The Rev. Earl Johnson on chaplaincy in disaster – how we prepare ourselves

It's a Disaster: Prepare for It

Disaster Response may now be the social action of our time.  For those of us involved in clinical pastoral education over the past decade and worked with those seeking to gain entrance to our hospitals and clinics “to visit the sick” as a faith requirement, the events of 9/11 created a new focus and faith initiative – “to assist those devastated by natural and human-caused disaster.”  Well-intentioned and well-meaning, yet inappropriate volunteers seeking to gain access to some of the most-vulnerable – those traumatized by disaster – without first receiving any additional training or orientation on how to companion and aid the survivors, may not be a unique phenomenon.  But it is real and potentially dangerous.  One of the most important services that both dedicated disaster and faith-based response organizations need to provide to disaster clients is protection from those who feel a divine mission to assist them whether they want services or not.

The primary disaster needs are information and reassurance.  Even before first aid is administered or shelter found.  Am I safe?  Are my loved ones safe?  Where are they?  How can I reach them or speak to them or hold them?  Are my pets okay?  Are my livestock fed?  Will I be okay?  Even before food and water. After all, how can one eat or drink when one is full of dread and fear, sorrow, or the indescribable pain of loss. 

These are familiar questions for most chaplains, and our clinical and professional training helps us find meaning in the disaster events and process the tremendous feelings when the time is right.  That’s why the disaster culture and the chaplaincy culture are so similar in many ways.  Helping the patient, the victim, the survivor and their loved ones share the same vocabulary and focus on the other – without the loss of self – the knowledge of personal and professional boundaries in the midst of emergency room chaos or surrounding the perimeter of a smoking fuselage in a field is familiar to both cultures.  Chaplains know how to be with people in crises.  They know when to start the conversation and when to remain silent and honor the silence where there are no words to describe the horror.

The needs expressed above are only after an event has occurred. They deal with our response and the needs that emerge in a careful assessment of what services one might offer.

But what about before?  Is there any way to prepare for these eventualities, these horrors, these disasters?  Is there any way for us to develop resilience and a capacity to adapt and endure anticipated suffering?  That’s the preparedness part, where we need to do an inventory of our resources available and our own capacity to survive.  For chaplains, our family and faith resources are primary, and go hand in hand with professional training on how to be with persons in crises and work as a team.  To know that we are not alone and have help when in need.  To develop a capacity, an awareness of self-care and needs, and to know why we are there, what has called us to respond, and also, to know when to leave. 

Many of us lived and experienced the civil rights struggles and peace movement. Our characters became sharpened and defined through living through these times.  For some, 9/11 was our Pearl Harbor, but for most, innocence and awareness fell and rose three years ago on a quiet, sunny September day. We still haven’t truly processed how much a disaster that disaster was and it’s continuing impact for our lifetime.  Most respond to disasters by wishing to do something, as chaplains respond in kind.  Chaplains also know when to just be, and companion those impacted, and that’s key – reassurance, integrity, truthfulness – and you are safe with me.

Do you have thoughts about advocacy you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail to info@PlainViews.org.