1)Peer to Peer. This is the one that I was so excited to go to, because I think debriefings are vitally important to the health and longevity of missionaries. This type of debriefing is not like the intense, week long one that I went through last March, which was more allowing one to unwrap an entire term/multiple years/multiple events, etc. I'd very much like to go through that training so that IM would have someone who could offer that service inside of our agency. This type is for one time, crisis events;" revolution, armed robbery, murder, kidnapping, shooting, evacuation, looting, bombing, destruction of home or property, natural disasters(hurricane, earthquake, floods, typhoon, fire, etc), and medical emergencies. Other types of trauma include: open opposition, false accusation, betrayal be friends, cancellation of a long term project, team conflict, change of role, turning back of spiritual children, immorality of colleagues, divorce or desertion of spouse, death or illness or violence within the family, wayward and/or troubled children, epidemic, sudden death by accident, deportation, and unexpected loss of support."
It's important to know that debriefing is not counseling. It's allowing a person to tell his/her story in a methodical manner through discussing feeling, thoughts, and reactions, and moving them through the place of understanding that the shock they're feeling and things they're experiencing as a result are normal. It helps walk them through where they are currently to returning to "norm" by taking small steps of adaptive coping that were norms for them before the trauma, and making a plan to restore independent functioning or referring them for further care. I loved the simple process that was taught and would love to see more people within IM trained in this method of debriefing.
2)Cerny Smith Assessment Coach Certification Training. The CSA is a stress assessment test for cross cultural workers, whether they be military, diplomats, students, or missionaries. It's done by a Christian organization after years of collecting data and working out the consistency of the results(by two brilliant Ph.Ds. Again, it's not a tool used for counseling purposes, necessarily, but to help cross cultural workers answer these questions:
*How am I doing?
*What can I learn from how I am doing?
*What can I do about it?
It measures 20 different areas of stress: organizational relationship, organizational support, work load, companionship, cultural skills, transitions, cultural relationships, situational crisis, relational support, effective relationships, family adjustment, extended family/friends, resiliency, decision making, optimism, stress management, spirituality, habits, physical health, and past stresses. Then it sorts them from your strongest to your weakest, giving a more detailed report on the three you're the strongest in to the three that you're the weakest in. The idea is that people can often help themselves better than someone else can by using the strengths that they already possess to keep moving forward. If we highlight the strengths and help them identify some basic action steps to take to work on their weaknesses(based off their strengths), people are more empowered in their own growth and coping process.
The weather was absolutely lovely until the end of the week. I managed to get a ride in every evening following class(except Fri. when it was super windy). I learned that riding on flat ground takes a lot more pedaling than riding the same amount on hilly ground, and my knees were pretty sore after every ride. I was happy to return to hilly Charlotte, where even though I have to work hard going uphill, I get to coast going down!
 |
| The main bldg. in NTM's beautiful campus |
 |
| The weather was balmy and lovely until Thurs. evening when the temps dropped 30 degrees. Our Cerny Smith training was in a non-heated room and the females were all freezing. =-D |
 |
| The view I walked out to each day |
No comments:
Post a Comment