MC Tools—11

CHOPS Inventory

Supporting A4 Workers

Chennai, India: family en route with sleeping child
April 2012 © MOD
 

This is our 200^th weblog entry.

The first weblog entry was exactly six years ago, on 28 December 2006.

So we are celebrating six years and 200 blog entries of

reflections, research, and resources for good practice.

Deo gratias.

.

 The final tool in this series of entries is an updated version of our favourite one: the CHOPS Inventory. We developed the first version of this tool in 1990 as a way to review struggles for mission workers. Since then it has been expanded to include: more categories; an emphasis on successes and strategies in addition to struggles; applicability for mission/aid workers (not just faith-based workers); and translations into seven languages.

.

The latest version of CHOPS (shared below for the first time) now includes examples of additional challenges that are often experienced by mission/aid colleagues from the A4 regions (African, America-Latina, Arabic-Turkic, Asian). These additions can be summarised in terms of family, finances, and freedom, with all three being permeated by the challenges of maintaining faith-focus vs fear-anxiety. See the items below in green font.

 *****

CHOPS Inventory

Revised December 2012: Click here for a pdf version

Cross-cultural workers can have experiences that make them feel like "sheep in the midst of wolves." This exercise explores ten "wolves"—which we refer to as stressors—that these workers frequently encounter. We use the acronym "CHOPS" as a way to help identify and deal with these stress-producing "wolves". Note that each stressor can be both a source of stress and/or a symptom of stress. 

Directions 1. Using a separate piece of paper, write down some of the stressors that you have experienced over the past several months. Refer to the 10 stressors and some of the examples mentioned below. Put these under a column labelled "Struggles."   2. In a second column, "Successes", list some of the helpful ways you have dealt with stress during the last several months.   3. Next, under a "Strategies" column, list ideas for better managing stress in the future.   4. You may also want to do the same with or for some important people in your life, such as individuals and groups found at the bottom of this page. Discuss your responses with a close friend.

.

Struggles      Successes ___Strategies

Cultural (getting needs met in unfamiliar ways: language learning, culture shock, reentry) feeling rejected, overlooked, or undervalued by the dominant “international” mis/aid culture; gender bias, prejudice, lack of opportunity/freedom

 
Crises (potentially traumatic events: natural disasters, wars, accidents, political instability protracted armed conflicts and physical threats, one’s own community and country affected
 
Historical (unresolved past areas of personal and social struggle: family of origin issues, personal weaknesses) lack of educational, health, economic opportunities (i.e. social determinants of health)
 
Human (relationships: with family members, colleagues, nationals: raising children, couple conflict, struggles with team members, social opposition) caring for ageing parents, few school options, human rights violations, persecution, discrimination, stigma
 
Occupational (job-specific challenges and pressures: work load, travel schedule, exposure to people with problems, job satisfaction, more training, government "red tape") job insecurity, short-term contracts, mis/aid work not understood or respected
 
Organisational (governance and management: incongruence between one's background and the organisational ethos, policies, work style, expectations; incompetence, corruption, abusive leadership, dysfunction, disability practices) legal protection, training
 
Physical (overall health and factors that affect it: nutrition, climate, illness, ageing, environment) no medical resources/insurance and inadequate nutritional options, injuries/road traffic accidents
 
Psychological (overall emotional stability and self-esteem: loneliness, frustration, depression, unwanted habits, developmental issues/stage of life issues) cumulative impact of “adverse life events”
 
Support (resources to sustain one's work: finances, housing, clerical/technical help, donor contact minimum pay and financial support, finances used for survival and not just for one’s mis/aid work
.
Spiritual (God and/or transcendent values: meaning, evil, inner growth, practices/disciplines) lack of trust/respect for spiritual leaders
.

Answers apply to (circle):
self, spouse, child, friend, department, team, company, other

Earlier version available in
Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, German,Spanish, and Portuguese

©2012 Dr. Kelly O’Donnell and Dr. Michèle Lewis O’Donnell

*****

Want to know more about challenges for those from A4 regions? See the article by John Fawcett, Supporting Local Staff, including the two short case studies at the end by Viola Mukasa.

