Compassion in Crisis: Inside the Work of Chaplains of Idaho

On this episode of the We Share podcast, Alex and Julie are joined by chaplains Elise and Cami from Chaplains of Idaho. They discuss their roles as law enforcement, fire, and community chaplains, emphasizing their non-judgmental and compassionate approach to supporting individuals in crisis. Elise and Cami share moving stories about assisting families after tragedies, from house fires to death notifications, offering resources, comfort, and follow-up care to help with the healing process.

They also delve into the training and spiritual foundations required to become a chaplain, describing the fieldwork and emotional resilience needed to support others effectively. The conversation highlights their vital role in alleviating trauma, not just for victims but also for first responders who may need confidential support.

The chaplains discuss their community outreach efforts, including fundraising through events like a formal gala, and share how people can contribute or access their services. They also touch on the importance of suicide awareness and how their work helps families and children process grief and trauma in healthy ways.

Elise and Cami’s passion for service and their stories of providing peace and comfort underline the profound impact chaplains have in moments of crisis. The episode wraps up with a reminder to seek help when needed and to share these critical resources with others.

Transcript

I always tell everybody, assess yourself. Make sure you're not hungry, angry, lonely or tired. Halt! Right if you are. Stop! Halt! Address those things. Have a meal. Talk to a friend if you're angry. If you're lonely, find someone. Not social media. But go find a real live person. That's why we come in with two arms and hold them right.

And then tired. If. If that's all it is, take a nap. Today on the We Share podcast, we're joined by chaplains Elise and Cami, who work with Chaplains of Idaho.

Welcome to the We Share podcast. I'm Julie. I'm Alex. We share ourselves and we provide a platform for others to share. We believe everyone has a purpose and a story to tell. And we're back on the We Share podcast. I'm Julie and I'm Alex. Alex, we've got an interesting kind of religious conversation to have today. We have two special guests in studio today.

Elise and Cami there with the chaplains. I'm going to let them explain, like, introduce themselves and really explain. But it's a great way to kick off the month of December and get us in the holiday spirit of giving. Yes, giving. So I'll take it away, ladies. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Cami. Hi. I have been a chaplain for two years, and I'm Elise Jepson.

I've been a chaplain for a little over two years as well. And what chaplain see is a lot of people think it is super religious. And in some aspects, it is, right. You think of a military chaplain. That's who you go to when you're having spiritual concerns. We are what is called law enforcement and fire chaplains and community chaplains.

So we're dispatched by law enforcement officers or firefighters when there is someone in crisis. So let's say a house burns down and you've got people who really need some help, right? We come in with resources, warm blankets, hotel rooms, all kinds of things to help them with their needs. Initially, it kind of we take the burden off of the firefighters.

There's it's so emotional. Right. They're feeling like, wow, we just sprayed this person's house down with water. And they they feel bad for these people. They call us in and we kind of help lift and do those things so that they're not worried about the people that they just helped with the fire. They're able to go fight another fire, and we take care of the people.

And then we bring in other resources like the American Red cross or different churches, or get in contact with different people that can help them. So that's a fire situation. Law enforcement, again, you know, we're dealing with some really sad, hard situations and we're able to come in with basically love and comfort and peace and no judgment. None whatsoever.

And help with resources. And a lot of times people think, oh, if a chaplain is called, they're coming in and they're going to preach to me about how I should be living my life or what I should be doing, and that is not the case at all. We like to say that we provide a ministry of presence.

So we come in with that calm, loving, non judgmental attitude of just what are your needs and where are you at? And then we meet you there. Okay, I totally have a thought running here. I'll I'll interject my own personal story for a minute. I had a two and a half pound baby 25 years ago, delivered in East Idaho.

And by emergency C-section, we had to fly to, Salt Lake within about 18 hours. So here I am, this, you know, brand new mother. I've got my stomach cut open, and I'm trying to walk as fast as I can behind my daughter's, little bed as they're taking her in. And by the time I get into the room, they've already pulled all of her IV lines and everything, and she's surrounded by, like, 7 or 8 medical professionals, and alarms are going off, and I'm just standing there like I'm alone.

I. And no one's with me. And all of a sudden, someone puts their arm around me and slides a chair underneath me and sits me down, and she just starts walking me through what's happening. That's the you in the situation that is us. That is us. And we do serve at the hospitals. So when there's situation and we come in and just provide that peace and that comfort and that communication so they know what's going on.

And is the helicopter here yet and when is my child flying out? We do all of those kinds of things. That's right. Oh from own personal. Yeah. Yeah. You are angels on earth because I needed that so badly. I've never had one. But how many are there in East or not? And how many of there are you? Like?

Right now, as it sits, we have 21 chaplains. Okay. So and we cover all of eastern Idaho. So, and on on an aspect of I want to touch a little bit of what Ashley said. So before the chaplains, the police officers, I'll give you a little bit of an example. I, our first call actually was together.

We just finished our last day of training at about 7:00, and I'll call. Came in for a suicide. The wife and the daughter had gone to a concert, and. And the husband had shot himself in his work truck in the driveway. We, got dispatched to. It was our very first call as chaplains. And we went together.

We got to the home and if we weren't there, then the police officers would sit at that home and make sure that family was taken care of. As all that process that people don't really realize happens is happening to this family. Well, because they were able to call the chaplains, we were able to sit on the kitchen floor with this wife and this daughter who just went through this horrible trauma, and we probably sat with them for two and a half, three hours, and the police officers were able to to leave, do their job and leave and go on to another call.

And we were able to give that wife comfort and help her with the funeral home when they came in, help her with decisions that she didn't, didn't need to make at that moment. And, and just sit with them and sometimes it was an hour of silence, but we just sat on the kitchen floor with her and and it is such a blessing to be able to do that for those for those, to be on the, the receiving side of giving.

Right. So suicide. I didn't even think about that until she brought that up. And I know there's been a lot of that lately. I mean, I personally know someone last week that that happened, and that was super tragic. There is more in our community than our community even knows about. Of course it's not broadcasted. We also do death notification for with law enforcement.

We go with them to do the death notifications, in our community, which can be hard, but also rewarding to be able to sit with someone who just got that tragic news and to be there for them with any questions. And sometimes it's just silence. But at the end when we leave, we going to leave them with resources that will help them.

We do follow up calls, to make sure they're doing okay after after time has settled and and it's, you know, they're not in so much shock. We have chaplains. You do follow up calls to make sure that they're healing in the right way. They have the resources they need to heal. So our our job doesn't just end there.

So. So is this a. Yeah. It's so fascinating. Is this a full time job or do you. It's all volunteer. So we volunteer all of our hours. None of us get paid to do this. It's a 100% volunteer time. Sometimes it depends on what I'm doing, but I. I've put in a lot of hours a week. Me.

Yeah, sometimes 25, 30 hours a week. Sometimes only five hours a week. It's it really goes in waves. But it's 100% all volunteer time. Well, I could use more. Yeah, we can always use our tears call to have all the volunteers. If this speaks to you, like, get Ahold of them. What does a training process look like?

So, so there's a there's an intake process, right? This isn't for everybody and everybody that wants to do this. Obviously they have a loving heart. They have a willing heart. But we are walking into trauma. So there's kind of a vetting process that you go through interviews. References, those kinds of things. Then there's, training that is hours and hours long.

And so you come for about eight weeks, four hours, twice a week, I think it is. And then, of course, you you do need some sort of ecclesiastical endorsement while we come in with no religion, no judgment, no anything. We do want to know that you have a foundation, a spiritual foundation that's going to help you through these traumas, right?

Because there is some transference. We're going into really hard, really sad situations, and we're human and we empathize. We have very loving heart. So there is a little of that vetting process. You finish your training and then you start your field work, which is where, a new chaplain will go out with one of us who or some of our senior chaplains and go on to these scenes and experience these things and be a part of that recovery process for people.

And then once you've gotten enough hours and done enough of that, then you graduate and you are a chaplain. Chaplain, like a forlorn chaplain. So this is phenomenal. It goes on. No, we figured that that it's probably safer to be in numbers two by two. And remember, like, generally we when we're starting out on a scene, we are either with someone from the fire department or the police department.

