Dr. Katrina Cochran (CWS-ITRT) talks with Chriselle Hernandez, Trinity United Methodist, Arcadia, FL case work coordinator, and Lori Reilly of Project Hope/FEMA.
Photo: Melina Pavlides/CWS

ARCADIA, Florida. Feeling lost. Feeling tired. Feeling guilty for taking a day off. Feeling irritable, anxious, withdrawn. Worrying about neighbors, family, congregation, and friends. Can’t sleep. Gaining weight. Losing weight. Experiencing strained relationships.

After two months responding to four back-to-back major hurricanes in Florida that caused the deaths of more than 70 residents and damaged some 58,000 homes, many caregivers—clergy, community leaders, outreach workers, and volunteers—are starting to experience spiritual/emotional side effects.

For some clergy and faith leaders, early retirement or the desire to move to a new geographic area, depression/anxiety, and increased tensions within their congregations and families are often common symptoms in the aftermath of catastrophic disasters.

The CWS Interfaith Trauma Response Team (ITRT) seeks to help caregivers address these potential side effects and maintain their spiritual and emotional well-being.

CWS held the first of a series of “Caring for the Caregiver” workshops October 14 and 15 in central Florida—one in Arcadia, the other in Pine Island. ITRT is coordinated by William Sage and led by Oklahoma City resident Dr. Katrina Cochran.

The two 4-hour events—a mixture of lecture, discussion, and reflection—are designed to equip caregivers with the tools they need to help recognize and cope with the many stress factors involved with their work—and in a setting where they can share experiences, debrief, and form friendships that offer continued support.

Prior to the events, the team conducted a screening process with clergy and caregivers in disaster-affected areas of Florida to determine the best overall focus for the program. Dr. Alan Baroody, a member of the CWS Spiritual and Emotional Care Resource team, also assisted the process.

With backgrounds in both theology and counseling psychology, the team of professionals has played prominent roles in the response and recovery efforts following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City, and in Oklahoma City following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

Spiritual and emotional care have always been an integral part of the CWS approach to disasters, especially now as we know more about the intricate challenges caregivers experience, said Rick Augsburger, CWS Emergency Response Program Director. It is important to CWS to provide the best resources available to support caregivers as they go through a very lengthy and unpredictable recovery process.

The United Methodist Church of Pine Island and the First Presbyterian Church in Arcadia hosted the two Florida events. Nearly 40 participants representing disaster ministries of several faith-based, government, and voluntary organizations shared what they have experienced during the past two months, and were visibly lifted by Dr. Cochrans counsel on those issues.

Among those attending the Pine Island event was Day Broers-Case, a senior minister of the Ft. Myers Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), who expressed her concern about addressing long-term stress, fear, and anxiety in her congregation—comprised mostly of seniors.

“The workshop has helped me make better sense out of their fears, given me better insight into how to draw them out in order to talk about these fears, and provided useful tools that can help,” Broers-Case noted.

Dr. Cochran says the recovery process is “not a destination, but a journey.”

She encourages participants to “get back to a theological understanding of hope”—how it is manifest, how it is perceived, and how caregivers become beacons of hope. In thinking about these things, Cochran advises the importance of establishing a realistic expectation of hope.

Cochran explains, “Although maintaining a ministry of hope and care in the midst of crisis, caregivers must remember their task is not to solve problems, but to support the grieving and transformational process of a persons journey in recovery.”

Through that continued support, she says, one may derive comfort.

“Knowing that I’m an instrument of God and understanding the alignment of Gods will in my life, I cannot internalize the outcome of what I do—I cannot control that part,” notes Rev. Ann McLemore of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Pine Island.

“Everything she said was a ministry to me,” Barbara Laucks, pastor of Emmanuel United Church of Christ in Sebring, said of Cochran’s work.

“Things fade into the background in a time of crisis. This event helped bring a lot back in focus for me,” noted the Rev. Laucks, who lost seven members of her congregation in the recent disasters.

Three of her congregation’s Stephen ministers—trained lay ministers who do pastoral work—also attended the sessions, and expressed concern about Rev. Laucks overworking herself.

“We hope this encourages her to take a break,” they said in unison.

The workshops reaffirmed and celebrated the wonderful commitment and work of disaster responders in Florida.

Dr. Cochran hopes that as they continue the important work they do, participants are able to connect to their experience in new ways, understanding the disasters affects on them so they don’t neglect their own emotional and spiritual needs, in order to truly take care of themselves.

CWS’s Bill Sage observed how appreciative participants were, and “how the workshops helped reinforce the positive experience for caregivers, reaffirming their efforts and the unique bond between them as they continue to serve as beacons of hope in disasters.”