Page 35 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

4 Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilence

needs, become aware of emotions and thoughts and their impact on deci-
sions and behavior, and identify how we get in our own and others’ way
and generate better choices are all highly relevant, not only in disasters and
crises, but in the everyday trauma of ordinary living we all encounter. It is
important to make good collaboration practice habitual because it is dif-
ficult to remember and implement effective approaches when one is spread
too thinly, other priorities are more pressing, and capacities are dimin-
ished secondary to impaired cognition from distress (Covello, McCallum,
& Pavlova, 1989). Burnout, compassion fatigue, and primary, secondary,
and systemic trauma impede collaboration. As in other endeavors, the most
effective approach is to develop proficiency by practice and over-learning
when pressure is low and other resources are replete, so that when skills are
needed they are at our figurative fingertips—implicit and less effortful.
I will (a) review collaboration, (b) discuss relevant aspects of trauma
and its effects on individual and systemic function, (c) describe a frame-
work for approaching the complex interactions that arise out of the chaos
of disaster, (d) discuss features of effective collaboration and suggest some
concrete tools that may foster collaboration, and (e) discuss some of the
less concrete aspects of collaboration that are not as easily implemented.
Developing and maintaining a collaborative stance requires sustained,
long-term effort and allocation of personal and organizational resources.
Understanding how the expenditure of such resources is worthwhile
requires a commitment to looking at the long-term picture and seeing
how collective needs over the long haul outweigh apparent short-term
gains. Taking this long-range view is often in contrast to where the imme-
diacy of our crisis emotions may compel our expectations and perspec-
tive. Effective collaboration allows for synergy of participants working
together, in which the whole of the work effort is greater than the sum of
the parts. Collaboration results when complementarity wins out not just
some of the time, but at all times, over competition, secrecy, and paranoia.
Because disasters present novel and unpredictable situations every time, it
may not be possible to be fully prepared other than to expect to be caught
off guard and prospectively take appropriate steps to sustain functionality
knowing some of the challenges disasters pose.

Collaboration: A Basic Overview

In this section, we will outline key elements pertaining to collaboration.
We will briefly look at collaboration from four points of view: