MN/IA Workers’ Workshop

July 27-28, 2023

Pre-work. Each member of our staff was expected to complete work prior to the workshop.

• Read: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Servant

• Read: The Thin Book of Trust (if possible)

• Review MN/IA CSA policy

• Ensure completion of the Ministry Safe module (this is required every 2 years)

Staff Attendees (23): Lucille Anderson, David Bergh, Janet Bergman, Sandra Boettcher, Kyle Bredesky, Melissa Chardeen, Shan Connelly, Dean Dykstra, Maria Freesemann, Skyler Gartin, Ashley Hoseth, Andrea Jensen, Patricia Johnson, LaVerna Kleffman, Jake Nelson, Kara Plesek, Miranda Quick, Aunika Schraw, John Simons, Loran Skaw, Shari Stamps, Ron Thomke, Mary Weeda

Visitors (S): Darryl Doland (WA/N Idaho/AK). Craig Winquist (AR/MO/OK). Perry Pearson (ND/SD). Jennifer Horton (AR/MO/OK), Diane Harper (AR/MO/OK)

Presenters/ Facilitators (6): Terry Saber, Patty Henderson, Deb Miller, Summer Nelson, Kris Foner, Denise Ducette Dickson (via YouTube video)

The initial morning session opened with Hymn #347, followed by prayer led by Craig Winquist.

Overview:

Terry Saber started the workshop with the ground rules and the objectives for our time together. She also spoke about the key concepts for trust within teams from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

• Ground rules. Candor, full participation (“say it! And say it here!”), listen with intent to understand vs respond, phones only during polling or at break.
• Objectives:
  • Education and understanding of Child Sexual Abuse and Sexual Abuse.
  • Acknowledge and discuss path forward on enhancing communication and trust.
  • Increase awareness of needed Self<are.
  • Deepen awareness of the staff leadership needs and crisis management.
• Key takeaway from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
  • Trust is foundational to all teams to accomplish the work expected of the team.
  • If trust is broken, creates dysfunction, fear, paralysis, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to the needed results.

Servant Leadership and Trust:

Patty Henderson presented key concepts from The Thin Book of Trust and The Servant as they relate to trust and leadership.

Elements of Trust: discussed what each is and how each influence whether a feeling of trust is created or damaged.

• Care
• Sincerity
• Reliability
• Competence

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, {only discussed the first two levels!

• The foundation of human well-being starts with physiological needs: air, water, food, etc. Ex: if a child is hungry in school, they won’t be able to team.
• Secondly you must have all your safety needs met (feel safe AND be safe). Ex: if a victim/survivor does not feel safe tn the fellowship meeting, it is difficult to focus on spiritual feeding.

Broken Trust: discussion of the emotions and behaviors that are elicited when trust is broken.

Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. (Author Ken Blanchard as quoted by James Hunter in The Servant).

• Scope of influence, as leaders we all have influence, but some have a greater scope of influence than others
• Authority/lnfluence versus Power. In order to influence, a person must be trusted. Power is the ability to impose your own will on someone else therefore trust is not required.

Staff Communication Updates/ Discussion.

Because the entire staff had not been together, time was created on the agenda for updates on current situations and discussion as to how the leadership team was formed to respond to crisis.

• Take-aways from Seneca overseers’ meeting.
  • Spent a good deal of time in spiritual meetings. Much of what was shared related back to our current situation. God is chastising his ministry— there is a purpose in all of this.
  • Strong encouragement for education to become more trauma-informed.
  • Consider ways in which we can provide financial support to victims who may not otherwise be able to afford it Policies to deal with allegations and perpetrators will be very similar across the states but can’t be exactly the same because laws differ. Legal advice is that each state ensures that their policy adheres to all laws while protecting the victims. Safety for all is key!
• Staff Discussion:
  • Need for more communication between the staff and to the fields.
  • Need a method to make communication easier so that it happens more frequently. The leadership team has been inundated with current allegation situations— so communication doesn’t become front and center.
  • Thankful for the opportunity for timely education
  • Much discussion on the need to take care of self. Someone who is empty can’t serve others!
  • Discussion on the question of what secrecy versus confidentiality is.

Trauma Informed Training

Child Sexual Abuse from Victim Perspective: Deb Miller presented information to help all understand CSA more completely.

