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BY CARRIE MADREN
UMConnection Correspondent

Just as flight passengers are directed to secure their own oxygen mask before trying to help others, clergy need to take care of themselves first, before they can effectively serve a congregation.

And there's more to self-care than diet and exercise, said the Rev. Anne Stewart, a professional pastoral counselor who facilitates a unique yearlong program on self-care for clergy.

Her Spiritual Leaders Self-Care Program brings clergy together for five weekend retreats throughout the year at West River United Methodist Center, near Annapolis. Each retreat has a specific focus - such as "Caring for Yourself at Work" and "Nurturing Your Relationships."

 

"Retreats are helpful because it's getting away, being in an atmosphere where the loads of the clergy responsibilities are eased, and you're with colleagues who understand fully and are having similar issues," said the Rev. Joye Jones, pastor at Good Shepherd UMC in Silver Spring and one of the original group members. "We spend a lot of time laughing."

 

Stewart serves as facilitator, and clergy pair off to provide accountability support for each other in between retreats.

It's been such a success that four of the original 12 group members have repeated the yearlong program, for which they earn continuing education credits.

Stewart is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who works part-time at Cornerstone Pastoral Care & Counseling center in Edgewater.

Starting this self-care program, Stewart said, is a shift from counseling to learning to practice wellness.

"Clergy are called to serve others," she said. "Sometimes it's not as easy to remember that we're as important as anybody else."

Stewart's program focuses on the vocation of clergy and the demands that it places on pastors. Clergy learn how to distinguish between emergencies - like if someone dies - and urgencies, which can be more reasonably managed."

Jones has been working on the goal of furthering her own spiritual disciplines. Having an accountability partner in between retreats has been vital, she said. Her assigned partner's role is to be "gently nudging. I don't feel guilty, I feel supported and encouraged," she said.

Other self-care issues Stewart focuses on include office organization, time management, taking comp time and financial management.

Learning how to delegate and enable others to do ministry goes a long way in easing the pressure, said Stewart, who encourages clergy to model self-care for parishioners.

"It's not selfish to take care of yourself," she said. "One of the goals of self-care for spiritual leaders is to be able to attend to yourself responsibly in a way that you're treating yourself as much as a child of God as you're treating your parishioners."

For more information, or to sign up for the next Self-Care group starting in the fall, contact