So we have that kind of back up first, and then they'll look at us and say, are you good or do you want me to stay? And there have been several times that I've said, oh no, we're good, we're solid. Go on. And there have been a couple of times when I've said this is still pretty emotional. We've got family coming that hasn't arrived yet.

There's some anger involved. Right. And so we'll ask our officers to stay. But we are always in twos as chaplains and we always check in with each other. We have certain things that we will say or do that let us know, hey, we're good. We also have a dispatch chaplain that kind of watches over things, and we text them periodically to let them know what's going on.

So there is a lot of of just checks and balances to make sure we are safe and, and that the situation is safe. Yeah. I can't imagine how helpful I'm going to share another personal experience. So when I was 26, my dad died in a car accident and he was alone in the truck, died on scene. So they naturally just looked up the address on his driver's license and sent somebody.

I happened to be at my parent's home. Usually there would have been nobody there. I happened to be there. My mom was at work, and the police officer was alone, told me on the doorstep, and then turned around and left. I mean, that was that was 25 years ago. So I was actually pregnant with the baby that I ended up getting the help and in the hospital with.

And, that would have been just I look back at that and it would have been amazing to have had this opportunity that he could have called somebody. So I wasn't there by myself trying to manage, because one of my biggest regrets was how I told my mom how I called her and told her. And if you weren't, if you had been there, we probably wouldn't have done it that way.

Right? So that is also one thing that we help with. If there is a situation like that or, or even if they do have somebody, we offer to call their workplace for them, we can call schools for them. We really give anything we can to lessen the responsibilities that you have in that moment. And so that is part of our calling people call it a job.

It's not a job. We don't get paid. For me, in the last two years it has been a calling. I was most definitely called to have this in my life and to help people through, through these, traumas in crisis. So we do anything we can. We'll make any phone call to family members, will for the most part, our community has a really good base of family and support.

But there are the ones who don't. And it is it is such an honor to be able to be that support, to make those phone calls for them, to help them, notify anybody that needs notified in that moment because that's just one, one thing thing that they, they don't want to do is have having to make that phone call and not having even the time to process it themselves.

Right. Grief. It's social grief. Well and and we what we try to do is minimize the trauma. Right. You experienced the trauma and you were alone. And then we ended up, you know, having a baby early, that's a traumatic experience. So our job really is to lessen the trauma to help you process. And a lot of times there are children involved, right.

And so, mom and dad will have their things and then the children will have theirs. And that's why going out in twos is great, because one of us is going to be with the kids, and one of us is going to be with the parents. And we're we also work with the humanitarian center, the Idaho Falls Area Humanitarian Center.

So we're able to bring in and all kinds of groups, really. But, toys and activities for the children because are emotions. They just don't even know what to do with it. Right. Blankets and quilts and just so many resources that can help kind of bring that trauma response down so that things like an early labor, maybe we can help soften that or eliminate that by just having that support.

It's amazing how much if we just have someone there with us, how much better we can manage trauma. Do you have a brick and mortar bank building here in town where people can drop off? Do you accept donations? That is a great question. Yeah. So we we do accept donations. That is the only way our organization runs is through donations.

We are not able right now to get any grants or any government help as far as funding goes. So when we do put, if someone's home does burn down and they're not able to stay there, when we provide that hotel room, it all comes out of our funds that we raise ourselves 100%. So we do fundraising.

We, we are trying to get a program set up where you can do a monthly donation and you can do that now, it's not as easy, but, you know, there's nice things out there like PayPal and Venmo and like a subscription. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're working on a subscription type, process. But right now it's just it's just fundraising.

We, we, we started last year with our snowflake ball and it was a hit and it was awesome. It was just such a fun, fun night to go and and do an auction and then people can donate there as well. That's our biggest fundraiser that we have right now. Which we have one coming up on December 14th.

Tickets are $45. You can go on our Facebook page and buy tickets on there. Unfortunately, our Venmo is broken right now, which is not great timing, but we do have a ticket website where you can go and buy tickets. We will have dinner. So the $45 includes dinner. We have a live band that's going to be doing Christmas music.