.
Want to go even further? See the three articles that overview challenges for workers from Latin America, India, and Africa as well as the short case examples for workers in and/or from China. Available at: www.chinamembercare.org (see table of contents in English; this site also includes materials in traditional/simplified Chinese along with Mandarin audio files).
.
Do you have suggestions for improving CHOPS, including A4-related items? Contact us at:

MCAresources@gmail.com 

MC Tools—7

Giants, Foxes, Wolves, and Flies

 

 We are sharing some tools to support personal growth, relationship health, organizational development, and overall effectiveness for mission/aid workers. Hopefully you will find them to be creative, useful, and at times even fun. They are some of our favourites.

.

These items build upon the 12 tools for “Running Well and Resting Well” that we included as a chapter in Doing Member Care Well (2002). More tools and guidelines specifically for team building are included in our “Tools for Team Viability” article, in the member care book we edited in 1992.

*****
.

Our Reality DOSE! website has several self-assessment tools that you may find helpful.  One item in particular is the short article-tool we developed for the faith-based, Christian sector called Giants, Foxes, Wolves, and Flies: Helping Ourselves and Others. We often recommend and use this short article as a creative way for people/groups in mission/aid to look at their life and work—the challenges, struggles, successes, competencies, etc.  It is also available in Arabic, Chinese, Korean, and Spanish. Here is the opening section.

.

Have you ever seen the movie, "The Wizard of Oz?" Filmed in 1939, this fantasy classic portrays the adventures of a young girl who tries to return home from a magic land lying somewhere over a rainbow. During one scene, Dorothy and her companions approach a dark forest en route to the Emerald City. Anxiously wondering what wild beasts might lie within, they begin to chant, "Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!
.

Watch the 30 second clip! ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NecK4MwOfeI

.

For cross-cultural workers, frequently beset with analogous challenges, a similar refrain can be heard: "Giants, and foxes, and wolves, and flies!" Who are these creatures, and what do they have to do with our life and work? In brief, they are Biblical metaphors representing the struggles that we often experience as we try to serve God in new ways or unfamiliar places.

.

Here's a quick overview. Giants seek to disable us by exploiting our vulnerabilities (2 Samuel 21:15-22). Foxes try to distract us and cause us to drift off our primary tasks (Song of Solomon 2:15). Wolves endeavor to distress us, keeping our stress levels high and our lives out of balance (Matthew 10:16). And flies purpose to disgrace us by the contaminating effects of sin (Ecclesiastes 10:1). The Enemy seeks to use all four of these creatures to sift us like wheat, and ultimately destroy our life an work for the Lord. Let's take a closer look at these creatures and explore some ways to deal with them.

Member Care and Lausanne 3: Blog Six

Managing Stress for Mission/Aid Workers:

Self-Assessment Tools

The Lausanne 3 Conference brought together some 4000 people this past October (2010) in South Africa. Here are excerpts from one of the seven MCA blogs on the Global Conversation portal at Lausanne 3.

The main question of this particular blog: How can we support mission/aid workers so that they are as healthy and effective as possible? Are sending groups doing a good job supporting their national/local and international staff? Yes, No, or Probably?!

(Video clip from Humanitarian Policy http://www.humanitarianpolicy.org/)

“Effective pre-mission training must begin with instilling awareness of the need for security and psychosocial support in the culture of organizations. Patched together, ad hoc, or solely programatic efforts will have only minimal impact. Security and support must be integrated, both structurally and functionally, into the mainstream of pre-field mission operations: mission planning, staffing, and budgeting.” Yael Danieli, Sharing the Front Line and the Back Hills (2002), p. 383

*****

Stress Assessment

Here is a stress assessment tool (13 items) from ta booklet by the International Federation of the Red Cross, Managing Stress in the Field (2001).  It is based on “The Relief Worker Burnout Questionnaire” in Coping with Disaster, 1999, by John H. Ehrenreich. http://helid.digicollection.org/en/d/Js2897e/6.html

Instructions: Rate each of the following items in terms of how much the symptom was true of you the last month. 0 = Never 1 = Occasionally 2 = Somewhat often 3 = Frequently 4 = Almost always

__1. Do you tire easily? Do you feel fatigued a lot of the time, even when you have gotten enough sleep?

__2. Are people annoying you by their demands and stories about their daily activities? Do minor inconveniences make you irritable or impatient?

