About The Beginning Experience...

Beginning Experience is an international support program for divorced, separated and widowed individuals, and their families. The program is designed to facilitate the resolution of the grief surrounding the end of a marriage/relationship and to promote healing.

Our mission is to assist those who are suffering from a loss of a relationship by providing emotional and spiritual support in a safe, confidential environment with the hope of helping people achieve happiness, success and self confidence in their lives.

Our Vision: A hurting people healed, transformed, and free again to love themselves, others, and God.

Beginning Experience is an international peer ministry for divorced, separated and widowed individuals. It is an invitational process that is intended to facilitate the resolution of the grief process, promote healing and thereby free people to live and love themselves, others and God. The Beginning Experience Weekend is the foundation of the ministry. It is designed to help widowed, divorced, and separated persons and those who have suffered a significant loss of a loved one to make a new beginning in life. The Beginning Experience is designed to be a real awaking, a powerful positive experience of hope and an awakening to mature love. The Beginning Experience hopes to create a space where those who have suffered a loss can come together to reevaluate themselves and their lives and move on to the future with renewed hope. The Beginning Experience is a unique Christian experience open to persons of all faiths.

Beginning Experience began in Fort Worth Texas in 1974. Sister Josephine Stewart, a Roman Catholic nun who was working as a counselor found herself working more and more with separated, divorced and widowed individuals. She noticed that many of these people seemed to be "stuck in their grief".

Sister Josephine Stewart (photo courtesy of Jeff Partnow)

As director of Family Services in her parish, Sister Josephine was also to be responsible for the Marriage Encounter program. Wanting to gain a firsthand experience of the techniques, Josephine asked her divorced friend, Jo Lamia to accompany her on a Marriage Encounter weekend.

During that weekend, Jo Lamia began to look at the breakup of her marriage. After each writing session, she and Josephine talked. During that weekend, it became apparent to both individuals that this was a very growing and healing experience that had a profound effect on Jo Lamia's view of herself, her separation and divorce. So, the following week these two individuals began plans for a similar weekend for other divorced people in the Fort Worth area. In October, 1974, eighteen participants came to the first ever Beginning Experience weekend. Sixteen of these individuals formed the first team. They started sharing with other separated, divorced and widowed individuals what they had learned and experienced.

In the Summer of 1975, Sister Josephine was asked to make a presentation about the program at the National Marriage Encounter Convention in Lisle, Illinois. From this, word spread and requests came from all over the country for information about this program. The following year (1976) the Beginning Experience manual was copyrighted and published.

By 1978, teams had started from coast-to-coast, as well as Alaska, Hawaii and in Canada. By 1980, the program had also found its way into Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

As the program took off, Sister Josephine assumed the position of Executive Director, and a Central Board (now the International Board of Directors) was formed. As time went on it became apparent to Josephine that she needed to hand over the reigns to someone else. In 1980, a new Executive Director was hired and the offices were moved to Detroit, Michigan, and another Executive Director assumed office. In late 1999, the International Board of Directors decided to move the home of the International Ministry Center to Chicago. Office space was located just outside of Chicago in Hammond, Indiana and moved to South Bend, Indiana when Kathleen Murphy took over as Executive Director in 2001.

Beginning Experience first came to Seattle when Sr. Josephine and team members from throughout Washington state came together in 1979 to offer our first Beginning Experience weekend in the Seattle area. For many years we have held our weekends at Huston Camp and Conference Center - northeast of Seattle at the edge of the Cascade Mountains.

Our Logo:

Used for public communication, our logo depicts a human figure on a hill, moving through a crossroads in life and from the shadow of darkness toward a new horizon, and making this journey surrounded by the light of the cross.

Our Emblem:

The original Beginning Experience logo now serves as the organizational emblem... The Cross symbolizes our identification with Christ's suffering and death. The Anchor is a very ancient symbol of hope. The rising sun symbolizes the dawning of a new day.

Butterfly Symbol:

The butterfly is an unofficial symbol used by many Beginning Experience teams around the world to symbolize that those who have undertaken a BE Weekend are breaking free from the cocoon of their grief experience and learning to 'fly again'. For some it also symbolizes new-found self-acceptance and the discovery of beauty within ourselves.

The loss of a loved one through separation, divorce, or death is one of life's most traumatic experiences. It can result in nearly unbearable feelings of loneliness and grief. Many people who have suffered such a loss feel left out by their church, uneasy around married friends, unsure of themselves and uncertain about their futures.

Beginning Experience is a program to help divorced, separated and widowed persons move from the darkness of grief into the light of a new hope. It helps deal with the natural grief process and offers an opportunity, through God, for turning the pain of loss into an experience of positive growth. Beginning Experience is a unique Christian experience open to persons of all faiths.

From Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, the Beginning Experience is presented by a trained team of men and women who have suffered the loss of a loved one and are willing to share their experience to help others. Team members lead participants through a program of team presentations, personal private reflections, and small group sharing. A sense of community develops in an atmosphere of care and concern that is a hallmark of each Beginning Experience weekend.

The Beginning Experience weekend is designed to be a time of closure on the past and new beginning in the present. Those who come should be beyond the initial feelings of anger and despair which usually follow the loss of a loved one. They should be at the point of wanting a new beginning and ready to work to make the desire a reality. Once the application for the Beginning Experience weekend is received, someone is available to help each person evaluate his or her readiness for the program.

Participants say.............

• "I was nervous about going to the Beginning Experience weekend, but I'm glad I did. I feel more alive than I have in years."
• "I found people all around who accepted me without judgment and cared for me."
• "It was a time just for me, to explore where I've been in my life and where I'm going".
• "I have so much more energy now for my children and my job".
• "......worth every dollar and many more. It was the best gift I ever gave myself".

Those who have made the Beginning Experience weekend report:

• Increased emotional health and self respect
• New skills to deal with the pain of loss
• Healthier family relationships
• Renewed energy to be more effective parents, return to church, and improve the standard of living for themselves and their families
• Improved spiritual life
• Increased trust in self and others

Whether you choose to attend the Beginning Experience weekend only, or in addition to other support for the single again, this program's invitational process offers the opportunity to move towards a new beginning in life. The quality and effectiveness of the Beginning Experience program are well documented.

• Developed by respected professionals in grief psychology, ministry, organizational process, and education. The program is both psychologically and spiritually sound.
• Beginning Experience is a recipient of the James J. Young Award for the North American Conference of Separated and Divorced Catholics.
• Beginning Experience has been recognized for its service to families by the National Associations of Catholic Family Life Ministries.
• At the invitation of the World Mental Health Organization. Beginning Experience participated in a grief resolution panel at the 1996 WMHO International Conference in Ireland.

To ensure the integrity and quality of the copyrighted program, the Beginning Experience International Ministry Center periodically certifies 145 peer ministry teams worldwide to present the weekend.

• An international Christian based ministry -- teams across the world offer hope for a new beginning for widowed, divorced, or separated individuals who are trying to cope with the pain and grief of the loss of a spouse.
• Non-denominational and not-for-profit.
• A peer ministry -- small-group facilitators consist of divorced or widowed people who have experienced the healing power of a BE weekend.
• A safe place to discover more about yourself and develop a closer relationship with God.