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Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat A Practical Research Project presented to the Faculty of the Claremont School of Theology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry By Kelly Jackson Brooks May 2020 © 2020 Kelly Jackson Brooks ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Dedication This project is my love letter and prayer to my colleagues who have shown me that my capacity for love and grace is much greater than I imagined. I would like to dedicate this to my friends, family, and colleagues who have inspired, encouraged, and shown me much love and grace through this process. "...grace increased all the more." Romans 5:20 NT S C HOOL OF T O H M E O E L R O A G L Y C 1885 This professional project completed by KELLY JACKSON BROOKS has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the Claremont School of Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree DOCTOR OF MINISTRY Faculty Committee Karen Dalton, Chairperson Dean of the Faculty Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook May 2020 Abstract Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat Presented by Kelly Jackson Brooks The Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat for Clergy is focused on research findings that indicate that the demands placed on ordained clergy through their call and professional role in ministry, puts clergy at a greater risk for poor mental health, poor physical health, and professional burnout. The Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat for Clergy is designed to encourage clergy to explore methods in which they can seek respite and renewal in an on-going and healthy way. Throughout the 3-day retreat, participants have the opportunity to participate in individual mapping work, workshops, worship, and other optional activities that are led by professionals in the field to better understand the topics of self-care, rest, and renewal. The retreat research includes the following information: Age (the ten participants from the first retreat ranged in age from 36-56); Gender (4 Female, 6 Male); Ethnicity (9 Anglo/White, 1 African American); Years in Ordained Ministry (2-26 years); and Self-Care Practices/Current and Past (3 previously engaged in practices, 8 participating in practices at 1-month follow-up post-retreat). The Mean, Median, Mode, and Range overall scores, indicate the retreat itself was overwhelmingly favorably evaluated with zero dissenting comments. Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………..1 Problem……………………………………………………2 Context…………………………………………………….3 Justification………………………………………………..5 Audience…………………………………………………..6 Chapter Outline……………………………………………………....7 Chapter One………………………………………………………….9 Chapter Two…………………………………………………….…..14 Chapter Three…………………………………………………….…25 R&R 360 Retreat Timeline………………………………....26 1st Draft Retreat Schedule……………………………….….29 Estimated Project Budget……………………………….….32 Figure 1.1 Clergy Participants………………………….…..34 Figure 2.2 Assignments………………………………….…36 Retreat Questionnaire………………………………………37 Mapping Guide Schedule…………………………………..39 Optional Activity Information…….………………………..41 Retreat Schedule……………………………………………46 Chapter Four……………………………………………….……….49 Post-Retreat Questionnaire……………………………….………...49 Appendices…………………………………………………………64 Appendix A – Retreat Facilitator Biographies Appendix B – Facilitator Contract Appendix C – Letter of Informed Consent Bibliography…………………………………………………….....74 iv Introduction “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he (Jesus) got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” Mark 1:35, NRSV _____________________________________________________________ On October 23, 2017, my clergy colleague and long-time friend contacted me requesting that I immediately meet him for lunch following a particularly challenging counseling therapy session where he was confronted with what he referred to as a few harsh realities of his life. During our thirty-minute lunch, he spoke at a rapid pace about how he was not living an honest life and how he had been a fraud to so many, including to me. He apologized profusely, yet in an elusive manner, not including specifics or any concrete thoughts. Suddenly, without a warning or pause, he stopped and simply looked down at the table. At his request, we left to return to work, to the church where we both served as clergy and leaders of the congregation. I had a sinking feeling that I needed to follow closely behind him on the short drive back to the office, and as I did, I quickly noted that he was taking an unfamiliar path to the church and was weaving in and out of neighborhoods, almost in an attempt to lose me. Once we returned to the church, he immediately went into his office, closed his door, laid down on his couch and began to sob. The decompensation took place quickly, and as I entered his office and began to listen to him unrecognizably speak between his tears, I recognized that this situation required immediate help. I told him I felt he needed to talk with a psychiatrist to be evaluated, and that I was concerned for his safety. I informed him that I was calling his wife so she could accompany him to the psychiatrist’s office. He showed little reluctance and did not disagree or argue with me. When his wife arrived, we had a conversation about why I discerned he needed to be evaluated. He agreed and went with little prodding. 