__3. Do you feel increasingly critical, cynical or disenchanted?

__4. Are you affected by sadness you can’t explain? Are you crying more than usual?

__5. Are you forgetting appointments, deadlines, personal possessions? Have you become absent-minded?

__6. Are you seeing close friends and family members less frequently? Do you find yourself wanting to be alone and avoiding even your close friends?

__7. Does doing even routine things seem like an effort?

__8. Are you suffering from physical complaints such as stomach aches, headaches, lingering colds, general aches and pains?

__9. Do you feel confused or disoriented when the activity of the day stops?

__10. Have you lost interest in activities that you previously were interested in or even enjoyed?

__11. Do you have little enthusiasm for your work? Do you feel negative, futile, or depressed about your work?

__12. Are you less efficient than you think you should be?

__13. Are you eating more (or less), smoking more cigarettes, using more alcohol or drugs to cope with your work?

Total Score: (Add up scores for items 1-13)

Interpretation: No formal norms are available for this measure. Based on the content of the items, a score of 0-15 suggests the delegate is probably coping adequately with the stress of his or her work. A score of 16-25 suggests the worker is suffering from work stress and would be wise to take preventive action. A score of 26-35 suggests possible burnout. A score above 35 indicates probable burn out.

Notes:

**See the CHOPS Adjustment Inventory (in several languages) and other free assessment tools at our MCA Reality DOSE web site.

**See the 2010 update of the Operational Security Manual in Violent Environments, from Humanitarian Policy Network (download it for free---discuss and apply!)

Reflection and Discussion
1. What did you think about the video clip on safety for humanitarian workers? What were the main points and how effective was it?

2. Take the assessment tool above on stress assessment. What did you learn about yourself and how might you better manage stress?

3. How can some of the above resources be used in your setting?

Member Care: Pearls and Perils, Lecture 1

Staying Healthy in Difficult Places:

Member Care for Mission/Aid Workers

This first lecture at Fuller School of Psychology (February 2009) looked at historical milestones in member care, listening to our global voices, and future directions for this field. The lectures are available on line for free in written, audio, and video formats. We have included a few excerpts below from the first lecture to help encourage you to download and watch the video.

*****

http://www.fuller.edu/academics/school-of-psychology/integration-symposium-2009.aspx

A Somali woman at the gate of the UNHCR compound prior to
registration and admission to a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya, October 2008.
© Manoocher Deghati/IRIN. Used by permission. http://www.irinnews.org

*****

Historical Milestones

Opportunity, danger, duty, hell. Life can be as difficult as it can be wonderful. And helping those whose life is even more difficult than our own can be very difficult indeed! There is so much misery that requires the interventions of the faith-based, government, and civil society sectors (e.g., natural and human made disasters, poverty, HIV-AIDS, malaria/diarrheic disease, and internecine war, to name a few). For the mission/aid community, helping can often involve staying sane—and alive—in unstable, insane places. It is not that mission/aid work always deals with life-threatening experiences, of course. Rather it is just that helping to relieve the “maims and moans” of creation takes its toll. Mission/aid workers, like the people they are helping, have some special challenges and needs indeed.

