Dr Deidre Palmer

Keynote Speaker in 2013

Theme: Sustaining Discipleship: Keeping the Faith when Things get Tough

Biography (from 2013):

Deidre has served the church in a variety of ways as an educator, encouraging people to grow in their relationship with God and Christian discipleship, and participate in God’s mission of compassion, healing, and hope in our world. She has been involved in theological education, and recently she has come into the vocation of social work and is currently employed part time as a counsellor for Uniting Communities with their Childhood Sexual Abuse Counselling team. Deidre is currently Moderator Elect of the South Australian Synod of the Uniting Church.

Deidre is delighted to be participating in the School of Discipleship this year. She looks forward to spending time with participants and hearing people’s stories about their journey with Jesus “in the hard times”. Deidre has been influenced by feminist and liberation theologians and narrative approaches to pastoral care. Deidre will share insights from these foundations and from her work with people who are seeking to make meaning of their lives in the face of trauma and abuse.