Welcome to The Ministry Lab's curated list of resources to encourage pastoral care providers to engage in needed self-care. Here you'll find:
If you don't find a resource to fit your need, don't hesitate to consult with The Ministry Lab's director, Emily Meyer, who is happy to assist you.
Minnesota’s Department of Health’s Guidance for Visiting People at Home: for Non-medical Visits During the Minnesota “Stay at Home” Executive Order Time Period |
Download Here | Loving-Kindness Meditation
Find a variety of free practices and more information on self-compassion here.
Joseph Yoo of MinistryMatters wonders about Pastor's Office Hours: Time to Cut Back?
Thom Rainer outlines Nine Issues Regarding Pastors Office Hours.
Dr. Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder shares Choose Yourself... Sometimes, a treatise on "Covid's coercion to come, sit, and rest awhile".
Convergence Director of Research & Development, Anna Hall, asks, Where Are All the Clergy Going? and encourages clergy to participate in Convergences consulting, coaching, and conflict transformation training.
~ing Podcast Episode 40: Pastoring during the Pandemic
Five pastors who have ministered during the pandemic sit down to discuss leading, growing, and being as people of God navigating a global pandemic together.
The Being Here podcast explores real world issues and topics important to faith community professionals. In "Overcoming Compassion Fatigue”, host Rev. Melissa Pohlman and Mayo Clinic hospital chaplain, Rev. Corrine Thul, discuss strategies for caring for yourself while caring for others in difficult times.
Doctoral Expert Dr. Shanell T. Smith on Success, Self-Care, and Vocation: an interview by Dr. Eric D. Barreto
Rest Supports Grieving: Grief Rituals blog post from April 8, 2020 by Tricia Hersey - read it!!!
contributor Rev. Julia, from Faith, Grace, and Hope: Thoughts on What It Means to Be a Traveler on the Way of Jesus, illuminates clergy sorrow in I Am Not Afraid. I Am Heartbroken. Sharing it with your congregation may facilitate helpful conversations.
shares two posts on care-giving: Parker Palmer’s The Gift of Presence, the Perils of Advice and How to Reach Out to Someone Who Is Struggling by Omid Safi. Both are excellent reads both for pastoral care providers and for volunteer visitors.
(fb) hosts Leading Ideas, a semi-regular blog on current topics (including Pastoral Care in the Coronavirus Crisis), helps in finding resources, and offers online resources at a discount.
John Dobbs offers words of concern and support; and a list of grief resources.
Telling the Story of Your Body for Healing and Wholeness
Our bodies have a story to tell. When we turn toward our bodies with curiosity and reverence, we honor those stories, embrace our inner dignity, and make space for more agency. Sharing our bodies’ stories helps us feel seen so that, little by little, society’s limiting master narratives can shift so that more bodies feel safe and beautiful and have a sense of belonging.
Resources include:
Take care of yourself and/or a colleague or loved one with ConseCrate's curated gift boxes, shipped monthly!
Improv Therapy Group has developed a curriculum specifically for members of the clergy. The class uses improv to explore emotional intelligence, resilience, and increased creativity. The concepts will assist with your work with congregants as well as co-workers.
All classes meet on ZOOM.
Clergy Total Well-Being Resources
Bearing Witness offers resources for supporting whistleblowers in the workplace, governmental agencies, and congregational settings.
shared Building Resilience webinars for faith leaders
for personal growth and continuing education pertinent to COVID-19 days and beyond.
The Wellness Recovery Action Plan® or WRAP® is a prevention and wellness process anyone can use to get well, and stay well. Create your own wellness plan in this online seminar. Registration is required.
Benedictine CARE integrates Contemplative Practices, the Benedictine Monastic Heritage, and Therapeutic Lifestyle Programming.
Old habits, choices we no longer want to make, over indulgences, and living within a loud culture all amplify internal static that makes it almost impossible to hear, to listen, to our embodied true selves.
Monthly gatherings are enrolling at all times for both in-person and online participation.
$89/month
Learn more and register here.
Mindful Leaders Lounge is a supportive conversation space for leaders who are working on themselves so that they can be creative, mindful, adaptive and resilient through change. Part of her Defy the Trend Community, it is moderated by Nicole Havelka of Nicole Havelka Consulting. Learn more at defythetrend.com.
Nicole also offers self-care coaching sessions. Learn more here.
Convergence offers both On-Demand Learning (including FaithLead’s, National Faith Leaders Reflect on a Global Pandemic and Being Grateful in Difficult Times: An Online Journey with Barbara Butler Bass) and Executive Coaching for congregational leaders.