Disaster Spiritual Care and Cultural Diversity

TAIRS ConferenceTCRT TRAINING

A S O F : 1 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7

GOAL of Texas Crisis Resiliency Team

Promote resiliency among trauma survivors by communicating:• Safety

• Respect

• Concern / Empathy

• Encouragement

This training is from the “Disaster Spiritual Care: A Training Manual for Spiritual Care Providers”

•Basics of Crisis Intervention

•Understanding Traumatic Stress

•Encouragement Through Listening

•Loss and Grief

•Spiritual First Aid

•Religious Diversity

•Cultural Diversity

•Suicide Awareness

•Working with the Media

•Working with Children and Trauma

•Working with Senior Adults and Trauma

•Maintaining the Resiliency of the Spiritual Care Provider

PurposeIncrease the ability of the Spiritual Care Provider to respond to the religious and spiritual needs of trauma survivors in cross-cultural situations by training how to:

• Identify the impact of culture on the individual’s ability to deal with traumatic stress.

• Identify how to improve one’s cultural competency.

• Identify how cultural issues impact the providing of Disaster Spiritual Care.

To welcome the stranger … inevitably involves us in a sympathetic passing over into the other’s life and stories and a coming back into our own life and stories enriched with new insight. To see life through a story which requires us to welcome the stranger is to be forced to recognized the dignity of the stranger who does not share our story.

Darrell Fashing

NVOAD Points of ConsensusDisaster Spiritual Care

“Spiritual care providers demonstrate respect for diverse cultural and religious values by recognizing the right of each faith group and individual to hold to their existing values and traditions . . . Disaster response will not be used to further a particular political or religious perspective or cause – response will be carried out according to the need of individuals, families and communities.”

National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters, “Disaster Spiritual Care Points of Consensus, 2009,” accessed September 30, 2016, http://www.nvoad.org/resource-center/?mdocs-cat=mdocs-cat-62&att=null.

9/30/2017

MEANING OF CULTUREThe issues of culture often focus on national and racial origins. While those are often the primary focus, culture includes what groups eat, how they drink, the languages they speak, their views of aging and death, and their religious beliefs. Culture is the context where individuals develop their self-understanding and self-esteem.

National Organization for Victim Assistance, 13-1 (13 refers to the chapter, 1 is the page number)

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS IN US1900 – One in eight was member of race other than white.

2000 – One in four was member of race other than white.

Recent community surveys –

20% of homes – a language other than English is spoken

62% of those speak Spanish

38% speak another language

Multi-Racial Families – The 2000 US census reported 36% of those under 15 were of mixed race

Different sources have different numbers – but all agree on the increased diversity of the US population.

PERSONAL ENCOUNTERSIdentify cultural groups that we have encountered recently –

IMPORTANT – Cross cultural sensitivity does not mean knowing everything about every culture in the population served!

IMPACT OF CULTURE ON TRAUMA REACTIONS

Positive – Culture provides social support, shared values, and an understanding of the past and future.

◦ Identify examples .

Negative – When the individual is separated from their culture or the community trauma disrupts the ability of the culture to help individuals.

◦ Identify examples.

In most cases the Spiritual Care Provider can help the trauma survivor by assisting them to talk about their culture and help them to reconnect to the positive elements of their culture.

PRINCIPLES• We must understand our own cultural background

• Every person is unique

• Culture is not static

• It is important to know more about other cultures.

• Learning about different cultures is a life-long process. We do not have to know everything about all cultures in order to do crisis intervention.

INCREASING CULTURAL SELF-AWARENESS

Exercise:

1. Pick a Grandparent.

2. In what ways are your values / beliefs / culture different from your

grandparent?

3. In what ways are your values / beliefs / culture similar to your

grandparent?

WAYS TO INCREASE CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCY

1. Learning through books, the arts, and technology.

2. Talking, socializing and working with individuals from the culture who

can act as cultural guides or mentors.

3. Participating in the daily life of another culture.

4. Learning the language of another culture.

Eleanor W. Lynch and Marci J. Hanson, Developing Cross-Cultural Competence: A Guide for Working with Children and Their

Families, 4th ed. (Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company, 2010), 48.

CULTURAL ISSUES OF TRAUMA SURVIVORS

• Religious Traditions – so important that there is a separate TCRT training module.

• Food

• Racial Identities

• Gender Issues

• Clothing

• Eye Contact

• Physical Contact

• Grief and Burial Practices

• Other

COMMON ISSUES FROM CULTURAL INTERVIEWS

• Diversity within cultural groups

• Food

• Language

• Physical Contact

• Gender Issues

• Importance of Compassionate Presence

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS• Focus on showing respect

• If you offend -- apologize

• Continue to learn!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

DeVries, Marten W. “Trauma in Cultural Perspective,” In Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society, edited by Bassel A. van der Kolk, Alexander C. McFarlane, and Lars Weisaeth, 398-413. 1996. Paperback edition, New York: The Guilford Press, 2007.

Johnson, Lydia F. Drinking From the Same Well: Cross-Cultural Concerns in Pastoral Care and Counseling. Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2011.

Lee, Courtland C. Multicultural Issues in Counseling: New Approaches to Diversity. 3rd ed. Alexandria: American Counseling Association, 2006.

Lynch, Eleanor W., and Marci J. Hanson, eds. Developing Cross-Cultural Competence: A Guide for Working with Children and Their Families. 4th ed. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company, 2010.