Working with disaster: clergy and bushfires

Based on interviews with eleven clergy from seven denominations, Dr Lisa Jacobson in this research examines their role during the Black Saturday bushfire emergency of 2009 and the impact on them personally. She makes many recommendations about how church and comunity groups, with government and other agencies, need to prepare both the training for people to handle such trauma and to coordinate closely with each other in the emergency. Some of the clergy had received little or no training for such trauma and all were exposed to high levels of stress and even burnout. The research included debriefing workshops for clergy and laity about emergency services training and opportunities for conversation and prayer about the spiritual integration of what they had been through. The report recommended that training for clergy and pastoral workers include trauma training for emergency situations, and greater ecumenical collaboration in preparing for trauma and in post-trauma recover. The report also recommended that the VCC Emergency Ministries provide a state-wide ecumenical focus on long-term pastoral care, involving preparing local communities to respond to emergencies, recognising that the effects of such disasters are quite prolonged and require extra support from specialised services, including suitable religious rituals and healing for hearts and minds