PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO DISTRAUGHT PERSONS

these categories. Be prepared to devote a considerable amount of your time and attention to making sure these files are complete and up to date. Remember, the percentage of retired and elderly persons in our society is steadily increasing. The retired and elderly may constitute a significant percentage of the clientele seeking help at your religious ministries facility (RMF). In your career, you will encounter many different types of people. Some of these people will be trying to cope with tragic and traumatic circumstances. The information in the following paragraphs should help you understand your role of assisting your chaplain in these events. PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO DISTRAUGHT PERSONS People spend their time, energy, and means setting up their lives in a certain way. When a crisis takes place, many plans and hopes are disrupted and altered, perhaps forever. Change is dreadfully trying for some people. When change occurs, people will often turn to a Navy chaplain for help. The reactions people will have to changes, certainly to unanticipated and sudden ones, will vary widely. As an RP, you will inevitably be in a situation in which you must deal with distraught or overwrought persons. Types of RMF encounters—routine, ceremonial, and dramatic-are outlined in figure 2-8. You should be able to recognize these situations by their descriptive terms. Routine and ceremonial encounters will seldom require any radical decision-making responses on your part. Dramatic encounters, however, are another story. In dramatic encounters, you will deal with people in extreme crises. In general, these people will be reacting to a condition that has deprived them, or is threatening ENCOUNTER TYPES DESCRIPTIVE TERMS EXAMPLES ROUTINE Simple Straightforward visit Easy Readily available solutions Just another client Personal spiritual renewal Our bread and butter Reassurance Habitual performance of an ordinary, established procedure CEREMONIAL TRANSITION By the way... Surprise!... Schedule busters Brief visit, unplanned—by the Hidden time bombs chaplain Chain reaction to events Seeks hope... A transitional ceremony occurs when a new drama emerged in a brief visit providing an opportunity to lessen anxiety MAINTENANCE Follow-up visit Seeks new advice, but does take Always the same previous advice Friendly A maintenance ceremony occurs Hopeless after a drama ends and reasoning has returned DRAMATIC Complicated Crisis time Difficult Bad news Trouble Family discord Along-playing record Suicidal Those encounters occurring over time and involving conflict(s) or intense emotion(s) or both Figure 2-8.—Types of RMF encounters. 2-13