Disaster Spiritual Care: Practical Clergy Responses to Community, Regional and National Tragedy: 0 - Tapa dura

It's bad out there in religion publishing. Sales are dropping; jobs are evaporating. That's the downside of the story, and it's familiar. But what about the upside? What works in this category right now? How are religion publishers changing their sales and marketing strategies to adapt to the current economy and successfully get books out of the gate? Some are having success with new strategies.

Making Face Time in Nontraditional Marketplaces

At Jewish Lights, publisher Stuart Matlins says that the dwindling number of bookstores has led the Vermont-based company to seek new ways to get books some face time. "We are trying to overcome the absence of books on the shelf for people to see by getting out to more consumer and user events so they know the books exist and can go to bookstores to order them," Matlins says. That took Jewish Lights and its interfaith imprint SkyLight Paths to a Florida conference for chaplains and, for the first time, to the Unitarian-Universalist convention in Salt Lake City last month. "We are reaching out more directly to the consumers to build awareness," Matlins says. After the chaplaincy conference, SkyLight Paths saw an uptick in orders for Disaster Spiritual Care by Stephen B. Roberts and Willard W. C. Ashley (2008) and Caresharing by Marty Richards (2008). The company is also looking for more nontraditional book outlets and new marketplaces for their books. For example, for the August release of Beading: The Creative Spirit by Wendy Ellsworth, sales reps made cold calls to bead stores; for The Art of War: Spirituality for Conflict by Sun Tzu and Thomas Huynh (2008), they got the book a slot in the History Channel's online store. And for Recovery: The Sacred Art by Rami Shapiro (Feb.) sales reps marketed directly to recovery centers.

Jewish Lights is also encouraging authors to take a more active role in marketing their own books. Every author is asked to establish a blog based on their book's subject, to create their own Facebook pages and to Twitter about the book. If they have a built-in audience or a network of readers or other consumers, they are asked to exploit that to the fullest. Matlins says The Modern Men's Torah Commentary (Mar.) is off to a strong start largely because its editor, Jeffrey Salkin, took the initiative in organizing his own speaking tour among synagogues and Jewish centers. We are focusing more on training our authors to support their own work, Matlins says. Part of it is encouraging them to do the tried and true but unsexy stuff, like remember to include their new books in their bios or Web sites, he says. You can't buy something if you don't know it exists. --Kimberly Winston"Publisher's Weekly" (07/27/2009)"

Responding to disasters is the next great need. Rabbi Stephen Roberts and Rev. Willard W. C. Ashley just edited an important volume entitled Disaster Spiritual Care: Practical Clergy Responses to Community, Regional and National Tragedy. This is an important desk reference for all rabbis working in pulpits or schools or college campuses. Many of us have acquired pastoral skills in response to personal emergencies like a congregant's divorce or suicide. We have studied materials on grief counseling. We respond emphatically when we make a shivah visit. The next level is the pastoral response to a community tragedy and what is the appropriate pastoral response. Disaster Spiritual Care will answer our new questions and help us respond appropriately and wisely to community tragedy.

In the opening chapter, Roberts sets up a helpful context. Every disaster has a predictable life cycle. Every disaster goes thru six stages: threat, impact, heroic, disillusionment, recovery and then the coming to terms stage. In the heroic state, victims see the miracles around them. Strangers step in to save lives. But there is also the disillusionment phase when people realize the newspapers and TV reporters have moved on, the insurance coverage may be inadequate and dreams of quickly rebuilding will be delayed. The research shows that no matter how much adequate help arrives and no matter how much good work is done, the victims will feel disillusionment, anger and grief. The relief agencies and volunteers always move on too soon. Roberts teaches us that this is the point when rabbis have an essential healing role.

Rev. Julie Taylor who teaches the RA seminar on the Pastoral Response to Catastrophe wrote on "Spiritual First Aid." When we arrive at the disaster scene what should we do? Taylor instructs us in first steps 1) Stabilize, 2) Assess, 3) Provide care and comfort, and 4) Refer as necessary. 1) Stabilization is the action you provide when you are a calming presence and create a caring human connection. The wise rabbi may just stand by a person's side and not say anything until addressed. 2) The next step is acknowledgement which involves attentive and active listening to a person in crisis. Here is where the rabbi uses a reflective process to signal recognition of the person s experience. 3) The next step is to facilitate understanding. The rabbi validates the experience and provides information. Here is where it is helpful to educate others about normal stress reactions. It is often calming to give information as a pamphlet or handout. The next step is encouraging adaptive spiritual coping which is when you promote positive coping skills and build on what works for the individual. For example, praying with a person can be a centering activity. 4) Finally, there is referral which is when you are a bridge to resources. Disasters are extremely chaotic and knowing the proper spiritual protocol will enable us to be effective and appropriate.

