The Fire Academy in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, recently offered Secondary Chaplaincy Training courses for those interested in emotional spiritual care in disasters.  This intensive 3-day  C.I.S.M. course covered both the Individual Crisis Intervention and Peer Support, and Group Crisis Intervention.  These two core courses are foundational in working toward a Chaplaincy Credential. 

Eleven Hope Force Reservists from Tennessee and Missouri participated in the training. This brings our total of Reservists with secondary chaplain courses to nearly 70.   These courses could eventually lead them to a Chaplaincy Credential and/or improvement in emotional and spiritual care skills.



Vikki Stevens, a Hope Force Reservist and part-time staffer in Tennessee, expressed her excitement after the course concluded.    “I have been prayerfully considering becoming a Chaplain, and also want to have more ‘tools in my toolbox’ when I am deployed.  I especially liked the role plays and debriefing sessions.  This method helped me practice the skills better.  It was great to be with people of similar passion, seeing the different backgrounds represented, and what they were doing with the training.” 



Chuck Duby, Chaplain of Hope Force International had this comment:   “The wonderful thing about these disaster CISM Courses is that the skills can be applied to every day life, especially in ‘personal disasters’ like the loss of a job, death in the family, financial crisis, or serious illness.  We can build our skills just helping people through daily life.  I use this material almost every day.’ ”   As future courses become available, we will notify our Reservists with the details.