VOAD stands for Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. It is a group of voluntary non-governmental agencies that collaborate during responses to disaster. VOAD is designed to bring together voluntary religious and community organizations which function in times of natural or human caused emergencies in order to foster a more effective response for people affected by disaster. ICTG is an Associate Member of National VOAD. 

VOAD functions at the national, state, and local level. As a leader in your church you are likely aware of how your individual church or denomination helps communities in times of disaster. If you don't know already, you should also learn how VOAD operates in your area. VOAD organizations provide services including initial rescues, sheltering, feeding, clothing, medical treatment, building stabilization, spiritual and emotional care, long-term recovery, etc. The list goes on and on. With the knowledge of the specialized services each organization provides, you will find it easier to reach out to your local or state VOAD to request help for you and your congregation and to offer services more effectively.

Now is a good time to research your local and state VOAD.  After a major natural disaster, like a hurricane, VOAD will be active for years in the long-term recovery process. If you are not currently affected by a disaster, you should be preparing yourself with the tools you will need to help your congregation through the next disaster. Familiarizing yourself with your state and local VOAD is a great place to start.         

School was supposed to start today in Texas. 

Of course, for many students, it's not. If they are not huddled with their families on the second floors of their house, some had to spend last night on the roof, praying for a rescue. Those who have been rescued are transported to one of the shelters available through the Red Cross, various churches and houses of worship throughout the area, and other facilities. 

No one can say for sure how long people will need to stay in shelters. Many must now make plans to connect with family, friends, or find a place to live for the next few months, if not years. 

Today is devastatingly far from what they planned. 

Among the many challenges facing Texas and Louisiana communities today, care of children and youth is vital. The experiences children and youth have during this storm and its aftermath will greatly impact the rest of their lives. Caring adults and youth leaders can enhance that impact for the better.

Below are tips for youth workers to help care for their volunteer leaders and youth in the wake of a massive storm. The role of a youth leader can be very rewarding and challenging even in the most ordinary of circumstances. A traumatic event in the magnitude of a hurricane forces us beyond the usual and into un-charted ministry (even if we have experienced a natural disaster before). The majority of youth leaders never signed up for "post hurricane ministry". Yet, here you are. Be the leader you are called to be, right now. 

1. Trust in God to give you strength, peace, and wisdom. The ability to walk with your youth through the post-trauma of this event begins with the health of your relationship to God. God will be the constant through this experience when no person or thing can offer consistency. Breathe slowly, and allow the Holy Spirit to flow through you and around you.
2. Long-term restoration ministry is a marathon, not sprint. Keep in mind the Phases of Collective Trauma Response. You’re facing at least two years, if not more, of shock, healing, and rebuilding. For children and youth, their ordinary developmental growth does not stop. As you know, these years are critical. Even more so, in the aftermath of disaster.
3. Check that all of your volunteer leaders and youth are out of harm’s way. Establish a way of checking in through a private facebook page, a texting thread, email, or in-person contacts. Make sure everyone is accounted for and knows their church family cares, even if you cannot be physically together.
4. Care for your closest relationships. As caring people, our asset is that we care for others. Our liability is we care for others, sometimes, at the expense of those for whom we should be caring the most. Be sure your family is well, keep healthy boundaries and check on them often. If you do not have a family of your own, take care of your closest relationships – people you share a home with or your closest friends. Have others hold you accountable for your self-care.
5. Follow the process of calming, connecting and communicating with your youth ministry people.

