Lifeline to potential suicides

Carolyn Thomas writes in the Western Leader

Lifeline Aotearoa cultural adviser George Hill thinks it's time to do something about suicide rates among young Maori. So the kaumatua from South Head's Haranui Marae is working alongside clinical director Dr Stephen Edwards to trial a community-based suicide prevention course.

A marae setting, cultural protocol and detailed introductions are among changes to a Canadian programme which is already taught in communities world-wide. The Applied Suicide Intermediate Skills Training or ASIST course teaches the basics of recognising signs of someone at risk of suicide and making the right response.

"It's almost like CPR," Mr Hill says. "It's about keeping that person alive until there is more comprehensive help." Dr Edwards says young Maori men are over-represented in the suicide statistics. "New Zealand has one of the highest suicide rates in the world compared to other OECD countries." [Read the rest of the article here.]

The YSPP site notes this about warning signs relating to suicide:

Most suicidal young people don’t really want to die; they just want their pain to end. About 80% of the time, people who kill themselves have given definite signals or talked about suicide. The key to prevention is to know these signs and what to do to help.

Watch for these signs. They may indicate someone is thinking about suicide. The more signs you see, the greater the risk.

• A previous suicide attempt
• Current talk of suicide or making a plan
• Strong wish to die or a preoccupation with death
• Giving away prized possessions
• Signs of depression, such as moodiness, hopelessness, withdrawal
• Increased alcohol and/or other drug use
• Hinting at not being around in the future or saying good-bye

These warning signs are especially noteworthy in light of:

• a recent death or suicide of a friend or family member
• a recent break-up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or conflict with parents
• news reports of other suicides by young people in the same school or community

Other key risk factors include:

• Readily accessible firearms
• Impulsiveness and taking unnecessary risks
• Lack of connection to family and friends (no one to talk to)

[Mike Crowl notes:] Around 25 years ago, three young men who'd been connected with our church - and a fourth who went to another Pentecostal church - killed themselves. In each case the main reason was a recent breakup with a girl friend. We have a tendency to think that young men aren't affected by relationship break-ups - and certainly, many don't appear to be - but even without these 'warning signs' from ASIST, I would have placed this high on the list of possible reasons for a young man committing suicide.

Changing ethnicity

Something that we need to watch in our statistical analyses: ethnicity can 'change' over time. During the course of a longitudinal study of New Zealand ethnicity, it was found that some people changed their ethnicity at least once if not twice during the duration.

By ethnicity in this instance meant that they favoured a particular ethnic group over another, or a mix of ethnicities. In part this is a result of social change and the acceptability of being something other than what you’d been brought up to be.

However, it means that statistical figures, whether they be Census figures or ones taken in other situations, can be more untrustworthy than we think when viewed over a longer period.

In Canada, for example, Guimond (2006) found that the census count of the population with aboriginal origin went from 711,000 to 1,102,000 persons, with a large part of this growth occurring between 1986 and 1991. He noted that this fast growth could not be explained by natural and migratory increases alone, and that much ethnic mobility was occurring. (Pg 2 of the report)

There may not be such extreme ‘growth’ here, but certainly the possibilities of change are worth bearing in mind.

Photo by mac steve

And it's no different here

Figures from a survey of 300 Canadian pastors came out in the February 2009 edition of Presbyterian Record, as a sidebar to an article entitled: Breaking the Silence - the mental health of our clergy. The issue of wellness, or the lack of it, amongst clergy has tended to be covered up for decades, because clergy are expected to be so 'holy,' 'capable,' 'fit and healthy' that they never need be sick or off-duty. The situation in New Zealand is little different. There are times when it seems as though ministers have little to do all day except write the weekly sermon and visit a few elderly ladies in the parish. But the truth of the matter is, of course, that most ministers are frantically busy, overloaded to such an extent that they don't have nearly enough time for their families, nearly enough time to relax, or virtually any time to just sit and listen to what the Lord is saying to them.
There are many reasons for this, including:
Ministers working a minimum of 50 hours a week, and often more than that;
Not having the days off to which they're entitled;
Feeling as though they have to be perfect when they're often under huge stress to perform;
Feeling empty, going through the motions, in terms of prayer, worship, Bible reading, spiritual life in general;
Lacking someone who can counsel or mentor or come alongside them;
Suffering depression or burn-out or panic attacks and having to live with it.

The Canadian situation only confirms what is known in New Zealand. This is what the National Mission Office has been working on for several years: finding ways to help ministers avoid breakdowns and depression.

