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.

Each of the January seminars will begin on Monday, January 11, with all but one continuing through Friday, January 29. The exception is the six-week seminar on Emotional Intelligence and Conflict that will go through February 16.

• Care of Troublesome People
• Emotional Intelligence and Conflict (6 weeks)
• Fiction as a Pathway to the Spirit: That Hideous Strength
• Hope as a Dynamic for Healing
• Nurturing Silence and Sabbath
• Preaching and Pastoral Care
• Spirituality and Aging

All will 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.

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.