We'll have a little dance floor, and then we'll have a live auction, a silent auction, and a dessert auction. So it it's really our way to raise the money that we need for the year, to be able to to help these people have a place to stay through, through a trauma or if they're. We do have a lot of people that we actually go to the hospital with that are, that are out of town that they were visiting Yellowstone or, Island Park.

And when they're in an accident and they come to the hospital where we use our funds to put their family members in a hotel, to let them be close to their family that just got injured or, and and yeah, that all comes out of our funds. What's great about this is yes, you're giving back to the community. And and we use these funds also for first responders who are dealing with some PTSD.

And we know they deal with it more often. We help their families as well. But what's cool about this for you personally, is you get to dress up and you get to feel beautiful and you get to share something special with your spouse or your family or your friends that you just you get to feel beautiful and feel good on the outside, but also on the inside, because it really is serving such a great cause.

And and we provide such a lovely evening to really be able to feel feel beautiful. Yeah. Come be festive. Yeah. Give us the details on that gown. Don. Your gown. Snowflake ball. So it's Saturday, December 14th at 6 p.m.. Single ticket, 45. Right. And, do you still have tables? We do. Okay. So you can get a whole table for 345 tax write off.

People write invites or donations or whatever, and come and be part of it. That be so great? You have an address on there? 525 River Parkway. What? What hotel room is that? What is that all the West bank? Yes, it is at the West Bank. Okay. Awesome. And Elise touched on it. Another side of being a chaplain that, people don't realize that we do, we do have privilege communication.

When? After you've done a year of being a community chaplain, you go through a whole nother training to become a law enforcement fire chaplain. And, and there we have privilege communication. So if there is an officer who went on a really hard call and they need someone to talk to you, but as men, it's hard to talk to your fellow officers and and let your guard down.

They can come to us as chaplains and tell us anything they want, whatever they're feeling, if they're having suicidal thoughts. We as chaplains have places we work with in Texas and Utah, and we're able to send them to get the help that they need without having to say anything to anyone. And and we get to save their job for when they come back after they've gotten the help they need.

And so that is another side of being a chaplain that's so amazing is these people who are out protecting our family members, our community. Sometimes they need help, sometimes they need someone to talk to you. And that's what we also provide for them. Right. This is my mind is open to a whole new layer. You know, having worked with heroes defense first responders for several years and their fundraisers, this is just such an a nice element to like an extra that the part that wasn't being recognized.

Yeah. Yeah. Because it's so important that those law enforcement officials do the hard work for us. I mean, they're doing something I don't want to do, and I'm so grateful for it. And but that leaves a vacancy that needs to be fulfilled by you guys. And, what a blessing that you're there. Okay, of the quirkiest question, can you marry people?

Yes, yes, we can. So it depends on it depends on no plans, no parties to get married. But yes. So please, no one ask me to officiate your wedding. So. Yeah. So we can we can actually, conduct funerals and weddings, and, and, do all kinds of what an interesting little side part to that. Just that it is.

Yeah, yeah. So I ever want to get married for free. I've got me. We've got all these. Yeah, yeah. Get me. Come and still hold your flowers for you or. Or my veil. I'll walk down the aisle with you. Yeah. I don't, I'll do well, I. I need someone to walk me down the aisle and I'll be like my boys, probably.

Yeah. There you go. There you go. All right. We're about up with time. What? Do. Any parting thoughts? Is there anything that we didn't cover that you women would like to address? I think the most important thing is that if you can't come to the gala and you can't do all of these things, if you'll send us some good vibes.

Right. And if you have a situation that you're in a crisis, if you have police officers or firefighters on scene, ask for chaplains. They will call us and we will come. Yeah. Is there a face like a Facebook page, a website, something? Yeah. So we have, the Chaplains of Idaho Facebook page, and then our website is, WW dot Chaplains of idaho.com.

There's resources on our website. There's an application if you are feeling called to be a chaplain, you can go online and fill out the application on our website. There's an opportunity to give on our website. And just lots of information that you would ever need, anything you would ever need on our website. So, we try to keep our Facebook page up to date of what's going on and share all of the community resources and what we're doing.