• Specific risk factors and described red flag behaviors.
• Stages of grooming.
• How secrecy is ensured in abuse and why children don’t report.
• How to respond to a disclosure: Deb offered specifics on how to respond —our job is to be calm and be present, how to listen, validate, inform erf obligation to report, and document as much as possible as soon as possible.

Mandatory Reporting: Deb reviewed the list of mandatory reporters and the process for reporting. She talked about why it is difficult to report— these are people we know and love, but our goal is to keep everyone safe! There is a push nationally that would make all people 18+ a mandatory reporter.

Process/lnvestigation: Deb shared what happens after a report. A report is ‘screened’ to see if it meets the state’s guidelines for an investigation. If not, the report is screened out’—meaning no investigation will occur. If it meets the criteria, the report is sent to the Child Protection Team (CPS) of the county in which the alleged abuse occurred for investigation. The findings ace presented to the legal system. If the case has enough evidence for prosecution, the case moves to the legal system for prosecution. If the case lacks enough evidence fur legal prosecution, it is deemed unsubstantiated. Unsubstantiated is an allegation that was investigated, and the investigation produced insufficient evidence to make a final determination as to whether the event occurred.

Traumatic Effects of Child Sexual Abuse: Summer Nelson presented in great detail the effects of Child Sexual Abuse upon the victim.

• Neuro biological effects: Effects of trauma and PTSD can be viewed on imaging studies of the brain. Trauma exposure causes numerous changes to the body’s systems, including the brain, hormones, and neurotransmitters.
• Sexual abuse is an interpersonal trauma: one perpetrated by another human being that is known to the victim. When the victim is a child, survivors may continue to have interactions with the perpetrator and may experience revictimization.
• May be profoundly confusing in a religious/spiritual context when perpetrators are believed to be individuals who are “right with” or serving God
• Negative reactions to disclosure are harmful and some children will then recant their disclosure. (Adults may as well)
• Impacts of Child Sexual Abuse: extremes in emotion, emotional disengagement or flatness, difficulties with attention/concentration/memory, reexpenencing with strong emotional reactions to reminders also known as triggers, hypervigilance, sleep disorders/ nightmares, self-harm. disordered eating, bed wetting, and others.
• Emotional and Mental health consequences of CSA: PTSD, depression, anxiety, dissociation, personality disorders, substance abuse, and suicide or self-injury
• Summer gave an overview of treatment approaches Some who’ve been a victim of abuse require life-long treatment while others require lifelong support. The length of the treatment is dependent upon many factors.

Sexual Assault in Adult Populations. Summer provided statistics as it relates to sexual abuse. She also reviewed the terms and definitions of sexual assault, rape, coercion, among others. She reviewed the mental health and behavioral consequences in adults as a result of sexual assault. Some of these are PTSD, depressive disorders, substance abuse, eating disorders, dissociative disorders, somatization disorders, suicidal ideations, suicide attempts, and death by suicide. Summer mentioned that it is helpful when creating policies that we engage various stakeholders to ensure clarity and accuracy.

Nature of Sex Offending: Denise Doucette Dickson was not able to attend but she pre-recorded a presentation that explained the characteristics of offenders and the treatment of offenders who have been convicted. She provided definitions of pedophilia, hebephilia, paraphelia and the types of paraphelias.

• Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder.
• Hebephilia is not a psychiatric disorder, but it is pathological in nature.

She also presented in detail behaviors of pedophiles and hebephiles that are non-contact offending behaviors and contact offending behaviors. She described a pathway to relapse, triggers, deviant sexual fantasies, urges and then acting out. For the offender, during their treatment they attempt to find ways to reduce triggers and break the relapse cycle.

MN/IA WORKSHOP – DAY 2

The morning session opened with a hymn brought by Loran Skaw. It was sung to the tune of hymn #405 but the words were sung as from the friends to the workers. LaVerna Kleffman followed with prayer.

Building Trust Interpersonally and Within Teams: Kris Foner presented how generational differences can affect communication and understanding. The generational differences are a result of the era and happenings that occurred during their formative years.

Generational differences.

• Silent Generation (born between 1928-1945) seek stability, comfortable with hierarchy.
• Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1964) are team oriented/good mentors prefer structure and less inclined to welcome change,
• Gen X (born between 1965-1980} flexible, willing to change, value responsibility/ honesty.
• Millennials (born between 1981-1996) expect collaboration, a seat at the table, and challenge hierarchical status quo.
• Gen Z (born between 1997-2012) value individual expression, flexibility, avoid labels, and embrace large-scale change.

