FMTM Publication Highlight: “Finding Life After Trauma: A Guide for Missioners and Volunteers and Those Who Care for Them”

The third of five in our series of blog posts highlighting the newest editions of From Mission to Mission Publications:

Finding Life After Trauma: A Guide for Missioners and Volunteers and Those Who Care for Them by Michelle A. Scheidt, DMin and Maureen R. Connors, PhD

Blog post by Michelle Scheidt, author and From Mission to Mission Board Member 

Service in another culture offers many rewards and challenges. People who live and work in a culture different from their own are often exposed to trauma, including experiences such as natural disasters, interpersonal conflict, violence, grieving, abuse, stress, and generally feeling overwhelmed by poverty and the needs of others. These trauma experiences are common, whether the volunteer or missioner has engaged in service for a week or for decades, in other countries or in diverse settings in North America. Volunteers and missioners typically face trauma experiences with strength and resiliency, but those who help others sometimes need help themselves.

Volunteers and missioners typically face trauma experiences with strength and resiliency, but those who help others sometimes need help themselves.

This is where From Mission to Mission can offer support and why the organization exists. In 1980 a group of returned missioners realized that they could be the best type of support for one another because they understood deeply the unique experience of mission and re-entry. The organization From Mission to Mission was unexpectedly born from this informal gathering, and has gone on to serve thousands returning home after service in a culture different from their own. Finding Life After Trauma is the fifth book in a series written by returned missioners, for returned missioners, to support the healing journey of transition.

Finding Life After Trauma is… written by returned missioners, for returned missioners, to support the healing journey of transition.

The guide shares insights from decades of experience with thousands of volunteers and missioners who have returned from a time of living and serving in another culture. Some of the questions this guide addresses include:

• What is trauma? How do I know if I or my loved one is suffering from it?
• What can I do to foster healing after trauma?
• How do I know if professional care is needed?
• What spiritual practices can help heal mind, body and spirit after trauma?
• How do leaders and organizations best prepare volunteers and missioners so they have the resources to deal with trauma they might experience?
• What are appropriate responses from leaders, communities, and mission sending organizations when someone in their group has a trauma experience?
• How can families and friends best support their loved ones who have experienced trauma?

Rev. Kenneth W Schmidt, MA, LPC, NCC, Executive Director of Trauma Recovery Associates based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, offers the following endorsement of the manual: “I have worked with trauma survivors for the past fifteen years. This is a wonderful book for missioners who have so much to process when they return to their first home. Sometimes that includes traumatic events, and this book is a useful guide, while recognizing that some will need additional professional support. It’s also a great resource for the people who love those returning missioners and want to understand and support them.”

People who live and work in a culture different from their own often have experiences of trauma, including experiences such as natural disasters, interpersonal conflict, violence, grieving, abuse, stress, and generally feeling overwhelmed by poverty and the needs of others. Volunteers and missioners typically face trauma experiences with strength and resiliency, but those who help others sometimes need help themselves.

This book offers resources for volunteers and missioners, leaders of mission sending organizations and religious communities, and those at home who want to better support their loved one who has experienced trauma.

The guide includes information and learning about trauma, practical suggestions and tip sheets, and emotional and spiritual practices, and helps equip those who have experienced trauma with the internal resources they need to heal and thrive. This book is one in a series of five volumes published by From Mission to Mission, an organization serving returning missioners and volunteers since 1980. The guide shares insights from decades of experience with those returning from a time of living and serving in another culture.

Really helpful compilation of resources. Finding Life after Trauma is a fantastic resource, even for those who are not missionaries. As a therapist, I have it in my office not only for the helpful compilation of one page resources included, but also the important reminders about self care and tips to avoid vicarious trauma. As a supervisor of other therapists, those self-care and vicarious trauma tips are essential for clinicians to keep in mind. Thanks to the authors for putting this important resource together.