Day one of Individual Crisis Training.
I am a Christian. Kind of a simple statement, but I have been on so many sites where Christian bashing is the norm. I frequent Pagan sites, and a Universal Ministry site and see the horrible things that those that use the title Christian have done. Hiding behind the cross to do horrible unfair things to others and tarnishing the name and the deeds of Christ. It saddens me to no end knowing that the Word is sound, the ideal is sound, yet people feel the need to use the title to do harm. A REAL Christian doesn’t do that. And before it appears I am judging, let me also say that we are all people, we all make mistakes, but that is not what I am talking about.
I have never been in a group of Christians larger than 6 or so. I just haven’t made it to church, haven’t felt welcomed in any way or felt the real need to go. So last night I stepped in to a nearly empty room, I was early, picked a seat at the back, heck I even backed into my parking space in case I needed to get out of there quick. J I watched as the room filled up. People that had prior acquaintances were exchanging hugs, finding seats together. The first gentleman that came and joined my table was Steve. He had been a Crisis Chaplin for over 10 years and was there for a refresher course, he was a big bold man, yet insecure. The second person to join us was Jamie. She was very guarded, didn’t talk much about herself, but said she was kind of called to be there. The next lady was Cyndy, she was a Crisis Chaplin as well, and although married seemed lonely. Cielia joined us next and she was an ex ER nurse and now stay at home mom, a lovely bubbling personality, open. Then Wyn sat down, quiet at first very reserved. The started telling their stories as part of a listening exercise we were asked to do.
I heared amazing things. Wyn and Jamie had been helping at Katrina together, Jamie never mentioned it, Wyn brought it up. They both went to that church we were at. Steve and Cyndy were Chaplins for the same county. Steve would share his storied, Cyndy kept them close to her. They touched her, you could tell. Cielia was chatty, but just service chat. You knew she was very deep, but she was careful. She was wounded, couldn’t really tell how, not yet. These people were all in service. These people were all called to be there. I have to say it was an honor to share that time with them, and I was very happy to hear we would be keeping the groups for the next 3 days.
Our instructor’s name was Michael. He is pretty high up in the Billy Graham organization, and this worried me some. I was there to learn to help people, not convert them. But my fears were unfounded. He is a great speaker, light and informative. The lecture did use scripture but only as it pertained to the psychology in the course. It was almost like he was proving the method that had been tried and found true, to be okay with those of faith. I like it when science and The Word agree. Give more validity to both in my opinion.
I enjoyed the class, it was as he said, the boring day. The day for definitions and such, but I really enjoyed it. We will be doing individual work, as well as teams. We are being given tools to help bringing people out of the trauma mind and back into survival mode. These methods are approved by many top organization, Fema to one. The materials are from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, a group of psychologists that put together a working Crisis tool book.
We talked about the need for emotional and spiritual care in times of crisis. Of course the physical is dealt with first, but then the fear, anger and stress start to fester. This class is to teach us tools to help folks get past that and back to tending to the day to day things. Much stress is unfounded, through prejudice and rumor. Those things are issues mostly can be dealt with using these tools. We talked of PTSD and how in the old days WWI they mananged the stress of combat immediately. People were counseled on the day, not months after any incident. I am not talking couches and kid gloves, but still things were addressed and resolutions found. They stopped doing that later on, and the incidence of PTSD rose rapidly. They explained it like a broken bone. If not set it will heal wrong and take much more trauma later on to set it right. The same with emotional issues, if not “set” they are left to heal wrong and can require years of therapy to set them back to right. I do not know the validity of the statements yet, just what I was told. I look forward to learning more about these techniques as class goes on.
