600 State Drive Los Angeles, CA 90037

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Meet the emotional and spiritual needs of your community during crisis situations.

Through a two-day training, National Disaster Interfaiths Network (NDIN)instructors prepare clergy, religious leaders and those who provide spiritual care within all faith traditions to volunteer as disaster chaplains. Participants will also gain skills to help them serve as emotional and spiritual caregivers within their house of worship, religious community or institution.

All religious traditions contain elements that promote healing of the human spirit. Chaplains offer spiritual and emotional support to everyone–persons of any faith or no faith. NDIN’s training helps chaplains provide effective spiritual care to all by equipping them with tools and methods that aren’t specific to a particular faith.

As a part of the Disaster Chaplain course, you will learn:

  • What to expect at disaster sites
  • How to work as a member of an interdisciplinary team managing disaster response (known as the Incident Command System)
  • How to provide Spiritual First Aid and Psychological First Aid
  • How to make appropriate assessments and referrals to mental health and other service providers
  • How to develop and maintain holistic self-care practices

Participants who complete this certification can affiliate with a community-based disaster chaplaincy network or volunteer in their own local or national faith community. NDIN maintains a national registry of its trainees and also can assist unaffiliated volunteers in finding disaster spiritual care volunteer opportunities in local communities across the United States.

Emergency managers and disaster mental health professionals also may take the chaplain course to develop their knowledge of spiritual care best practices.

Religious leaders taking the Disaster Chaplaincy certification also are strongly encouraged to take the “Engaging Faith Communities in Disasters” course (May 2) to build their field skills for mass-care and mass-fatality operations, and to better engage with other faith communities in building the resilience of the whole community (discounted registration rate available for both courses). You may register for one or both courses at this link:

Click Here to Register

REGISTRATION ENDS April 22, 2016

PRE-REQUISITES:*

Written endorsement by a judicatory official and/or currently serve as a professional chaplain or licensed pastoral counselor and/or credentialed faith leader. Completion of the on-line FEMA IS 100 course on the Incident Command System.

*You can upload documentation for your pre-requisite on the registration form or bring it with you on the first day of the course.

COURSE OUTLINE

The course comprises four 4-hour sessions over two days, covering disaster operations, disaster spiritual care, disaster mental health, and self-care for caregivers. Participants must arrive on time and stay for both full days in order to pass and receive certification.

Operations & Spiritual Care: General Principles; Trajectory of Interventions; Sites and Specifics (Day 1)

  • Emotional and spiritual phases of the disaster “life cycle”
  • Spiritual First Aid: PCAID (Presence, Connect, Assessment, Intervention, Develop Plan of Care) as an intervention appropriate in any phase of a disaster
  • Disaster human services operations and disaster site operations
  • Practice in applying principles of spiritual and emotional care in various disaster scenarios

Mental Health: Introduction; Impact of Disaster; Response and Reaction (Day 2 morning)

  • Phases of psychological reaction to disaster and impact on behaviors, thoughts and feelings
  • Psychological First Aid as a basic intervention that does not require professional training
  • Indicators that referrals for professional mental health care may be appropriate

Self-Care: The Need and Techniques; Individual and Community Resilience (Day 2 afternoon)

  • The need for caregivers to develop effective self-care practices
  • Practices that minimize compassion fatigue (“the cost of caring”) and other stresses related to providing care in times of crisis
  • Strategies to promote recovery and resiliency, especially through support systems that monitor, nourish and maintain self-care for individuals and communities

Click Here to Register

REGISTRATION ENDS April 22, 2016

If you have questions about registration, please contact Sumaya Abubaker:abubaker@usc.edu or 213-743-1612.

The USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture is sponsoring the Los Angeles workshop, with funding provided by Community Partners and the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. NDIN trainings utilize a comprehensive interfaith curriculum developed by NYDIS (New York Disaster Interfaith Services) in collaboration with Episcopal Relief and Development, and endorsed by an editorial review board of chaplains and religious leaders from major faith traditions. It upholds national standards of disaster care as set forth by National VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).

Los Angeles Training
California African American Museum
600 State Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90037
May 3-4, 2016
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Breakfast and registration start at 8 a.m.

Registration fee: $75 (includes supplies and meals)
Discounted rate available when combined with Engaging Faith Communities in Disasters Course (May 2).

Click Here to Register

REGISTRATION ENDS April 22, 2016

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