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Help with Chaplian Manual.
Good day. I am a Fire Service Chaplain and presently writing a manual to train other fire service chaplains. I would like to hear from firemen and women about what their concerns would be after an LODD, mass disaster, or any other major incident and what they would like to see addressed during a CISD. You canpost here or e-mail me at dnbsav@aol.com. Thank you.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Thomas Hart on
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Chaplain James: Have you heard of "The Federation of Fire Chaplains"? They have the book for Chaplains, provide training etc and everything you covered above in your question. I suggest you go to their website. Chaplain Thomas Hart
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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I'm just heading out the door to instruct a class today, but will respond tonight when I get in.
I've got some big issues about current CIS processes that I'd like to share...
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Permalink Reply by James Savage on
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Chaplain Hart, I am a member of the FFC and I have their manual. I am a lic. and endoresed chaplain and the denomanation that has lic. me wants to add fire service chaplain to their courses. I was looking for any other concerns others would like to see covered. As a fire academy instructor, I get alot of input from the men in this department and the one I volunteer at. Around 220 in the paid and 50 in the vol. Both in an urban area. I was thinking that larger or smaller depts might have differant concerns.
Thanks for your reply.
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Hey there James- here's my thoughts on CIS, and an answer to some of your questions ,from my perspective and ramblings as a responder and an OIC at various incidents....
* The organisation I used to belong to had a peer support team in place where other members from other departments were trained to provide peer support. For me, I really hated this whole concept. I was always concerned about the level of training, the confidentiallity (or lack of), the whole concept of talking to people that may not in fact have a clue about what I'm talking about in terms of the job that I was responded to.
* The same service had 2x Salvation Army chaplains- this couple were without a doubt the mos tbeautiful couple you could ever meet and have travelled the state offering their "services" and a listening ear to anyone. They also knew when to handball up the food chain, ie: what their limitations were when it came to offering assistance. This couple did more to help CIS in terms of promoting the issues, the assistance available and simply having alistening ear.
* The same service also had a clinical psychologist who could be contacted. Unfortunately I and others, felt he had an axe to grind with the Chaplains and tha thye had no place in the team. I experienced this first hand after being OIC for a particularly nasty incident that I attended over 9 years ago. He spent 40 minutes of a 1 hour session trying to udnerstand why I would ring the chaplains first and not the peer team! Greta help that was- BTW, only last year I went and sought assistance (counseeling) again for that exact same incident. I had a rough time with it, but with no apprarent trigger to casue, but then again, I guess that's CIS for ya'!
Based on my limited experience in this area, I offer the following as food for thought-
* Any chaplain must be trained.
* Any chaplain must know their limitations.
* Any chaplain must be clearly identified in any organisational structure.
* The chaplian should offer a non-denominational counselling. ie: they're there to provide a listening ear, offer assistance and so on without promoting any form of religion or pushing it onto people.
* The chaplain must be clearly identified. ie: helmet, tabbard or what ever is the chosen method.
* Any structure for support that is in place must identify that a chaplain is a part of that response team and that they can be contacted. Some people (especially with the 2 in my examples above) simply prefer to contact them (And they worked bloody hard to achieve that too- good on them I say!!!).
* The chaplian must be available 24/7- we need assistance at all times of day and night.
* There needs to be enough of a network to provide coveraqe over a large area and for large scale incidents.
Out of interest, has anyone read the book, "God at Ground Zero"? Now, I can't remember who wrote it, but it's a fascinating book....
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Permalink Reply by JRZCN on
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Below is a link and an email address. The link is for the Tenessee Federations of Fire Chaplains website and the email address is for the executive director. If you have any questions while writing the manual, the executive director can help you out. We have an annual training weekend in Sevier County called Smoky Mountain Weekend and Captain Trumpore had two 2 day classes just for fire service chaplains this year. He had such a good response that I believe he is going to have them next year also.
http://www.tesca.org/ PNTrumpore@aol.com
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Thank you for your reply. You make many good points. Peer support is good to a point and they must know when to pass it on as you said. Sometimes with doctors, they have a hard time looking at things for the spiritual point of view. It is great when you can team up with a doctor who is a beleiver. I can not say enough about the Salvation Army and their chaplains, they are good. The reason we are doing this is for a class that will be thaught to certified Chaplains that want to minister to firemen, so they will know what we go through. Thanks again, James
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Thank you for your response. James
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Thank you for your response. James
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Permalink Reply by David Ebel on
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As a Salvation Army officer and Chaplain I am thankful for your kind words. The Salvation Army has made a huge commitment to provide CISM to every Officer that wants it. I started out being a fire chaplain for about 19 years... then I took the CISM peer to peer class.. I now wish it had been available sooner... by it's very nature it teaches confidentiality, having no personal ax to grind with anyone, knowing limitations and when to refer. I loved the course that I have now taken many others and now serve as a West Coast CISM Trained Trainer providing the classes for others in The Salvation Army and the responder community.
It is unfortunate that sometimes someone with a pure heart is sent into a situation without the right training. The damage can be VERY real. I have had to come behind someone like that and work hard to build trust before I even began to provide help when they needed help immediately.
Until I was moved a month ago I served a city and a county chaplain (their only bi department chaplain in recent days) for almost 6 years. Once we were known for being fair and listening while being confidential, we have had a effective time as chaplains. Now after 25 years of sevices as a chaplain... being available... knowing when to assist, when to refer has served everyone well.
Peer support is very helpful. Sometimes there are firefighters who feel much more comfortable talking to a peer. Others prefer talking to a neutral trained chaplain... both can be very effective.
To me the training needs to be mandate before a person is called a chaplain. Also, I believe having the training that is older than 3 years before, without using it regularly becomes "stale" and the chaplain needs to take another course to be current and fresh with his / her took and approach. I know few chaplains that had one class in CISM over 12 years ago and do not see the need to refresh their skills... that is as hard to take as a FireFighter finishing fire school and never doing a drill or attending a class for the next 12 years... would you want them covering your back?
If there is any way I can be of support to any chaplain please feel free to ask.
Blessings
David Ebel
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Thanks vey much for your input. You show that experience is always best.
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