Page 183 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

152 Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilence

morgue escorts, working with animal control agencies to assist those with
pets remaining in vacated buildings, and supporting those who learned
they could not reoccupy their dwelling for some time.
No matter what disaster discipline practitioners identify with, each
must be skilled in crisis intervention and embrace the art of compassion-
ate presence, which is the ability to be with those in their suffering and
be of comfort without trying to fix situations or provide answers. “Very
rarely is what we say the most important thing, it’s really the fact that we
are there. That we are willing to sit and not walk away from the pain and
anguish of what comes along in life. We sit, we accompany, we companion
with folks the worst days of their lives” (Taylor & Ryan, 2007, pp. 66–67).
It is common in disaster work to find people who are licensed in a
mental health discipline and trained as a spiritual care provider. When
volunteering to work at a disaster site, it is imperative that the multi-
qualified worker identify which capacity he or she will be serving for the
particular response and that the work is done within the parameters of
that discipline.
In areas of the United States that are active in preparedness activities,
there is now a movement toward members of related response disciplines
coming together before a disaster happens. Preincident relationships are
essential to strong collaboration and must include opportunities for regu-
lar trainings, meetings, drills, and exercises and social events at which
people can get to know each other in a relaxed environment. This nondi-
saster collaboration brings opportunities to learn one another’s language,
establishes communication and prepares a foundation for trust. Awareness
of what each group brings to the table can open both to a mutuality of
learning and cross-training between disciplines.
Communicating and collaborating with communities impacted by
tragedy is always more effective when it is driven by those who do not
appear to be “outsiders.” Given the diverse populations within our coun-
try and our local communities, disaster mental health and spiritual care
teams must be culturally, racially, ethnically, religiously, and linguistically
diverse. Often, spiritual care teams will have practitioners who can address
the needs of people with different cultural backgrounds, faith beliefs, lan-
guages, and cultural needs. This is not always true for mental health teams
and is another example of the strength of a collaborative team approach.
One tenet of spiritual care providers is that “we help the healing process
best when we seek the help of others and build partnerships within the
communities we are deployed to help heal” (Ashley et al., 2008, p. 232).
Referrals between disaster mental health workers and disaster spiritual