Page 178 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

11

Making Referrals

effective Collaboration Between Mental
Health and Spiritual Care Practitioners
Patricia Berliner, Diane Ryan, and Julie Taylor

Introduction

Although mental health workers and spiritual care providers have worked
together for many years to meet the needs of local communities, disaster
response, as an organized discipline, is a relatively new specialty for both
groups. Being present to those affected by tragedy is a finely calibrated
effort, a multidisciplinary process in which each piece must fit together
appropriately, comfortably, and effectively within the whole.

Background

In the United States, major developments in collaboration between men-
tal health and spiritual care providers in response to major tragedies fol-
lowed several aviation incidents within a short period of time: the US Air
Flight 427 disaster in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in September 1994, the
ValuJet air crash in the Florida Everglades in May 1996, and the July 1996
TWA Flight 800 disaster in Long Island, New York. Each time, people
from near and far converged on the sites of these disasters, offering their
concern and willingness to help in any way they could. Although their
concern was heartfelt and well meaning, many of the volunteers were not
experienced or trained in disaster response.

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