I am glad you asked! Formally, I do 3 things:
1) Religious support
- ensure 1st Amendment rights of free exercise of religion (for those that have a religion)
- provide direct religion support (i.e. lead Protestant worship, provide Christian Baptism and Communion, Christian teaching, etc.)
- provide for direct religion support by other means (such as finding resources to help someone practice their religion). This means if I can't do it myself, then it is up to me to find someone who can. Leading a non-Protestant worship service is probably the best example. In that case, I would reach out to bring in a leader within that tradition to lead that service (such as a Catholic or Muslim service).
- Chaplains and our Religious Affairs Airmen (use to be called "Chaplain Assistants") are the only one in all of Department of Defense that has a no-kidding, rock solid 100% confidential agreement with whomever we counseling. The "privilege communication" belongs to the person sharing not me. This is a very powerful thing on many levels.
- I am not a professionally credentialed counselor, but what I have been trained on is crisis intervention that is the first step of many. After my initial session with an Airmen, I will make sure they have the long term follow up care they need.
- I am an Officer so that means I have access to all Commanders to be able to tell them trends I am hearing (paying attention to maintaining 100% confidentiality). And yes, I have told a Commander or two what I thought based on what I am hearing. I have yet to have a Commander not listen to me and appreciate my perspective.
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