As the area of Disaster Spiritual Care grows, so does online training opportunities

Providing spiritual care in times of disaster can be taxing on both the body and soul. A reason why the United Church of Christ’s Disaster Ministries, in collaboration with Crisis Care Ministries and several other organizations, including is Church World Service, are offering the “2026 Disaster Emotional and Spiritual Care Academy.”

The academy features six weeks of free webinars, which start on Tuesday, March 24 and conclude on April 28. Each webinar streams live at 10 a.m. Central Time. Those interested in attending can click here to register. Space is limited.

The academy was designed to help ministers and lay leaders support their communities through a crisis, which can be caused by many varying events.

The United Church of Christ defines disasters as “as an occurrence of an event that suddenly and unexpectedly overwhelms a community’s ability to respond.”

“Disasters occur when vulnerable people are affected by hazards that cause human suffering or create human needs that require spiritual, monetary, material or physical support. These can be due to weather or geological events, pandemics, technological disasters, or human-caused disasters,” said Katie Howe, Minister for Disaster Response and Recovery for the UCC Global HOPE team.

A critical component in disaster response

For Howe, offering spiritual care education through such vehicles as free webinars was a priority.

“As the severity and frequency of disasters increases, the need for disaster spiritual care also increases,” she said.

Howe also noted that the idea for the 2026 Disaster Emotional and Spiritual Care Academy was the fruit of a conversation that took place at a conference last spring.

“We realized there was a gap in our systems of learning and people were very interested in learning more about Disaster Spiritual Care (DSC),” said Howe.

Disaster Spiritual Care is a growing component in the disaster response community. National VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster), for example, views Disaster Spiritual Care as critical in the work of restoring hope.

In the United Church of Christ, there are currently 10 people serving on Global HOPE’s Disaster Ministries’ Emotional and Spiritual Care team. The team is part of the wider national network of UCC Conference Disaster Response Coordinators.

“We recognized that our clergy are the ones who are often providing care to their communities, so we want to make sure that we have support for them,” said Howe, inviting those interested in serving on the Emotional and Spiritual Care team to contact her at howek@ucc.org.

As for the 2026 Disaster Emotional and Spiritual Care Academy collaboration, Howe said its creation was “truly an ecumenical effort.”

“It is a testament to the good relationships that we have established with our partners in disaster response,” she said.

Registration for the 2026 Emotional and Spiritual Care Academy, which begins March 24, 10 a.m. Central Time is still open. To register, click here.

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