Dr. Elizabeth Pennock

Director of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program

Associate Professor of Counseling

BA Furman University, Greenville, SC
MA Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, FL
PhD University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
Dr. Elizabeth Pennock

Dr. Elizabeth Pennock

About Dr. Elizabeth Pennock

Dr. Pennock grew up in the mountains of North Carolina. She then spent many years serving on church-planting teams in Eastern Europe before pursuing her career in counseling. After completing her MA in Counseling at Reformed Theological Seminary, she worked as a missionary member care provider with a large, interdenominational mission agency. In this role she provided counseling and crisis care to global missionaries.
As her interest grew in trauma-focused counseling, she completed the Certificate in Narrative Focused Trauma Care (Level 1) with the Allender Center at the Seattle School before deciding to pursue a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision so that she could be involved in training a new generation of trauma-informed counselors. With more than 12 years of experience as a mental health counselor and specialized training in trauma therapy, Dr. Pennock is passionate about training trauma-informed counselors who want to integrate their Christian faith with their counseling training and practice.

Before joining the faculty of WTS, Dr. Pennock was on the faculty of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, where she served as Practicum & Internship Coordinator for the MA in Counseling program before becoming the MAC Program Director in 2022. Having recently moved to Michigan, she is enjoying exploring the Holland area with her therapy-dog-in-training, Oliver.

Areas of Expertise

Dr. Pennock’s areas of expertise include trauma and trauma-informed care, counselor education and supervision, and the integration of spirituality and counseling. The dissertation she completed for her PhD in Counselor Education at the University of Central Florida was titled “Trauma-Informed Clergy: An Investigation of Factors Predicting the Trauma-Related Attitudes and Beliefs of Christian Clergy in Florida.”

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Articles, Chapters, Blogs, Videos

More from Dr. Pennock

  • Book Chapter

  • Journal Article

Spirituality and Religion in Counseling: Competency-Based Strategies for Ethical Practice

Book Chapters Hagedorn, W. B., Pennock, E. R., & Rendon Finnell, L. (2018). Addressing spiritual and religious themes with play, creativity, and experiential interventions. In C. S.Gill & R. Freund (Eds.). Spirituality and Religion in Counseling: Competency-Based Strategies for Ethical Practice (pp. 189-206). New York, NY: Routledge.

Journal for Specialists in Group Work

Oh, S., Mitchell, M. D., McKinzie Bennett, C., Rendon Finnell, L., Saliba, Y., Heard, N. J., & Pennock, E. R. (2018). Journal sharing on group cohesion and goal attainment in experiential growth groups. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 43:3, 206-229. doi: 10.1080/01933922.2018.1484541

Academics

Courses taught by Dr. Pennock