Members of the Asbury Theological Seminary community travel to Haiti

In March, members of the Asbury Theological Seminary community traveled to Haiti to partner with Haitian leaders in presenting a seminar in response to the trauma of the devastating earthquake that the region endured. The collaborative pastoral training seminar focused on equipping Haitian pastors to provide psychological and spiritual care for people suffering from the trauma of the earthquake. Dr. Anne Gatobu, Dr. Tony Headley, Dr. Cathy Stonehouse, Keith Jagger, and Joanie Louis worked with Haitian leaders Enosch Joseph, Barthelemy Lucce, and Jean Marc Zamor to provide training for pastors of Wesleyan and Free Methodist churches in Haiti. Gathered at Le Xaragua, a small hotel on the Caribbean Sea, the seminar was held two hours from earthquake epicenter Port-Au-Prince. Demonstrating commitment to a rapid response, all the arrangements and logistics on the ground in Haiti were made in less than four weeks.

The Seminary team aimed to provide pastors with training in grief intervention and bereavement pastoral care, by equipping pastors to recognize post-traumatic stress disorder; general depression symptoms; and appropriate pastoral intervention. Sessions were designed to train pastors to differentiate among grief, bereavement and mourning; to serve parishioners coping with trauma effectively; to care for children affected by catastrophic trauma; and to recognize compassion fatigue and provide for self-care.

Team members report being struck by, “the incredible resilience and faith of the Haitian pastors in the face of the formidable work ahead for them, and the collaborative spirit of the whole team.” The Asbury Seminary participants hope to provide a follow-up intervention with the same group of pastors in the summer that would offer Seminary students the opportunity to learn holistic critical intervention in a cross-cultural immersion context.