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| Minister Self Care #2 - Charles Siburt & David Wray |
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Presented at the Christian Education Conference, January, 2002 - Dr. Charles Siburt and Dr. David Wray
Types of Minister Support
A. Gary L. Harbaugh, Ph.D., Professor of Pastoral Care at the Trinity Lutheran Seminary served as the project director for the Caring for the Caregiver Survey in 1991 funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment. The results of the survey are available in Harbaugh's book entitled Caring for the Caregiver. Bethesda, MD: The Alban Institute, 1992.)
1. The Caring for the Caregiver study identified different ways that religious bodies support professional leaders.
a. Most religious bodies share similar concerns. Some obvious exceptions exist.
b. In most respects, the similarities among professional leaders far surpass any differences since a person in ministry is first a person.
c. Whatever the polity, in the various denominations and religious groups studied there are different levels of support, each of which has its own strengths and limitations. d. Those levels are:
1) Personal
2) Familial
3) Congregational
4) Collegial
5) Community
6) Denominational
7) Interdenominational
B. A survey of these types of support is as follows:
1. Personal
a. No religious group in the survey simply wrote off personal problems as failures of faith.
b. Rather, these human problems were considered legitimate needs that should address as effectively as possible.
c. The sections that follow take another look at the primary areas of personal need and the principal ways that persons in ministry are currently being supported.
2. Familial
a. Few, if any, other vocations make the demands on families that ministry does.
b. The expectations and demands go beyond what they are for spouses of physicians, lawyers, psychologists, teachers, or other professionals.
c. Some religious bodies have found success in starting to work with couples during seminary since special support is needed during the first few years in ministry.
d. Continuing education can serve a preventive purpose, and some denominations include spouses in the programs. Scheduling becomes a In most of the religious bodies included in the study, spouses and family members have access to the same counseling support services that are provided for professional leaders.
3. Congregational
a. While not all religious groups have congregationally based "mutual ministry" committees, most denominations endorse the concept of a pastor-parish or a leader lay staff support committee and hope to develop such a resource in the future.
b. Exactly what is meant by a mutual ministry committee depends on its formation and mission. There are several possibilities.
1) Some staff support committees function as a personnel committee, representing the congregation. Issues of call, salary and benefits, responsibility and accountability are all appropriate issues for a personnel committee.
2) Or a committee may be a small representative group that interprets the concerns of the laity to the professional leader. This type of committee can be helpful to a professional leader by clarifying staff and congregational issues or conflicts and by suggesting alternative responses.
3) One can often discern the true mission of a mutual ministry committee by examining how the committee members are selected. Are the members appointed by someone other than the professional leader or without the final approval of the professional leader? And to whom is the committee accountable?
c. It is important to realize that personnel committees, representative committees, and personal support committees have their limits. Those professional leaders who try to use a mutual ministry committee as a substitute for personal counseling or therapy are asking the group to perform beyond its competency. If the primary purpose of the committee is personal support, it is more appropriate for the committee to stick with information, clarification, and, when appropriate, suggestion of viable alternatives. If professional therapy is needed, it is wiser for a staff support committee to encourage the professional leader to seek private and confidential support services outside of the congregation. It is also more pastoral for a professional leader to seek help outside of the congregation because the professional leader may be perceived as less available to respond to pastoral requests from a member or a committee that is trying to counsel or otherwise take care of the caregiver.
d. Staff support committees can be extremely helpful when organized thoughtfully and when expectations and limits are clearly outlined. The majority of those who have implemented such committees want to continue them; of those religious bodies that do not now have such committees, many seem to be interested in developing them. Different denominations may have written guidelines for developing staff support committees.
4. Collegial
a. Most religious bodies seem to encourage their professional leaders to participate in denominational or ecumenical peer support groups; many personnel indicate that collegial groups are essential to professional leadership support.
b. There seem to be a number of reasons why some professional leaders do not attend such groups:
1) Time limitations
2) Feeling of no need for such a group
3) Need to maintain the appearance of everything going well.
4) The most common reason for non-attendance was "fear or distrust of sharing at a more personal level."
c. Colleagues in ministry sometimes create peer support by gathering around a task, perhaps a Bible study or a community concern. Considerable personal sharing may occur while the group works toward its goal. The stated agenda of the group is the task; the implicit agenda may be the support that comes from being together.
d. In How To Build a Support System for Your Ministry, Roy Oswald has described very well the pluses and minuses of collegial groups. He suggests that the most effective collegial groups do not simply happen by chance. Support groups are the result of very intentional decisions on the part of the participants. Oswald recommends that a group seek an outside leader. Leaderless groups seem much less helpful, and having someone within the group assume leadership often is counterproductive. Oswald provides a rationale for an outside leader and guidelines for starting a collegial group.