Calm – Once everyone is out of harm’s way, use a regular group meeting time to debrief with volunteer leaders and youth or setup a special time

• If your volunteers and youth cannot assemble, continue to strive to assemble at least virtually to the extent possible. Send messages of encouragement to as many as possible. Depending on the size of your group, if necessary, assign volunteer leaders to groups of youth for regular virtual check-ins.  
• Once you are able to assemble in person, make space for members, who want to, to briefly tell about their experience with the storm. Do not force anyone to talk. If people do not want to share about their experiences, you can invite them to express their perspective through other forms – writing, lighting a tea candle, or drawing. Depending on the size of your group this could be done as one group or small groups facilitated by volunteer leaders.
• As people express anxiety, encourage them to breathe slowly.
• Invite members, if they choose, to share their present fears and what has helped so far. "What do you worry about now?" "In what ways have you experienced a breath of fresh air, or a moment of relief?" "Who have been some of the people who have helped you so far?" Be a good listener.
• Invite your volunteers and youth to sing familiar songs. Singing helps a group calm together.
• Spend time reading selected Psalms of comfort or lament and praying together.

Connect – The role of the leaders is to love and care for the youth. The role of the youth is to look after each other. In this or other settings remind youth and leaders the value of your church family, their own nuclear families, their friendships, and other caring adults in their lives including teachers or neighbors.  A healthy community looks out for each other and one another’s well-being.

• When it's safe, find a way to assemble. In the meantime, keep in touch virtually when possible. 
• Depending on the size of your group, it may be helpful to assign volunteer leaders small groups of youth to keep in touch with to encourage and pray with until you can reassemble. 
• Make sure each youth has at least one trustworthy, reliable, caring adult who they can share their experience with each day. That may be a family member, friend, counselor, teacher, or church leader. 
• When you find a youth who does not have a trustworthy, reliable, caring adult to be connected with each day, do your best to get them connected. 

Communicate – Here is a short “game plan” to ensure an efficient communication flow during this long-term recovery season.

• Use all available mediums to inform parents, youth and leaders of how you're keeping in touch while a part, and of debriefing and gathering times. Repeat, repeat, repeat. (When people are traumatized, they struggle to take in information. Be kind and repeat.)
• Establish and publicize the email and phone connection point for those who still need resources, housing, food, support and encouragement during these days. Create (or access through your church) a reliable system for needs to be expressed and met.
• Assemble a community resource sheet for further help to youth and families, including mental and spiritual health services. Post this list on the church/youth ministry webpage, send out as an email attachment and have hard copies available. (Repeat!)

ICTG's Resource Guide for Youth Ministry can be a helpful support for you and your leaders over the next year or two. For online versions, order here. Contact us directly for hardcopies.  

Remember, long-term recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. We’re one of your water stations along the way. Stop in when you need some support to keep going.

Doug Ranck serves as ICTG's Program Director of Youth Ministry. He offers trauma-informed coaching and support to youth leaders throughout the country. With over 35 years of experience in youth ministry, he's passionate about facilitating the health of children, youth, and families. 

I serve in a congregation that takes very seriously the protection of children. Like so many other churches, children safety must be a priority. At Pine Shores we are committed to best practices when it comes to the safety of our children.  We engage in creating an environment where children participate in building community, experiencing love with excitement, joy and curiosity.  I know we can’t assure that abuse won’t ever happen here or doesn’t occur in our communities, but we are steadfast in educating ourselves and then providing structures that will prevent abuse and protect our children.  Incorporating best practices into a policy is imperative and will decrease the possibility of abuse.  

Sometime around May, just before we enter into our summer camp program, we engage in our annual review of our child protection policy. After receiving The Child Safeguarding Policy for Churches and Ministries, we reviewed our policy again and we are now better equipped and more informed. This resource covers vital topics including the warning signs of abuse, how to respond to abuse allegations, care for victims, and the legal implications. It positions us to strengthen some of our own protection policies, and helps us to have a much more thorough and intentional review process. We compared our policies with the information in The Child Safeguarding Policy for Churches and Ministries and discovered that our policies are up-to-date. We did find however, weaknesses particularly in warning signals of abuse and how children disclose. These are significant learnings for us and going forward we will incorporate this information into our yearly training unit. 

Best practices empower, and as a pastor whose responsibility is to pay attention to ministry and mission, I am grateful for this resource. Going through an intentional evaluation process of our protection policies has equipped us to create an environment here at Pine Shores where children feel safe, where they can flourish in their relationships, and where they can experience God’s love. That’s who we want to be.

