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The Healing Room
THE STORY BEHIND THE ROOM
Meet Greg Aitkens
Greg spent nearly forty years listening to people in pain — and became convinced that so much of it traced back to one thing we never learn to do well: forgive. The Healing Room is what he built in response.
HIS JOURNEY
A life that led to a room
Greg didn't set out to teach forgiveness. He arrived here the long way — through a hard beginning, two careers, and a daily habit of prayer.
Where it began
A hard beginning
Greg grew up the oldest child in a dysfunctional, alcoholic home — a house of anger, fighting, and yelling, where apologies never came. Both of his parents had alcoholic parents of their own, and tried to numb their pain the same way. The effect on the kids was traumatic and lasting. By God's grace, he survived it.
The 1970s
A first calling
He earned a bachelor's in Recreation Education and a master's in Recreation Administration, and spent his early career working in municipal recreation departments — learning, even then, to pay close attention to people.
The 1980s onward
Forty years of listening
In the early '80s he moved into financial services, becoming a Certified Financial Planner in 1988. For nearly four decades he sat across from people at their most vulnerable. He met plenty who would cheat or betray others to get ahead — and slowly became convinced that at the root of so much bad behavior is an unwillingness to forgive, or a struggle to forgive oneself.
The turning point
A book that became a workbook
Encouraged years earlier to keep a daily "Appointment with God," Greg found much of what he now teaches emerging from those early-morning prayers.
Workbook, Healing Room, A New Mindset for Forgiveness: What started as an idea for a book about forgiveness grew into the Forgiveness Workbook — and, eventually, the Healing Room itself.
Today
Sharing the room
Now retired, Greg has led the workbook through more a dozen live workshops between 20 and 35 people each ( men and women). Over 65 challenge Weekend Retreats with the Worklight ministry. He built this site so the same tools could reach anyone, anywhere — free, and whenever the weight returns.
"
I wish I'd learned how to forgive many decades ago.
— Greg Aitkens
WHAT HE BELIEVES
holy work.
Forgiveness is hard,
Greg knows the feeling of being betrayed and cheated. He knows unfairness, injustice, and the many ugly effects of a heart that won't let go — what he calls GRUBB: grudges, resentments, unforgiveness, bitterness and blame.
He's also a firm believer that we were never meant to do this work under our own power. The heart of the Healing Room is the conviction that Jesus and the Scriptures meet us in it — anointing us every step of the way toward being set free.
In his own words
An honest disclaimer
"I have no formal training in psychology or medicine. What I have is experience — of betrayal and injustice, and the long, freeing work of forgiving. If you've struggled with this in your own life, I hope these materials help. I pray for your healing, and that your well-being will be restored."
40+
years in the field
200+
workshop attendees
40+
years in the Worklight ministry
65+
Challenge Weekend Retreats
OFF THE PAGE
A husband, father, and grandfather first
Greg has been blessed with a long marriage to his wife, Ginny, since the early 1970s. Together they raised three children, now grown, and have three grandkids. His work with Worklight has taken him around the world — including to Uganda in 2008 for the ministry's very first conference there.
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