5. Community
a. Most religious bodies allow for the use of community resources when professional leaders or their families are in need of counseling support.
b. Those denominations that rely on counselors or counseling networks selected by the denomination have to make special efforts to assure professional leaders that the use of those resources is truly confidential.
c. There are several factors to consider when professional leaders are trying to find the right place to go for help. Byers, McLaughlin, and Caste of the Ohio State University Commission on Inter-professional Education and Practice have noted five "A's" that are significant criteria for any type of health care.
Quality health care is:
1) Available
2) Accessible
3) Affordable
4) Accountable
5) Affable (Care, regardless of its quality, is not a resource if it is not available and accessible. If unaffordable, treatment may be avoided or it win end too soon. Accountability suggests that resources must fulfill their promise to deliver services, and affability indicates the desirable climate of mutual trust that is needed in a helping relationship.)
There are two other A's that are critical for persons in ministry and their families to consider.
Quality care also must be:
6) Appropriate
7) Adequate
6. Denominational
a. There is considerable variation in what is provided: nationally coordinated programs, combinations of national and regional programs, regional programs, and no coordinated programs.
b. Insurance concerns may greatly affect the choice of a counselor. For example, psychiatrists and doctoral level psychologists usually meet insurance requirements, but in some denominations pastoral counselors or Masters level counselors may not be eligible unless they are under direct supervision. Also, in some denominational programs the services of privately selected counselors are not reimbursed at the same level as those counselors pre-approved by the religious body.
c. The Caring for the Caregiver survey compared the support programs of the various religious bodies along the following dimensions with the following results:
1) Coordination: national, regional, dioceses, presbyteries, districts, conferences, synods, etc., or no coordination at all. Examples of all of these were found.
2) Coverage: commercial insurance program, religious body's self-insurance program, or none. Most common were self-insurance programs, with some using commercial insurance in whole or as a supplement.
3) Counselors: which disciplines are recognized? Psychiatrists and psychologists were recognized by all, pastoral counselors, social workers, and marriage and family counselors by many, and career counselors by some.
4) Confidentiality: is it possible for professional leaders and their families to seek out confidential care and counseling? The answer was always "Yes."
5) Comprehensiveness: are all kinds of counseling needs supported or only those with a psychiatric diagnosis? Psychiatric disorders were covered by all insurance programs, but marriage counseling was not always covered and career counseling typically was not. Though not covered by insurance, usually career counseling was financially supported at least in part by the religious body.
6) Counseling Specializations: does the religious body have or recommend specific national or regional counseling programs for specific difficulties, such as substance abuse, sexual misconduct, financial impropriety? There were very few specialized resources identified. Most religious groups seemed to refer persons with these types of problems to the same resources used for other problems.
7) Concern and Concerns: to what extent should a church leader make personal contact with a professional leader to discuss any concerns that a professional leader might have about the consequences of entering a counseling program? There was no unanimity in responses to this question. A number felt such contact prior to the referral was desirable, and perhaps afterward, but most did not think that such contact would be appropriate while the professional leader was in treatment.
8) Choices: which approach to care and counseling is emphasized? As noted above, some utilize a staff person, some a network of counselors, and some emphasize the professional leader making that selection personally and privately.
9) Continuing Education: what kinds of programs designed to prevent future problems are offered? The most common were personal self-care, stress management, and spirituality. Marriage enrichment and congregational issues (conflict management, leadership style, etc.) were also fairly common offerings. The majority of those surveyed are doing something in the area of sexual ethics in ministry and chemical health issues. Usually these programs are offered every one to two years, and spouses often are invited to attend. Among professional leaders who do not attend these programs, there are several common reasons for nonparticipation: distance, cost, no personal need, and fears that attending would signal the existence of a problem. Occasionally, poor quality programs were cited as a deterrent.
10) Care in Context: what kinds of support groups does the religious body encourage professional leaders to attend? Most recommended denominational or ecumenical peer support groups, as well as congregational "mutual ministry" support committees. Reasons why professional leaders might not be involved in such groups included time limitations, no awareness of a need for such a group or committee, fear or distrust of sharing at a more personal level, and the need to maintain the appearance of everything going well.
11) Concluding Comments: what forms of professional leadership support are considered essential for a religious body to have in place if a professional leader is to feel supported? Almost all religious bodies said counseling/therapy and preventive continuing education were essential. Peer support groups and congregational mutual ministry committees were also frequently identified as essential components of a support program.
7. Interdenominational
a. A primary example of inter-denominational cooperation is the reliance on career counseling development centers. Many denominations include an ecumenical career counseling center among their resources.
b. In the recent past, a number of ecumenical centers have been developed. Some began as denominational resources, but then became ecumenical in outlook and marketing.
c. There are many types of support. The personal and familial types typically support the person in ministry, with the focus on the human dimensions of the problem. Congregational and collegial support assist the person in ministry, where personal support may be important but the accent is more often on strengthening the professional capacities of the minister. Religious bodies seem to share a commitment to draw upon denominational, community, and ecumenical resources in an effort to provide what professional leaders and their families need in order to be as effective as possible in personal and vocational life.
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