Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, a Member of the UU Trauma Response Ministry
Rev. Lisa Presley, a Member of the UU Trauma Response Ministry
The Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry—Playing a Key Role in Knoxville's Recovery from Tragedy
August 3, 2008
When tragedy struck last Sunday at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville (TVUUC), word reached members of the staff of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) within minutes. One of the first calls for assistance went to the Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry (UUTRM), an organization gathered in the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001. Co-founder Rosemary Bray McNatt, who serves as minister of the Fourth Universalist Society, New York City, recalls, “There was no organized liberal religious response mechanism following tragedy… and there needed to be.” And so McNatt, along with other clergy who had trauma ministry experience—including the Revs. Susan Suchoki Brown, Lisa Presley, Danita Noland, Aaron Payson, and Joel Miller, formed UUTRM.
UUTRM was on the scene after Hurricane Katrina, and their presence remained in the Gulf Coast for months thereafter. They have served in other situations where a trauma response team is necessary, and in the case of the Knoxville shootings, McNatt, Suchoki Brown, and Presley were deployed to the scene by Payson, who coordinated the initial response. McNatt and Suchoki Brown were designated as Incident Commanders and arrived on the scene by Monday morning. Presley arrived later on Monday, and other trauma responders followed.
Lisa Presley, who serves as Interim Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin, California, emphasized that the work of UUTRM, and of trauma responders, is different from that of pastoral counselors. “Trauma response is an entirely different process,” she said. The philosophy of the team is to meet with the leaders of the congregation, the UUA district, and others who are planning next steps, and “help them figure out what they need and what comes next.” This is, Presley said, a process that is owned by the congregations, not others. We supply our expertise in trauma…the congregation’s leadership has been very open and interested in hearing that expertise …but they are always the ones making the decisions.”
Prior to the vigil held at TVUUC on Monday, July 28, there was an opportunity for TVUUC members and members of the Westside Unitarian Universalist Church, as well as others who were in the church on Sunday or who had a connection to the church, to be in conversation and connection in debriefing groups. The groups took into account peoples’ relationship to what had happened: those who had seen violence vs. those who had not; age-appropriate groups for youth and children; a group for the cast of the musical, “Annie, Jr.”, and so on. This is important, Presley explained, “because you don’t want to inflict trauma on anyone else who didn’t have the same experience.” Those groups were facilitated by members of UUTRM in cooperation and collaboration with the Red Cross and other trained trauma responders.
Since the vigil, there have been daily meeting opportunities at TVUUC in the morning, mid-day, and in the evening for individuals who wish to meet with a trauma response minister. According to McNatt, well over 100 people have been seen in that context.
The TVUUC youth group had a meeting with their leaders and a UUTRM chaplain, Presley said, and UUTRM also met with members of the staff of the congregation and other lay leaders, to help them assess what might be needed in the immediate future. Now, the UUTRM is working with the two congregations on “the next phase, in which we will identify needs and make a plan for the future.”
McNatt said, “One of the things that was very clear to me—and this is pretty common in these circumstances—is that there was a veneer of guilt on the part of folks I spoke with around whether they were there, or not there. Those who were there felt they didn’t do enough. Those who were not there felt that they had abandoned their fellow congregants. Those who had family there felt badly that they weren't there themselves. ‘If only, if only, if only…’—that kind of thinking is very common after trauma. Part of our task is to reframe that for people, to try to minimize the long term effects. We try to remind them that most who face trauma will be fine. They won’t be the same people they were, but they will be well.
“People are very resilient,” McNatt continued, “and it is important for us to support them in that process, in self-agency and in recovery.”
Rev. Aaron Payson, another of the founders of UUTRM who serves the Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, Massachusetts, has now replaced McNatt, Suchoki Brown, and Presley in Knoxville and other UUTRM mnisters are also present. (UUTRM strives to not keep any trauma responder in place for more than seven days). On Sunday, August 3, in an act designed to reclaim their worship space from the tragedies which occurred a week earlier, the TVUU congregation will gather to rededicate their sanctuary in a worship service at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) in which former ministers John Buehrens and Lynn Strauss will participate along with current minister Chris Buice.
And once again, the voices of the children who made up the cast of “Annie, Jr.” will be present, leading the congregation in singing “Tomorrow.”
How are the children? McNatt said, “They were determined that they would have the last word, not these tragic events. The message that they wanted to send was of their own capacity for resilience, of strength. And they wanted to send that message not just to the congregation, but to the community of Knoxville. That was inspiring: it was not only affirmation of the work they had done, but of who these kids were as human beings and as people of faith.”
McNatt and Presley emphasized that the long process of rising from tragedy will go on in Knoxville. McNatt said, “The generosity and compassion of every single person in the [TVUUC] building, the care that people took with one another—whether they were UUs or not—and the embrace of the Knoxville community, was wonderful. The dedication of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church's congregation and its minister, Rev. Jake Morrill, who have committed themselves to taking care of those people, is magnificent. After the press and others leave, the Oak Ridge church will be there. They have adopted this ministry as their task, to ‘love on them’ and make sure that those people don’t feel abandoned. And what is beautiful is that people understand [this necessity]. There will be needs after this…and people are already stepping up to meet them. [But] these people and those congregations will not be unattended.
“I want people to understand how complicated it is to run an operation of this kind,” McNatt said. “And I want to urge people to make a distinction between preparedness and security. It’s important to be prepared, because we can’t be promised anything about what will happen next in the world. But too often, we confuse being prepared with being in lock-down. As a religious community, we have a commitment to keep our hearts and our doors open, and to be prepared that someone might take advantage of that. But if we don’t root ourselves in our commitment to open those doors and to being welcoming and inclusive, even in the face of this, we fail in one of our primary religious tasks. And that undergirds everything we try to do in UUTRM…to prepare for the worst, and remind all of us of who we are at our best.”
Last updated on Wednesday, August 20, 2008.
