• Educate departments with critical incident stress management:

  teaching firefighters how to deal with the tough calls during and after the call by walking alongside them during and after the actual call.

• Private council with firefighters & Emergency Medical Responders:

  We often discuss family and marriage issues as well as work conflicts etc.

• Private council with command staff:

  Sometimes the Chief and other officers need to vent and talk through their stresses of management.

• Private council with community members in times of tragedy and loss:

  After the death of a spouse, child or other loved one people often times need a listening ear and some tools to help them move forward in a healthy way. Other times it’s bystanders who witnessed a horrific accident and need help in working through the trauma. 

• On scene stabilization of community members in crisis:

  This can mean literally helping someone breathe during a call as they hyperventilate or keep them warm in a safe vehicle away from the accident while firefighters do their job. I also coordinate with the Red Cross and homeowners insurance to get those resources in motion as quickly as possible. 

• Support firefighters on scene and watch for critical incident stress:

  Once I’m familiar with a person’s emotional baseline I can watch for increased changes that are effecting them negatively and offer tools and support to deal with it in a healthy way.

• Coordination with schools, workplaces and other outside groups as needed for individuals in crisis:

  Sometimes the family needs me to call their deceased loved one’s workplace to inform them of the death. Another example is working with the school if one of their students were affected by a call.

• Coordinating scene clean up of suicides and other messy calls:

  Unfortunately suicides and other deaths can create extremely messy scenes and require professional services to restore a room or rooms. I coordinate with the homeowners insurance company and biohazard cleaning service so that the family can focus on working through their grief. I often stay on scene or return with the family as they return home. 

• End of life support with families:

  Bedside care, prayer and reading of scripture as their loved one dies.

• Walking family through next steps after the death of a loved one:

  I coordinate with the funeral home and Sheriff’s office and help transfer the remains of the deceased. This can be physically helping in removing a body from a vehicle on the highway or from a home in a natural death.

• Deliver death notifications:

  At the request of a sheriff’s deputy or State trooper these are done in person at the family home, place of business or school. Informing the next of kin that their loved one has died. 

• Officiate funeral or memorial services:

  On occasion the family will not have prepared and are lost as to what to do with services. At their request I will officiate the service and help coordinate with the funeral home or cemetery.

• Officiate Weddings:

  I am here for the happy times as well, It is my honor to help first responders with pre-marital counseling and wedding officiation.

I hope and pray that by sharing the details of this mission, individuals will understand the importance of our work and recognize that it relies entirely on consistent financial support from the communities we serve—churches, businesses, and generous families in Central Linn and Monroe. As a self-employed chaplain licensed through First Baptist Church of Brownsville, there are no outside grants or other funding sources; we depend solely on those we serve to provide the support needed to continue operating.