the part on positive feedback, I received an affirmation that I am “persistent” from another participant, Anastasia Retno Pujiastuti (Nana). She recalled how at the PRH workshop where we met in 2005, I had asked Sr Theresianne how one becomes a PRH educator. It just seemed like sheer curiosity at the time, but my persistence has paid off. Last year, I became Nana’s FPM accompanist, supporting her own sheepish acknowledgement of her own PRH vocation as she now continues to the FRA. This year, during the 7th “Who Am I” that I facilitated, I had Virginia Kartika Angeline (Angie) as an intern in preparation for her dual control “Who Am I” in January.
Last year, PRH Indonesia celebrated “the birth” of two new educators: Remy Hadinata and myself. It has been a great year since then. I feel so happy to have been able to facilitate eight 4-day sessions and hundreds of participants in many shorter workshops. I have accompanied individuals and groups. I have worked with people from all walks of life - students, doctors, lawyers, professionals, businesspersons, stay at home parents, teachers, priests, reverends, psychologists, psychiatrists. It is truly an honor to witness and support others in their journey. I feel like a guide, helping people in their exploration up the mountain of their lives, or a divemaster that accompanies people into the beautiful depths of their souls. I am happiest when I can help other helpers.
As an educator, my own journey is not over. Sometimes I feel it has just truly begun. It feels different now that I take a more active role, not just for myself but also for others. I have to develop new skills like marketing so that people know what PRH can offer. I intern workshops, working on myself while learning the dynamics of the workshop in preparation and to request authorization to run it myself. I am supervised by my pedagogical accompanist and work on myself in personal accompaniment.
Sometimes I miss simply taking PRH for myself. Yet when I do not run workshops, I feel the pang of something missing. Last month I did not schedule a workshop because I had so many other things going on – I was an organizing committee member for a national pastoral care conference on Youth and Peace and I was performing in a choir concert with my fellow psychiatrist for World Suicide Prevention Day. Our family was also diving with a group to install a choral plantation. That was the hardest month. I felt such relief when a woman’s group invited me to run a workshop for them this month. Imagine a dancer not dancing, or a singer not singing for a whole month!
Being a PRH educator is who I am. If there is anything I learned through PRH, it is about being ourselves, our true selves in fullness. It is the best we can be. All we can give to the world is our selves. How happy I am to be me by helping you be you!
Citra (Theresia Citraningtyas) drCitra.wicaksana.org