So, yeah, I, I just was impressed by something else too. They said so could someone just call you if they're I know you're not a suicide hotline, but maybe you guys would be someone more approachable for for someone in need, like a female. Yeah. So, suicide hits very close and dear to my heart. And, without going too long into this, we have a need for awareness in in our community about suicide.

I feel that way. That's why I brought it up. It just came like, I'm like, I have, five kids. 2019, 18, 17 and 16, a girl and four boys. And suicide has affected my boys each probably three times three each of their friends. This this year, has affected them. And it's in me in ways as well.

You know, I've lost friends to suicide. There is not enough awareness and enough people talking about it in our community. So we try to go out on all of the suicides. We go out and sit with the families, we check up on the families. There was a teenager who committed suicide in our community. And I went and sat with their whole group of friends.

And when I first got there, they were really closed off. Really sad, really shut down. They all knew one of my sons that went to school with them by the end of of us just sitting in a room together and getting those kids to open up and talk about this friend that that not only affected their lives in such a hard way that day, but also, it, sorry, affected their lives in such a good way to to get them to talk about this friend in such a positive way.

By the end, they were all remembering him in such a good way and and talking about it. Yeah, they were celebrating him and talking about him, which which in the moment is hard to do for people and and it I believe it allowed them to heal just in that room, you know, so, so much quicker than just sitting in silence about it.

And so yes, they can call us any time if, if they need us to go talk to their children, if they need us, if they just need somebody to talk to, that is they that will keep it a secret, that will, you know, that they can just open up to that. An outsider. We are so happy to serve in any aspect that way that that we can help anybody in our community.

I love that. I'm glad that you asked because I think, you know, my situation of having a two and a half pounder, that doesn't happen to very many people or but it's it's like cancer and suicide. That's a direct connection to just about every person you meet. You never. Yeah. You never think it's going to happen until it does.

Right? Or I never had suicidal thoughts until I had one. You know, like you don't know when they're going to show up. Right. And there's not a lot of outlets, a lot of help in our community either. For these teenagers, for these kids to talk to, and, and reach out to you. So we we are there for anybody.

And, I also had a 2 pound baby, so, you know. Yep. My first one, a little girl, almost 21 years ago. So that trauma is so real, even 21 years later. And, man, she is a pain in my butt. I love her most days, but she has been a a, yeah, a trauma ever since the day she was born.

For me. I love her, but she has it. Things trigger that things. Even 21 years later, I get triggered by seeing a NICU baby or or, by hearing about other people's experiences, and and that can happen. Those the trauma we go through can be re re triggered by a lot of things that we never thought could happen.

You can always call a chaplain. You can always call us and talk to us. Even a year later, we are still there. For those people who went through that just for a hug. Just if we were there on the day that you went through it, something triggered it. And because we shared that with you, we are still here.

You can call us at any time. Yeah. I was going to say, the advice that I give mamas, now that I see who are going through something similar to what I went through, is be gentle with yourself. You guys are the gentle tool because there's lots of times I wasn't gentle with myself, but having somebody like you there would have helped me be more gentle with myself.

So you're truly filling in that spot that I'm telling people to do to be gentle with themselves. You're you're filling in that spot, which is so needed. Thank you. We we'd like to say that we're the softer side of law enforcement, but we're also the softer side of life in a lot of in a lot of different capacities.

And, and we have talked about some really hard subjects today. So I, I just for your listeners out there, I want them to remember if this has been triggering for them in any way, they can certainly call us. But please reach out to a friend. I always tell everybody, assess yourself, make sure you're not hungry, angry, lonely or tired.

Halt! Right if you are. Stop! Halt! Address those things. Have a meal. Talk to a friend if you're angry. If you're lonely, find someone. Not social media, but go find a real live person. That's why we come in with two arms and hold them. Right? And then tired. If if if that's all it is, take a nap.

So if any of this has been triggering today, please make sure an address your your needs. And if you need us, please give us a call. Yeah. That's what I would say. If you need them, please call like they're amazing ladies. Having just sat here and felt their spirits and now knowing that this is even available, I will definitely share the resource and, you know, encourage all my friends, male and female, if you get depressed, if you're down and out, call for help.

If you don't call them, call me. Just a call. Thank you so much ladies. We appreciate it. Thank you so much.

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