Beth Benham

 “When we are crushed like grapes we cannot think of the wine we will become.”
~ Henri Nouwen

Everyone has a story to tell, we are all wounded at times, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. Our speaker, Beth Benham will share a critical time in her life when she was wounded and how God used her pain to minister to others. Blessed and broken, she learned to let go and let God.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight.”
~Proverbs 3:5-6

Biography: Beth retired in January of 2012 after serving 27 years as a Police Officer/Detective for Fairfax County Police Department, in Northern Virginia outside Washington DC.  During her career her duties included 20 years as a hostage negotiator and as a Crisis Peer Support Team Leader (CISM) with her department.

Her work assignments were driven by her own life experiences and her Catholic faith in the Holy Trinity.  The list includes the handling of Critical Incidents with Barricaded and Suicidal individuals and Crisis Intervention work debriefing officers involved in traumatic incidents such as the Virginia Tech shooting.  She also worked with co-workers and family members of officers killed in the line-of- duty.

Since retiring she has been drawn to working with confirmation age teens at her parish. Her hope is for them to see how the Holy Spirit works and how to recognize the Holy Spirit moving in their own lives. Beth moved to Fort Myers, Florida in June of 2016. She presently works for St John XXIII Parish where she is Coordinator of Young Adults and High School Youth Ministry. She volunteers on the Peer Support Team for retired members of her former police department and serves on the board of the Fairfax County Fallen Officers Memorial.