Page 13 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

xii Introduction

development of disaster relief work between spiritual care providers and
mental health professionals.
We believe that collaboration among different actors, particularly in a
crisis, is necessary for the care of affected individuals. This is the basic com-
mon goal of spiritual care and mental health coworkers, to serve popula-
tions and individuals in need. Challenges to providing services are shaped
by the presence of interpersonal, interorganizational, and interdisciplin-
ary differences and competition over resources. The purpose of this book
is to provide tools for both study and for field use, to assist practitioners in
developing and expanding approaches to collaboration in their work.
An ancillary purpose of this book is to augment the applied study of
spiritual care and mental health collaboration as a subject of inquiry.
Religious and spiritual approaches have existed since time immemorial,
while mental health is a relative newcomer to the scene. Mental health
practice has developed in a way that addresses voids that religious caregiv-
ers tend not to address, which at times overlaps in significant ways with
religion and spirituality. Presently, both are involved in assisting individu-
als and communities with personal problems including disasters, and both
fields therefore compete in seeking to be utilized by overlapping groups of
people and for limited sources of funding.
In terms of relations between the two groups, the tone has ranged from
overt hostility to grudging coexistence to greater and lesser degrees of col-
laboration characterized by friendly as well as standoffish attitudes; from
tolerant to accepting to welcoming.

Collaboration: Major Themes in the Aftermath of Disasters

In Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience, the two themes of under-
standing collaboration and examining the relationship between spiritual
care and mental health providers come together. Individuals, communi-
ties, governments, and organizations turn to both groups for support dur-
ing all phases of disaster.
We should seize any opportunity we have to effectively work together;
every opportunity not seized may result in a failure to provide care to
people in need. We may learn how and seek to collaborate despite many
years of historical friction between mental health and spiritual care work-
ers. This book will help those seeking to enter and heal this breach.
We have invited an anthropological perspective within our coeditor-
ship in order to provide perspective and enhance the reflective aspect