Journey to the Sacred: Mending a Fractured Soul

Diana Coholic is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at
Laurentian University.

Jane Simington believes that, in order to achieve holistic and effective
healing from trauma, people in the West must attend to the spiritual
dimension. In this book, she combines her personal story of mending a
fractured soul with discussions of Indigenous healing methods,
spirituality outside of a religious framework, religious concepts of the
East versus those of the West, the use of archetypal stories of dreams
and symbols, and the application of science. Albert Einstein, Robert
Frost, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Carl Jung are just some of the sources she
draws on in the book.

In the latter chapters, Simington describes her remarkable journey from
staunch Catholicism to a spiritual perspective that encompasses beliefs
and practices from worldwide Indigenous traditions, shamanism, and
Eastern spiritual approaches. As a result of her learning, she now
practises energy healing. Her descriptions of the techniques she uses
both for herself and others (e.g., guided imagery and past-life
regression) could have been more detailed. A follow-up book on these
technique would be a useful addition to the burgeoning literature that
examines spirituality and its application to social work, nursing, and
other helping professions.