*

Over the last 20 years, a special ministry within the Christian mission/aid sector, really a movement, has developed around the world that is called member care. At the core of member care is a commitment to provide ongoing, supportive resources to further develop mission/aid personnel. Currently there are an estimated 458,000 full-time “foreign missionaries” and over 11.8 million national Christian workers from all denominations (Barrett, Johnson, and Crossing, 2008). These figures do not reflect the number of Christians involved in the overlapping area of humanitarian aid, nor do they reflect the unknown number of “tentmakers” or Christians who intentionally work in different countries while also sharing their faith. Sending organizations and churches, colleagues and friends, specialist providers, and also locals who are befriended are key sources of such care.

*

The member care ministry and movement did not develop easily. It was often through crises, mistakes, and failure that we began to realize that Christian workers needed quality support in order to help them in their challenging tasks. One of the first books written to help with this need was written by Marjorie Collins in 1974, providing many ideas for how churches and friends could better support mission personnel (Who Cares About the Missionary?). Previously in 1970 Joseph Stringham, a psychiatrist and missionary working in South Asia published two landmark articles in Evangelical Missions Quarterly on the mental health of missionaries. Stringham identified a number of external and internal challenges including culture shock, being disillusioned with others, children, medical care, etc. (external) and resentment, sexual issues, marital struggles, dishonesty, guilt, spirituality, trauma/deprivation in earlier life, motivation etc. (internal).

*

Listening to our Global Voices
Expendable Humanitarian Workers, Africa, Viola Mukasa. I’m a humanitarian worker living in a location in Africa that is in prime need of help/missions. I’ve experienced many types of stress as I have worked in various mission programs. The most sustained tension that I have experienced has been related to the urgency and the amount of work to be done in a potentially explosive social and political environment. The challenge here is not only to produce expected results quickly, under tense and sometimes risky circumstances. The challenge is also to deal with the constant worry about the security and health of those within my immediate world and where I, my family, and friends fall within that world.
(Excerpts from chapter 27 Doing Member Care Well 2002)

*

Grave Consequences. India, Dr. Manoj. The recent deaths of many young missionaries in different parts of the country have been very shocking. More so, because the causes of the deaths are malaria, enteric fever and other common treatable and preventable causes. Today when medical science has advanced so much, it is sad that these young budding lives have been lost through what could have been ignorance, neglect, or delayed/improper treatment….As a health professional, I would recommend that every missionary sent to the field, especially to the remote areas, be given a proper training in basic health and be oriented to the health realities of their locations, in addition to other areas of preparation.

(Missionary Upholders Trust, Care and Serve Bulletin, March 2004; excerpts p.3)

*

Research on Mission Workers, Dorothy Gish, 1983 Sample of 547 field missionaries in several countries and with several organizations, Stressors (reported by 40%+ to be moderate to great):
· Confronting one another when necessary
· Crossing language and cultural boundaries
· Time and effort maintaining donor contact
· Amount of work
· Work priorities

(Journal of Psychology and Theology, reprinted in Helping Missionaries Grow (1988)

*

Future Directions

The need for old/new treasures [directions and resources] must also take into account the significant shifts in demographics among the world’s 2.1 billion “affiliated Christians,” especially the growing majority of Christians in/from the Global South and the proportional decline in Christians in/from the global North (Johnson and Kim, 2006). These treasures must also support the efforts to resolutely and responsibly deal with the world’s greatest problems, including the need to eradicate poverty (e.g., the 910 million urban slum dwellers), provide universal education, promote gender equality, combat HIV/AIDS, foster environmental sustainability, etc. (United Nations Millennium Development Goals http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals). Here are 12 such treasures...

