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LeadershipVolume 1 · Issue 2

Leading What You Have Not Healed

A short reflection for pastors, executives, and clinicians who carry others.

Professor Cheryll Holmes

Professor Cheryll Holmes, PhD, PsyD, MDR

Founder and Professor of Relationship Science and Human Functioning™

June 16, 2026

3 min readPractitioner

Cover plate reserved — Leadership, Volume 1 · Issue 2

Leadership
Reader

A short reflection for pastors, executives, and clinicians who carry others.

It is possible to lead well while still in repair. It is not possible to lead well while pretending the repair is finished. The pretense is what leaks — into tone, into decisions, into the people who cannot name why they feel unsteady around us.

“You are not required to be finished. You are required to be honest about where you are, and supervised where it matters.”

This is why the Academy requires reflection alongside instruction. A practitioner's interior life is not a private matter when other people's outcomes depend on it.

References

References are recorded with the manuscript and published with the article.

Estimated citation

Holmes, C. (2026). Leading What You Have Not Healed. Leadership, 1(2). Holmes Knowledge Center, Holmes Training Academy™.

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About the author

Professor Cheryll Holmes

Professor Cheryll Holmes, PhD, PsyD, MDR

Founder and Professor of Relationship Science and Human Functioning™

Professor Cheryll Holmes is the founder of The Holmes Organization and the architect of the Human Functioning™ framework. Her work sits deliberately at the convergence of science and theology: clinical evidence read with rigor, human beings read with dignity. She has spent her career preparing practitioners — clinicians, pastors, executives, and educators — to intervene with precision rather than instinct, and writes for the professional who must be right about a person's life, not merely persuasive about a topic.

  • PhD — Human Functioning and Relationship Science
  • PsyD — Clinical Psychology
  • MDR — Marriage and Divorce Recovery
  • Founder, Holmes Training Academy™
  • Founder, Holmes Marriage Clinic™

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