Chaplaincy in the First Responder Wellness Context

One of the tenets of faith is peace expressed as peace with self and peace with others. The olive branch is a symbol of peace, and so is the cross.

Chaplaincy is a faith-based expression of care still not that well known.

Peace is central in chaplaincy, but there are other imperatives also, like truth in terms of safety, and presence, which is particularly felt through the empathy, unity (integrity and inclusivity), and humility in the chaplain’s presence.

Search and you’ll find that in peace and in presence—in empathy, unity, and humility—is safety. Chaplaincy is safety and wellbeing. Where there is truth, there within it is safety.

Chaplains speak truth to power succinctly but they are not the change agent. They are the informant, they bring truth to those who should know, including to those they care for. Chaplains are messengers. Chaplains accept they don’t know all the truth, but they are committed to sharing the truth they know—they are healers, watchers, encouragers.

Chaplains are safe, trustworthy, reliable. They carry and bring peace. They are important workers not only in trauma and grief, but in healing division.

Chaplains are workers, not unlike worker bees who serve a queen. Human chaplains serve and honour their chain of command.

Chaplaincy is acute care in crisis, and as a modality of care, it fits perfectly in the first responder space. The chaplain is a minister of religion but they’re not “religious”—they are not the archetypal God-botherer. Chaplains are pastors, shepherds at heart.

Modern Wellness is a blend of healing modalities for body, mind, and spirit. Chaplaincy provides pastoral care, safe presence in crisis, ceremonial functions, mediation in conflict, and journey encouragement.

Chaplains offer wisdom and are to strive to be beyond reproach. As peacemakers and pacifiers, chaplains model reconciliation, particularly leading by example through humility in apology.

Finally, chaplains offer something of an answer where there are no answers. They validate that there are many of life’s questions without answers. Chaplains model acceptance and they put courage into those they help.

Image: myself as a first responder (chlorine release drill) in 1997.

The Flow-Burnout Continuum

I’ve experienced burnout a few different ways, but thankfully nothing like some whose lives have become completely derailed for a year or more.  My bouts into the darkest storm of exhaustion were often fleeting little seasons of several weeks.  Not that it’s a competition.

But I’ve also experienced burnout’s opposite: FLOW.

Flow is a state of poetry in motion, that place of being where thought has been somehow replaced with a symbiosis with action.  Like touch-typing these words; hardly a thought.  It is intent trained into the moment, a symphony of action where consciousness melds into the present where action is joy and peace.

Burnout is probably the worst depression.  For me it was accompanied with a loss of mind; I lost my ability to cogitate.  Mental exhaustion that completely swept over my body and left me wrecked.  With all defences down, one is vulnerable to all manner of attack.

Everyone should experience burnout’s opposite, flow.  It is the best of humanity.  It is pure confidence but nothing brash.  Utter humility and connection with gratitude for the gift flow is.

For me flow is about being in the absolute right place and right time in your life, functional in every possible way, succeeding without a single doubt.  As a Christian, it’s doing things absolutely in God’s strength—no external effort.

The benefit of flow is there’s so much that can actually be done without any sense of exhaustion—there may be tiredness but not exhaustion.  It’s a way of living where every day counts with cognisance that our days will be over one day.  That fact ought to humble every single one of us… but it also motivates us to do what can only be done now.

For the one suffering burnout.  Recover from today, one day at a time.  One thing being in burnout teaches us; our craving for burnout’s opposite, flow.