Page 185 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

154 Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilence

her to feel connected to her family oversees as they, together, honored and
mourned her aunt.

Synthesis

The examples and guidelines we have offered are meant to be an introduc-
tion to the mission and work of disaster mental health workers and spiri-
tual care partners. We hope that they have given a sense of the “behind
the scenes” collaboration, trust and support that make possible the work
we do for the people in our communities at times of suffering and loss. We
who share a sacred trust reverence the privilege of being able to help bring
healing to the pain, hope in despair and some semblance of normality to
the lives of victims of disaster and tragedy, whether that be one person or
a nation.

Conclusion

Because this model has proven to be effective, other disaster organiza-
tions in the United States have begun to develop their own collaborative
forums between mental health and spiritual care providers. The work of
team building that has already been done is extraordinary, but many prac-
tical challenges remain, including finding new funding resources to cre-
ate disaster chaplaincy groups. Another major goal is identifying creative
ways in which mental health and spiritual care teams can implement and
extend the networking process. We trust that we will continue to move
forward and that, with and from our work, will come new groups, new
volunteers, and new resources to meet the needs of people who suffer
disastrous losses.

References

Ashley, W. W. C., Samet, R. L., Radillo, R., Ali, U. N. A., Billings, D., & Davidowitz-
Farkas, Z. (2008). Cultural and religious considerations. In Disaster spiritual
care: Practical clergy responses to community, regional and national tragedy.
Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishing Company.
Caravan ORC International (2001). American Red Cross national poll, October
5–8.