The full report can be found at the Caring for Clergy site - click on Current Research and then on 'Clergy Well-Being - Seeking Wholeness with Integrity'.

Looking after the elderly

The Canadian Rural Church Network newsletter reminds us that:
A major thrust for rural churches in the immediate future is to provide adequate pastoral care for Senior Citizens (65 years plus).
Alberta's Cabinet Minister for Seniors and Community Support announced recently that the number of seniors in the Province is expected to increase by approximately 40% in the next 10 years, and to double by 2026. Similar statistics can be repeated in other regions.
Because of the Baby Boom Bulge, longer life-expectancy, and the tendency for seniors to retire from urban areas in search of cheaper costs of living, I expect similar statistics can be noted across the country.
At present, churches seem content to visit the sick, comfort the grieving and lead worship services at seniors' lodges and nursing homes. But there are very few pastoral care committees and fewer clergy and lay people learning how to address the spiritual needs of Seniors.
Gerontologists tell us that there are three stages of 'old' in our society: the young old (65-74 years), the old old (75-84 years) and the oldest old (85+). People in each of these stages face specific issues.

The issues are the same in New Zealand - and not just in rural areas. Churches have focused on youth for so long they've forgotten that older people continue to have spiritual needs, and in fact face a time of great change, what with the illnesses of old age, increasing lack of mobility, loss of faculties, losing longstanding friends to death, and many other important (and often debilitating) aspects of this stage of life.

The most recent CRCN newsletter (no 28) focuses on ministering to older people, and offers ways to think about working in this area.

Shaping Spiritual Leaders

A book from the Alban Institute:
Shaping Spiritual Leaders: Supervision and Formation in Congregation, by Abigail Johnson.

Supervision—the shaping of spiritual leaders—occurs formally and informally in many aspects of congregational life. Every year, thousands of pastors supervise field education students and interns; staff members and lay leaders often supervise committee members or other staff; clergy and lay leaders supervise each other as a way to offer support and establish accountability. While supervision enhances the work of all concerned, it is rarely explicitly addressed in congregations.

For over fifteen years, Abigail Johnson has supervised and trained others to supervise candidates for ordination within the United Church of Canada. Recognizing that supervision is as important in the formation of lay leaders as in the life of candidates for ordination, she has developed this book to guide all who supervise others in a congregation. Johnson views supervision as a ministry and shows how leaders can use their own innate gifts to enhance their supervision skills. By shaping the supervision relationship based on the gifts of the people involved as well as the context in which the relationship occurs, supervision can become an opportunity for mutual growth and learning that strengthens all other areas of ministry.

This book provides a hands-on approach to supervision, addressing key areas such as identifying a learning focus, covenanting, managing conflict, understanding and using power and authority, offering and receiving feedback and evaluation, and celebrating and ending the supervisory relationship.

Supervisors who pay attention to these and other key areas will help those they supervise develop their gifts for ministry in all forms.

Published by Alban Institue, 2007.

The Rural Church

The Canadian Rural Church Network's latest newsletter encourages people in rural communities to be reslient and think laterally. From a section entitled RAVEing Rural, comes the following:

There is a virtual riot of lively innovation and adaptation welling up in the rural United Church. In 2007, the United Church solicited workshop proposals for an event called "More Franchises than Tim Hortons: Vital Ministry in the Canadian Context". The workshop proposals from rural leaders reveal something of the face of the 'RAVEing Rural' church. [Tim Hortons might be thought of as the Canadian equivalent of Starbucks.)

Many rural congregations are finding life through new forms of congregational partnership and innovative organizational structures. One group of 4 congregations in Northern Ontario is experimenting with a "Multi-site Congregation" model. This is not a multi-point pastoral charge, but seeks close cooperation between participating congregations with one governance body that doesn't repeat committees. It includes an organic structure, which allows for grafting on or removing existing communities as needed without changing the congregational structure.

Another congregation was experiencing the tension of a massive influx of ex-urban households in their community. They turned this into a ministry with the community by hosting discussions on what it means to be a 'new rural' context bringing healing to both church and village.

Some congregations are using reports of demographic and psychographic marketing style data to learn more about themselves, and build relationships with those outside the church. Other congregations are embracing lament as a biblical spiritual practice and are releasing energy for a new future, discovering that all change involves loss, so to change well means to grieve well.

None of this is a surprise really, since resilience and adaptability have always been the way rural communities have thrived.