The Child Safeguarding Policy for Churches and Ministries is an invaluable resource for us and I know that it also will be for those who are seeking to educate themselves about child abuse and how best to protect children in their care.  Well written, step by step, and a highly informative resource. GRACE has done great work for the local congregation.

Rev. Dr. Bruce Wismer, co-author of Recovering from Un-Natural Disasters: A Guide for Pastors and Congregations after Violence and Trauma, co-pastor of Pine Shores Presbyterian Church, and member of the National Response Team for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, serves as the Board Chair for ICTG. 

This is a tough one. It’s tough because of the subject matter, and it’s tough because of the fear and anxiety we have around even broaching the subject.

But we have to talk about it. According to research by the CDC, around 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be a victim of physical or sexual abuse by the time they are 18 years old.[1] Even in very small youth ministries, we need to acknowledge the truth that it is not a question of how we would work with victims of abuse, but how we are running our ministries in a way that is considerate of the fact that we almost inevitably already do, whether we know it or not.

Many of us feel anxious about working with child abuse victims not out of selfishness, or lack of compassion, but from a place of feeling deeply inadequate. We worry that we don’t have the expertise or the training or the words to provide the deep healing needed for child survivors of abuse. And we’re right. We don’t. Children who have been through the trauma of abuse, particularly at the hands of a trusted adult, have psychological, social, and emotional needs that no youth worker can be expected to meet.

We know we cannot save teenagers from the pain and hurt of abuse. If we’re honest with ourselves, we know we cannot save teenagers from anything.

So what do we do? How do we live into the ministries that we were called to knowing that there are wounds we can’t bandage, and gaps we can’t fill?

I wrestled with this question over the course of a year spent working with International Justice Mission in Thailand, doing aftercare for child victims of sexual assault. Even now as a youth worker back in the US, this question still rattles around in my head. I remember traveling out to child victims’ houses when I was living in Thailand and feeling so anxious. What do I say? How do I talk to these kids? How do I make sure not to make it worse? And shelter after shelter, village after village, dozens of kids as young as four and as old as fifteen all taught me the same basic truth, and the most important insight I can give to youth workers about kids who are victims of abuse: they are still kids.

People are not defined by the worst thing that ever happened to them, and one of the greatest gifts you can give someone is helping them see that. Whether you are aware of specific victimization, or if you just assume that it must be present somewhere because of the size of your group, the response is the same – recognizing and celebrating the divine spark, the imago Dei, that still shines in your youth, even when they are blind to it.

If you’re unsure of where to start, or feel overwhelmed, try starting with a few practical steps:

1) Don’t treat abuse victims like they’re damaged. They already feel different and vulnerable; treating them like they’re damaged won’t help.

2) Be a non-anxious presence. If a child does chose to invite you into that part of their story, stay calm, and stay present.

3) Listen for the silence. Be aware of changes in behavior, of potential triggers, and that a child is unlikely to verbalize to you why something is affecting them.

4) Don’t fix it. If you notice those changes or those triggers, check in with the youth, but don’t try to rescue them in the moment.

5) Remember that you don’t own this story. If you have been privileged enough to be let into this story, honor the risk a youth has taken on you and let them retain ownership of what this story means to them and how often it comes up.  
It can be tempting with abuse victims to think of them as only abuse victims, and being sensitive to the specific triggers and traumas of your youth is crucial. But the more you see their victimization as their identity, the more they may see it as their identity. Being honest and brave in the face of abuse is crucially important in the healing process, but you can’t stay there. To move through healing, youth have got to realize that this is a part of their story, but not the only part, and not the most important part.

Youth workers can be a crucial part of the healing process. We are not social workers or therapists who are there to specifically address this one issue. We are game-leaders and song-singers, we come to youth not with formal evaluations and professional detachment, but roller skates, and Sonic, and an unbridled enthusiasm for holistically knowing these youth exactly as they are and loving them for all of it.