1 The months and years that have followed, and my friend’s subsequent in-patient 30-day treatment program, have not been easy. My clergy colleague and long-time friend has continued to struggle with his mental health, physical health, and spiritual health. The treatment he received was helpful for a short period of time, but without the ongoing professional care, his long-term overall health will not be obtained or sustained. He is no longer serving a congregation; instead he is serving in an extension ministry which is compatible with the gifts and graces that he is able to offer during this season of his ministry. He has since divorced, is living in a new community, and is working towards physical health with the hope that mental health maintenance will soon follow. Problem The haunting horror of taking a front-row seat to what happens when a friend and colleague, who is a veteran clergy of twenty-five years, completely loses perspective of self-care and self- regulation, is daunting. To witness him fall prey to poor mental health practices and in turn lose control of his own moral compass, is devastating. This experience not only has taken a toll on my friend who experienced the breakdown, but on everyone who has surrounded him, including family, friends, and the congregation in which he served. While the magnitude of this experience was difficult and challenging to witness, equally challenging was the reality that this was not an isolated occurrence. The reality is that serving in ministry is exhausting and taxing on the body. If self-care is not intentionally incorporated into the rigors of pastoral life, the clergy person’s health and well-being is impacted. Out of this life-altering experience, the concept for the Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat Model was born. 2 The Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat Model project will explore the premise that the demands placed on ordained clergy through their call to ministry, and the congregations in which they serve, put clergy at a greater risk for poor mental health, poor physical health, and professional burnout. If not properly monitored and cared for, clergy can easily fall into patterns unbecoming to their call. This can lead to irreversible damage to the clergy person, to those who care for them, and to those that they serve. The Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat Model for clergy project is an investigation into the potentially destructive effects of the professional role of the ordained. This retreat model seeks to provide a space for clergy in every stage of ministry to be intentionally supported through a reproducible three-day model for retreat format. Based primarily on research from the Duke Divinity School Clergy Health Initiative and on group and individual therapeutic standards of mental health care, the Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat Model project addresses the issue of clergy rest and renewal practices with attention to the prevalence of self-destructive and negative self- soothing behaviors. The project involves creating, implementing, and evaluating a three-day Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat Model defining rest, renew, and retreat. Context As a licensed mental health therapist, an ordained United Methodist clergy member, and the daughter of a United Methodist clergy woman, I am deeply committed to the work of developing and sustaining optimal mental, physical, and spiritual health practices specifically within the profession of ordained clergy. Through my professional roles as a therapist and United Methodist clergy member, and as one who was intimately raised in the church, I have discovered that many 3 members of the clergy find themselves in vulnerable physical and psychological situations. They are exposed to the rigors of ministry and are often without a foundation of professional resiliency nor the tools necessary to sustain ethical and moral standards required by the profession. The topic I am exploring is focused on clergy culture as it relates to unhealthy and potentially self-destructive patterns and the impact of the experience on their community - friends, family, and congregation members. This project will give attention to this specific context while creating and implementing a reproducible three-day Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat Model that includes long-term strategies and tools for sustainable mental health, physical health, and spiritual health practices. Research indicates that clergy, by nature of the profession, do not take time nor are they deliberately encouraged to take time to care for their own spiritual, psychological, and physical needs. Comparatively, clergy do not take time to identify potential triggers or consider the results of long-term exposure to secondary trauma, or the mental and spiritually draining work performed in the role of the ordained. This lack of care and self-awareness, with a lack of introspection may result in clergy engaging in potentially self-destructive and negative self- soothing and coping behaviors such as drinking, using illicit drugs, and seeking affirmations and attention through inappropriate sexual gestures and advances towards colleagues and co-workers. This reproducible Rest and Renewal 360 Retreat Model is designed to encourage clergy to explore methods in which they can seek respite and renewal in an on-going, safe, and healthy way without falling prey to potentially self-destructive and negative self-soothing behaviors. These methods of healthy rest and renewal behaviors and habits will be individually identified, discussed, and explored with a trained professional referred to as a Mapping Guide throughout 4