by admin | Oct 14, 2026 | Reflections, Transformation, Wellness
A Prison Chaplain Reflects on the Moral Dilemmas of Motherhood. My daughter was 17 months old. We were out on a quiet Saturday morning roaming through a shopping mall. My daughter had just begun walking and she was exploring her environment. I was exploring a circular...
by admin | Oct 4, 2026 | Reflections, Resurrection, Transformation
The Moral Injury of Teaching and The Etseb of the Educational System. As a freshman at the University of Tennessee, I was determined to become a teacher. This became my goal in fifth grade when Ms. Fuller taught me to read. My life before I was diagnosed with...
by admin | Sep 27, 2026 | Reflections, Transformation, Wellness
The Genesis of a Creative Life: What Spiderman and the Buddha Teach Us About the Power of “Nothing”. Last week, I reflected on how neglect impacts human development and the importance of assessing for neglect wounds in ourselves and our clients in my...
by admin | Sep 20, 2026 | Reflections, Transformation
Learning to Hear and Heal the Silent Burden of Preverbal Neglect. There was this story that often got told at family gatherings. Whenever it was shared, it was followed by laughter. Why my family considered this story to be humorous was always confusing to me. And...
by admin | Sep 18, 2026 | Reflections, Transformation
A Prison Chaplain Reflects On How This One Line is Like Gold In The Treatment of Moral Injury At the age of 24, I began working as a counselor and advocate for survivors of childhood sexual abuse and rape in East Tennessee. On a trip home to visit my parents, we went...
by admin | Sep 6, 2026 | Reflections, Transformation, Wellness
A Prison Chaplain’s Reflection on How Chance the Rapper Found the Freedom to Feel and the Power to Change. Last week, I turned 53 years old. At 53, my “bucket list” of things I want to experience before I die has taken on a new sense of joyful urgency. On that list...
by admin | Aug 17, 2026 | Reflections, Wellness
As a new prison chaplain, I have been thinking a lot about freedom and what it means to be free. As I drive onto the campus of the prison where I serve, I have rights that end as I enter the gates. As I leave my car, there are a myriad of objects that I must abandon....
by admin | Aug 10, 2026 | Stauts, Transformation
Hello again, Friends! It has been a while since I have written to you and I have missed writing my weekly blogs and connecting with you in this way. I am excited to say that after some healing of my own, and beginning new work in the community, I have begun writing...
by admin | Aug 10, 2026 | Reflections, Transformation, Wellness
The Gospel of Mark Chapter 5: 1-20. While I do not consider my name, “Mildred,” to define me or reflect my core sense of self, my name is a symbol of my identity and names are a relevant marker of identity in most cultures. Thus, in this gospel story, when Jesus...
by admin | May 17, 2025 | Reflections, Transformation, Wellness
Boundaries Are Our Best Self-Protection. Many years ago I had a social work mentor that was apt to give me this feedback. She would say, “Milly, no one can “make you” feel anything.” Now some twenty-plus years later, I respectfully disagree. We live in a crazy...
