Recovering From Un-Natural Disasters by Laurie Kraus David Holyan & Bruce Wismer

Author:Laurie Kraus, David Holyan & Bruce Wismer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781611647907
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

CLERGY SELF-CARE: STRATEGIES FOR RESILIENCE

The safety service announcements prior to an airplane’s departure always include this admonition, “Put on your own oxygen mask first before helping others.” The unstated point is quite clear: those who don’t put on their masks first will pass out and assist neither themselves nor the others they intended to assist in the first place. And worse, they will become one more person who needs assistance. So those who neglect self-care during and after a traumatic event go from being a well-intended helper to an unconscious victim of depressurization rather quickly. Self-care is about putting on one’s own oxygen mask first.

People of faith often blanch at this idea: Tend thyself first! With whispers of Jesus laying down his life for others and laying aside the glory of heaven in order to become fully human forming our theology of ministry, clergy and lay leaders “press on toward the goal that lies before us.” What they don’t realize is that what lies before those who do not practice good self-care are burnout, divorce, alienated children, getting fired, leaving the ministry, and any number of other unpleasant consequences. Self-care is not self-indulgence; it is being intentional about nurturing and sustaining all of who you are and what you are called to be and do in the world. For the pastoral leader who would sustain a healthy ministry practice and support the recovery of a community following human-caused disaster, self-care is not an option. And the best way to continue (or begin) practicing self-care is to form an intentional self-care plan.

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