Our colleague Mryna Matsa contributed a chapter on healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Matsa teaches, "Respond pastorally to spiritual questions." She points out that when victims complain why did God let this happen to us? when they meet a clergyperson, it probably is not a theological statement but a means to express grief, loss and anger. It is a time for pastoral presence and not theological teaching or preaching. Matsa instructs us to offer worship in the traditional place of worship because immediately after the disaster victims will find comfort in that familiar place. Rabbis can be particularly helpful in the aftermath of disaster because many people can not process their grief. Because we already have the experience in normal situations, we can go deeper and help others in their grief.

This book will better prepare us to respond with effective spiritual care in difficult situations.--Rabbi Elliot Salo Schoenberg"YITRO NEXUS" (08/26/2008)"

"Timely, compelling and valuable . Provides congregational clergy and pastoral care professionals with the skill and wisdom needed to sustain and support their communities when disaster strikes." Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, editor, Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook from Traditional and Contemporary Sources

"Draws on a wealth of experience presents a compassionate, comprehensive mandate to prepare for spiritual care after a disaster and an abundance of wisdom for our response to ordinary crises." Rev. Herbert Anderson, PhD, coauthor, All Our Losses, All Our Griefs: Resources of Pastoral Care

"A priceless compendium of realistic scenarios and needs, and of corresponding resources and personal and professional gifts or skills that can guide our preparations to serve most effectively." Rev. Thomas G. Landry, III, former executive director, National Association of Catholic Chaplains"

"Timely, compelling and valuable . Provides congregational clergy and pastoral care professionals with the skill and wisdom needed to sustain and support their communities when disaster strikes."
Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, editor, Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook from Traditional and Contemporary Sources

"Draws on a wealth of experience presents a compassionate, comprehensive mandate to prepare for spiritual care after a disaster and an abundance of wisdom for our response to ordinary crises."
Rev. Herbert Anderson, PhD, coauthor, All Our Losses, All Our Griefs: Resources of Pastoral Care

"A priceless compendium of realistic scenarios and needs, and of corresponding resources and personal and professional gifts or skills that can guide our preparations to serve most effectively."
Rev. Thomas G. Landry, III, former executive director, National Association of Catholic Chaplains

It's bad out there in religion publishing. Sales are dropping; jobs are evaporating. That's the downside of the story, and it's familiar. But what about the upside? What works in this category right now? How are religion publishers changing their sales and marketing strategies to adapt to the current economy and successfully get books out of the gate? Some are having success with new strategies.

Making Face Time in Nontraditional Marketplaces

At Jewish Lights, publisher Stuart Matlins says that the dwindling number of bookstores has led the Vermont-based company to seek new ways to get books some face time. "We are trying to overcome the absence of books on the shelf for people to see by getting out to more consumer and user events so they know the books exist and can go to bookstores to order them," Matlins says. That took Jewish Lights and its interfaith imprint SkyLight Paths to a Florida conference for chaplains and, for the first time, to the Unitarian-Universalist convention in Salt Lake City last month. "We are reaching out more directly to the consumers to build awareness," Matlins says. After the chaplaincy conference, SkyLight Paths saw an uptick in orders for Disaster Spiritual Care by Stephen B. Roberts and Willard W. C. Ashley (2008) and Caresharing by Marty Richards (2008). The company is also looking for more nontraditional book outlets and new marketplaces for their books. For example, for the August release of Beading: The Creative Spirit by Wendy Ellsworth, sales reps made cold calls to bead stores; for The Art of War: Spirituality for Conflict by Sun Tzu and Thomas Huynh (2008), they got the book a slot in the History Channel's online store. And for Recovery: The Sacred Art by Rami Shapiro (Feb.) sales reps marketed directly to recovery centers.

