Welcome to JFK Mental Health Resources, profiling what services and support is available to Sailors assigned to Pre-Commissioning Unit John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Today, let's talk with the command chaplains.
1. In the stress continuum, where do you fall?
Religious Ministry Teams assist personnel throughout the stress continuum. Pastoral care and life skills classes, providing religious rites services, and facilitating personnel connecting with their faith are most effective when engaged while in the Green Zone, building a Sailor’s Spiritual Readiness as a preventative measure to maintain Green, but also enabling a person to survive and even thrive in the Yellow, Orange, and Red zones.
Pastoral care and counseling, providing religious rites and services, and facilitating personnel connecting with their own faith in dark times are significant, even crucial components to a person experiencing yellow, orange, and red zone stressors.
2. What services do you provide?
Chaplains provide religious rites and services for personnel of their own faith group, facilitate the religious freedoms and observances for personnel of different faith groups, provide pastoral care and counseling, life skills classes, and spiritual readiness initiatives for all personnel regardless of faith or lack thereof, and advise the command on matters of morale, morals, and religion.
3. When should Sailors come to you for your services?
Ideally, before they need us. See your CRMD early and often. We are ALWAYS available to Sailors and families.
4. Why should Sailors come to you?
Scientific studies show that spiritually-connected people are between 60% and 94% (depending on level of connectedness) less likely to engage in destructive behaviors including substance abuse, abusive relationships, and suicide. Chaplains boost spiritual readiness because we bring two things to the fight no one else can. Firstly, Chaplains and Religious Program Specialists are the only personnel with 100% iron-clad confidentiality - anything told to us in private in our role as Chaplains or RPs (or other personnel serving in the role of a chaplain’s assistant) remains confidential unless released by the individual. We are not mandatory reporters for anything disclosed in a counseling session. This makes us especially valuable as a first resource - a Sailor can talk to us about their situation and then step through all of their options in complete confidence. Secondly, we are the only people authorized to talk about the spiritual roots of issues (providing the individual wishes to discuss these).
5. What is one common misconception about your position and why do Sailors need to know the truth?
The most common thing I hear is, “Well, I’m not religious.” So? I’m a rabbi - if you come to see me I have ZERO interest in you walking out of my office wearing a yarmulke (unless you came in with one or asked for one). Our other two chaplains are Christian - they do NOT see it as their role to make you into a Christian. We DO want you to leave our office as a better person and more spiritually-ready Sailor - more connected to whatever YOUR source of spirituality is. This is important because this and similar misconceptions often prevent Sailors or chains of command from reaching out to us early in the game, resulting in problems reaching a level where they are much trickier to solve.
6. Imagine there is a Sailor debating coming to see you and use your services. What would you say to them?
Religious or not, if you’ve got something going on we are a great first step, even if only to help you frame your concerns and explore your options in complete confidence. Maybe you’ll want a longer-term relationship with us, and maybe you won’t. Both are fine - we just want you to be better when you leave us than when you came to us.
JFK Chaplains:
Cmdr. Aaron Kleinman
Lt. Cmdr. David Pahs
Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin Mayhugh
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.17.2024 10:26 |
| Story ID: | 471553 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JFK Mental Health Resources: Command Chaplains, by PO1 Jacob Milham, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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