*

Treasure 3. Relief/Aid Workers—Psychosocial support is increasingly being recognized as a necessary and ethical organizational resource for workers in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies (CHEs). This support includes briefing, stress management, debriefing, and practical help for relief workers as well as equipping them with trauma/healing skills to help survivors (e.g., see the account in Randy Miller’s interview with a World Vision relief worker, “Staying Sane and Healthy in an Insane Job” (1998) and the many accounts in Sharing the Front Lines and the Back Hills, edited by Yael Danieli, 2001). Many disaster scenarios provide opportunities to interact with and help UPGs, leading to ongoing joint programs in community development. It is especially important to consider the reality of “neglected emergencies”—the ones that get overlooked due their chronic, seemingly unsolvable problems and overall lower profile— including “fragile states affected by ongoing conflict, poverty, corruption, and weak infrastructure (Gray, 2008, Moeller, 2008). One timely resource is the radio program and materials created to help survivors and caregivers in both natural and human-made disasters (http://www.seasonsofcaring.org/). See also two publications in particular from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: Managing Stress in the Field (2001) www.ifrc.org/publicat/catalog/autogen/4773.asp and Psychological Support: Best Practices (2001) www.ifrc.org/publicat/catalog/autogen/4516.asp.

*

Treasure 6. Special Support for A4 Workers—There is an increasing number of Christian workers from the A4 Regions. A4 senders/workers desire to provide develop quality member care approaches that fit their own sending groups, personnel, and cultures. Their experience in member care is also relevant for those from other sending nations (e.g., see the article on the India organization, Missionary Upholder’s Trust (Ethne-Member Care Update 11/08; www.ethne.net/membercare/updates). Quality care is also emphasized in a special listing of “15 Commitments of Member Care Workers”, developed with consideration for diversity in MCW backgrounds (Upgrading Member Care, Evangelical Missions Quarterly, 07/06). The commitment to quality care for A4 workers is also clearly stated in these excerpts from the Declaration by the Philippine Missionary Care Congress of October 2005...

*

*****

*****

Reflection and Discussion

1. List a couple items that strike you as being especially relevant for member care: in its history, current status, or future direction.

*

Comment on any of the above paragraphs in light of the concluding paragraph in this lecture/article (below):

*

Love. Above all, the core of E2MC [Ethne to Ethne Member Care--that is, the vission and strategy to promote member care by and for all people groups] involves the trans-ethnê, New Testament practice of fervently loving one another—like encouraging one another each day; bearing one another’s burdens; and forgiving one another from the heart. By this all people will know that we are His disciples (John 13:35). The Great Commission and the Great Commandment are inseparable. Our love is the final apologetic. It is the ultimate measure of the effectiveness of our member care.

Core Challenges for Aid/Mission Workers

During the month of January we are discussing some of the core challenges of aid/mission life. By core we mean the main inner issues and the main external issues that affect us, for bettter or for worse. They are those inner struggles that we all wrestle with—the matters of the heart (e.g., discouragement, forgiveness, grief). And these struggles are often stimulated by external circumstances or problems (e.g., cultural adjustment, separation, safety).

**********

Let's be sure to consider our own inner experiences too--the core issues for ourselves--as we converse about the challenges of aid/mission life.

Core Challenges for Aid/Mission Workers

• Pessimism--loosing perspective on the good things in life, due largely to the ongoing exposure to human problems and misery
• Staying centered--remaining connected with oneself in the midst of many responsibilities and the demands of living; and remaining connected with God
• Focusing on others' interest--self-preoccupation to the exclusion of others’ needs; not checking in to see how other people around us are doing
• Forgiveness--holding on to perceived injustices which arise from conflict with colleagues, the host culture, frustration with oneself, etc.
• Drifting--getting off the main tasks and the reason why we work in aid/mission, via distractions, interruptions, avoiding responsibility, etc.
• Transitional grief--the pain from saying many good-byes, multiple moves, missing loved ones, unresolved relationship issues, etc.
• Contentment--being satisfied in knowing that one is following his/her values, in spite of minimal work results, pressures to perform, and limited sense of fulfillment in one’s work

Reflection and Conversation:

• In what ways have these seven issues been part of your life?
• What helps you work through these issues?
• What other areas would you include as being core challenges?
• How do these issues relate to the research on stress and adjustment?

Note: This material is adapted from the article “Running Well and Resting Well” in Doing Member Care Well (2002). This article and book are available to view or download for free at http://www.wearesources.org/