Jewish Lights is also encouraging authors to take a more active role in marketing their own books. Every author is asked to establish a blog based on their book's subject, to create their own Facebook pages and to Twitter about the book. If they have a built-in audience or a network of readers or other consumers, they are asked to exploit that to the fullest. Matlins says The Modern Men's Torah Commentary (Mar.) is off to a strong start largely because its editor, Jeffrey Salkin, took the initiative in organizing his own speaking tour among synagogues and Jewish centers. We are focusing more on training our authors to support their own work, Matlins says. Part of it is encouraging them to do the tried and true but unsexy stuff, like remember to include their new books in their bios or Web sites, he says. You can't buy something if you don't know it exists.

Responding to disasters is the next great need. Rabbi Stephen Roberts and Rev. Willard W. C. Ashley just edited an important volume entitled Disaster Spiritual Care: Practical Clergy Responses to Community, Regional and National Tragedy. This is an important desk reference for all rabbis working in pulpits or schools or college campuses. Many of us have acquired pastoral skills in response to personal emergencies like a congregant's divorce or suicide. We have studied materials on grief counseling. We respond emphatically when we make a shivah visit. The next level is the pastoral response to a community tragedy and what is the appropriate pastoral response. Disaster Spiritual Care will answer our new questions and help us respond appropriately and wisely to community tragedy.

In the opening chapter, Roberts sets up a helpful context. Every disaster has a predictable life cycle. Every disaster goes thru six stages: threat, impact, heroic, disillusionment, recovery and then the coming to terms stage. In the heroic state, victims see the miracles around them. Strangers step in to save lives. But there is also the disillusionment phase when people realize the newspapers and TV reporters have moved on, the insurance coverage may be inadequate and dreams of quickly rebuilding will be delayed. The research shows that no matter how much adequate help arrives and no matter how much good work is done, the victims will feel disillusionment, anger and grief. The relief agencies and volunteers always move on too soon. Roberts teaches us that this is the point when rabbis have an essential healing role.

Rev. Julie Taylor who teaches the RA seminar on the Pastoral Response to Catastrophe wrote on "Spiritual First Aid." When we arrive at the disaster scene what should we do? Taylor instructs us in first steps 1) Stabilize, 2) Assess, 3) Provide care and comfort, and 4) Refer as necessary. 1) Stabilization is the action you provide when you are a calming presence and create a caring human connection. The wise rabbi may just stand by a person's side and not say anything until addressed. 2) The next step is acknowledgement which involves attentive and active listening to a person in crisis. Here is where the rabbi uses a reflective process to signal recognition of the person s experience. 3) The next step is to facilitate understanding. The rabbi validates the experience and provides information. Here is where it is helpful to educate others about normal stress reactions. It is often calming to give information as a pamphlet or handout. The next step is encouraging adaptive spiritual coping which is when you promote positive coping skills and build on what works for the individual. For example, praying with a person can be a centering activity. 4) Finally, there is referral which is when you are a bridge to resources. Disasters are extremely chaotic and knowing the proper spiritual protocol will enable us to be effective and appropriate.

Our colleague Mryna Matsa contributed a chapter on healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Matsa teaches, "Respond pastorally to spiritual questions." She points out that when victims complain why did God let this happen to us? when they meet a clergyperson, it probably is not a theological statement but a means to express grief, loss and anger. It is a time for pastoral presence and not theological teaching or preaching. Matsa instructs us to offer worship in the traditional place of worship because immediately after the disaster victims will find comfort in that familiar place. Rabbis can be particularly helpful in the aftermath of disaster because many people can not process their grief. Because we already have the experience in normal situations, we can go deeper and help others in their grief.

This book will better prepare us to respond with effective spiritual care in difficult situations.

"Timely, compelling and valuable.... Pr...

The first comprehensive resource for pastoral care in the face of disaster—a vital resource for clergy, seminarians, pastoral counselors and caregivers of all faith traditions.

This essential resource for clergy and caregivers integrates the classic foundations of pastoral care with the unique challenges of disaster response on community, regional and national levels.

Offering the latest theological perspectives and tools, along with basic theory and skills from the best disaster response texts, research and concepts, the contributors to this resource are innovators in their fields and represent Christianity, Judaism, Islam and more.

Exploring how spiritual care changes following a disaster, and including a comprehensive explanation of a disaster's lifecycle, this is the definitive guidebook for counseling not only the victims of disaster but also the clergy and caregivers who are called to service in the wake of crisis.