I commented yesterday that I would be attending a First Responder Training since I am the chaplain of the Owen County Sheriff’s Department. I was asked to give a recap of my experience, not by the presenter, but by one of my readers. I’ll try to do that but first this comment:
It was like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hose!
Dr. Barry Young is the founder of Serving Heroes, the individual and organization who gave the presentation. He has been involved as a chaplain/peer support for over 30 years and currently serves as a chaplain for a police department in Arkansas. He has others who are involved in this ministry with him-former law enforcement, military, fire, and others who are vital to the ongoing work of Serving Heroes. For 5 of the slotted 6 hours (one hour for lunch), we listened to engaging stories and information that will hopefully help me and the others who were there be better chaplains and peer support people for their departments.
Here are just a few of the Anchor Points (as he called them) that were given. I’ll give them with no comment.
“Feeding your emotions won’t kill you, but ignoring them might.”
Hurting people hurt people; healing people heal people.”
“Asking for help is a sign of wisdom not weakness.”
“Stop rehearsing and start releasing.” (In regards to the past)
“If you don’t get healed from what hurt you, you will bleed on people who didn’t cut you.”
“You can’t complain your way to a breakthrough.”
“We will never be healed until we stop blaming others.”
“Intentions don’t change lives, decisions do.”
“You can’t care for another until you first care for yourself.”
There were more, but while I was there as a chaplain, it should be obvious it was far more to me than just that. Along the way, I also learned there were things I did right as a chaplain and some things I definitely need to improve upon. The most helpful for me (besides the whole training) were the last two: Stress Management and Suicide. I’ll possibly share more in future posts. There are multiple levels of training. I am hoping I can take in some more levels of training.
{Note: These Anchor Points are all part of the Serving Heroes copyrighted material. DO NOT take these as your own ideas and share them as though they are! Give proper credit}
Wow, Bill! You’re not kidding about the fire hose analogy, are you? That’s a ton of information, all good, that I’m sure will take you and all who attended time to sift through and digest. Thank you for this concise round-up.
Blessings!
As you can imagine there was a whole lot more! 🙂 Glad it was helpful.
Bill those are some awesome statements that I want to write in my prayer journal,(proper credit) those points are applicable to so many things in life. Sounds like an awesome training that everyone could benefit from. When we view anything that happens in life with God’s heart, God’s eyes, God’s ears, and respond with love to the situation, the impact will be warmly felt instead of a heavy weight dropped on top.
So true Gail…on all counts. I’m glad the statements were helpful to you. I’m going to be putting them in a journal of some kind to remember.
Thank you for serving your communities so faithfully, so selflessly, Bill. You are a needed light, a hope giver, a peacemaker.
May God continue to give you everything you need ‘for life and godliness.’
Thank you Linda. I pray, sincerely, that your last statement is always clear.
Wow! Talk about wisdom in a nutshell! Each one could be a topic for a seminar! Great stuff you are learning!
Absolutely correct pam! It was great stuff and I hope to keep learning.