Women in Ministry Embrace Vision of Wellness

Can ministry be hazardous to your health? It can, if in the course of offering counseling and solace to others, a ministry professional absorbs pain and stress, and does not find a way to release it.

"If you’re in ministry for the long haul, you have to recognize stress and deal with it," said Karen Hessel, staff to the National Council of Churches' Women in Ministry program, which recently held a retreat with just that goal in view. "If you don’t have a plan to manage stress, it can get in the way of your own growth and wellness-and then you can’t minister to others," Ms. Hessel said.

The retreat, held last fall in Santa Fe, N.M., drew 40 enthusiastic participants-women who vary greatly in age, race and denominational affiliation but who all are in professional ministry. They discovered new antidotes to toxic stress in the form of a "vision of health, wellness and identity" that combines insights of faith, medicine and psychology.

In their own lives and careers, conference leaders blend the skills and knowledge of faith and science. They included the Rev. Emily Chandler, Ph.D., R.N., C.S., a psychiatric nurse clinical specialist and a Presbyterian minister; the Rev. Charlotte Pridgen-Randolph, a nurse, and pastor of Boston’s Wesley United Methodist Church; and Gwen Halass, MD, MBA, a physician who directs the Ministerial Health and Wellness Program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Presentations-and worship life at the retreat-emphasized rich spirituality as essential for health and wholeness. True for everyone, this message is profoundly important to those in caring professions, who frequently suffer stress, undiagnosed illnesses, decreased immune response, vicarious traumatization (internalizing others’ pain), and even psychic numbing and other post-traumatic stress symptoms. Retreat sessions covered all these topics, along with exercises to enhance wellness.

The retreat offers a model for others interested in developing such events. A report on Women in Ministry: Birthing a New Vision of Health, Wellness and Identity is being prepared, which provides more information about the retreat.  Meanwhile, we encourage you to visit the Web pages of the Ministerial Health and Wellness Program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

January 2003