So no, you may not know the neurobiology of trauma that has shifted the brain chemistry of your youth – but you know that they are nervous about their game next weekend. You know that they were so excited when they made first chair. You know that they hate dodgeball, but have a mean backhand in Ping-Pong and can eat seven pieces of pizza in one sitting. You know that they have questions about why God would allow bad things to happen, but when they spend time in nature, looking at tall trees and small butterflies, that they know God is real and good.

And all of those things are just as true and just as real and just as important to who they are as any hurt caused them by the actions of a broken person in a broken world. Our job as youth workers is not to try to fix the pain inflicted on to the youth in our care, it is to acknowledge Jesus’s presence in and among it, hurting in their grief and celebrating in their joy, knowing that who they are in God’s eyes, their divine spark, is no less bright because it has seen darkness, and believing these words in the Gospel of John for our youth, and helping them believe it for themselves:

The divine spark in youth is inextinguishable, so may we be magnifying glasses for the light that, despite all the darkness, still shines within them.

---------
Footnote:
[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). Adverse Childhood Experiences Study: Data and Statistics. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
 

Disclaimer:
My opinions expressed are those of someone who is not a professional mental health provider. My opinions are my own and I do not speak for the FUMC Fort Worth Youth Ministries, FUMC Fort Worth, the United Methodist Church, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, or the Center for Youth Ministry Training.

* A version of this post was first shared on the Youth Specialties website.

As a kid, I experienced my childhood home church as an inspiring and fun community full of adults who were passionate about sharing their faith in Jesus Christ with the children and youth of the congregation. I have fond memories of worship services, festive events, and tagging along with my parents to youth group gatherings. While ordinary church challenges may have occurred, as a child I was oblivious to them. Perhaps that's why, as a high school student, I found it so disheartening to watch the church grieve and mourn after it was discovered an associate pastor had abused adolescents. He was defrocked and imprisoned. And the church – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – became a different place. Like any abuse experience, people struggled to make sense of what had happened. Church leaders had to do the hard work of rebuilding trust and finding its vibrancy again.

I did not realize until many years later how formative this experience was for me, personally. Because of it, I went to college with many questions. Why do Christians seem to wait so long to get counseling? Why is it so hard for church leaders, like the associate pastor, to find the resources they need to heal long before they commit acts of abuse and spread the damage? Who helps ordained and lay leaders in the church who must lead a congregation through the aftermath of abuse? How does a church ensure abuse does not happen? 

In the years following, the more I studied and began to practice pastoral therapy and congregational care, I have been grateful to discover colleagues along the way who have been wrestling with similar questions. Colleagues like Boz Tchividjian. 

Most recently, Boz and his colleagues at GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in Christian Environments), produced a practical guide for crafting an effective children's ministry policy in your church. At ICTG, we cannot emphasize the critical need for this guide enough. A central tenet to the mission of ICTG, we believe congregations should be frontline catalysts for healing and restoration in communities. This guide helps congregations be the vibrant leaders in individual, family, and community health they are called to be.

The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide helps ordained and lay leaders provide reliably safe environments for children and youth, partner more effectively with school officials, law enforcement agents, social workers, and mental health professionals to counter the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and foster whole community care. In this guide you receive thorough research to understand how wide spread experiences of abuse are, including in your community. Even more helpful, you receive step-by-step instructions for your staff or volunteer team to carefully create a sound policy for children in your congregation and community to experience safety, nurture, and thriving. If you don't already have a policy in place, or you need to assess the one you have, we recommend getting this guide today.  

Rev. Dr. Kate Wiebe serves as the Executive Director of ICTG. With nearly twenty years experience as a pastoral therapist and congregational care consultant, Kate is passionate about helping congregations expand their capacities to be catalysts for healing and thriving. Kate lives with her family in Santa Barbara, CA. You can find follow her personal blog here.