Listening to other perspectives can increase engagement and support of decisions. It can create stronger relationships and build trust.

Listening for understanding: (The best way to listen for understanding is to WANT to understand!)

• Ask open-ended questions.
• Look person in the eye and maintain eye contact.
• Express appreciation for their sharing.
• Repeat back what you heard them say, in summary format.
• Reflect on what was shared.
• Avoid interrupting, finishing their sentence, looking at clock/watch/phone, making it about yourself, quickly giving your opinion.

Professional Boundaries, Confidentiality, Communication: Summer presented information that relates to considering our own role in supporting victims of trauma and sexual abuse. This session was designed in an interactive manner to allow for specific questions as she presented her slides. She helped answer the following questions:

• What can I do or say to be helpful to victims of Child Sexual Abuse and other traumas?
• How can I monitor my own emotional reactions and overall wellbeing in the context of reports of trauma?
• What type of information or advice am 1 qualified to give?
• How do 1 respond when victims want advice or response from me that I feel unqualified to give?
• How do I approach the concept of confidentiality?
• How do I try to avoid breaches of trust by reporting Child Sexual Abuse or abuse of vulnerable populations (when perhaps the person who provided the information wanted to keep it quiet? |
• How do I encourage someone to seek the help of a professional?

Self-Care. Deb Miller described the importance of self-care, types of self-care, and encouraged each of the workers to think about ways that they will incorporate methods of self-care into their daily fives.

Resources for effective coping:

• Self-awareness: how our past affects our present, understand your values, know your strengths and weaknesses, try journaling
• Emotional awareness
• Physical health, exercise, keep your body healthy, relaxation, sleep, good nutrition.
• Breathing, techniques of box breathing and belly breathing
• Relaxation and use of calming apps
• Hobbies and Leisure: goal to have at least 2 hobbies or leisure activities.
• Social support
• Positivity: gratitude, self-compassion/self-kindness, mindfulness

Why don’t we communicate?

• Apathy or boredom
• Peeling unacknowledged
• Fear of judgment or criticism
• Conflict avoidance
• Fear of vulnerability
• Lack of trust

She presented information about active listening. The ways in which our body language, attention and phrasing create an open, honest dialogue.

She presented information on setting boundaries, emotional boundaries, material boundaries, time /energy boundaries, mental boundaries, and physical boundaries help us be healthy in a way that we are available for others She also spent time on technological boundaries: the need to disengage from technology in a way that promotes sleep, down time, and being present in visits.

She presented information related to how to know when professional help may be needed to care for self with a deeper dive into symptoms of depression.

Group work: Each worker was assigned to one of five smaller groups. Each group was asked to work on a subject and come back to the larger group with a presentation that included suggestions.

• Group 1 &2 worked on the gaps that exist in our current CSA/SA policy.
  • Discussion related to hiring GRACE to help us with investigations.
  • Discussed the concept of developing a closed meeting taking care that friends who attend do so by volunteering only. These meetings would be held at times other than when our fellowship meetings meet.
  • Discussion/suggestions related to advocacy, financial support, response team .
• Group 3 worked on communication: to each other and to the field.
  • Discussion of a newsletter to keep all informed of what is happening within the states. Especially given the flexibility needed to cover the current fields with fewer workers.
  • If these concepts work and meet the need, the work of creating these could then be off- loaded to a group of friends with interest/skills in this work.
• Group 4 worked on accountability and self-care for the workers. What tasks are we doing today that don’t require the efforts of the workers?
  • Discussion of times during the year when the workers can have down time, such as the week after conventions, special meetings and dunng the winter holiday season .
  • Each encouraged to intentionally choose their self-care activities.
  • One key comment/question that arose. It’s hard to understand how to live to serve others (reference to Servant Leadership book) while learning to put ourselves first.
    Answer: If s both putting others first while learning to love ourselves and making sure we are taking care of ourselves and not getting burned out.
• Group 5 worked on off-loading tasks to the friends to allow more time for the workers to read, pray, and evangelize.
  • Created a list of things that could be off-loaded fur convention preps/convention.
  • Discussed ways in which we could gain an understanding of who in MN/LA has what skill set and would be willing to be called upon to engage that skill to help in a need. Some examples given: carpentry, mechanic, painting, laundry, cooking, etc.

Closed the workshop with hymn #370 and David Bergh closed in prayer.