Written By Sandra Skinner-Young Categorised in: Video Blogs by Sandra

The Obadiah Company: developing healthy support people

Transcript:
Have you ever poured yourself out just to have it blow up in your face?
I think most of us have at some time. We at A.C.A.C.I.A. are excited because one of the branches of our ministry called the Obadiah Company is now being formed. You have no idea how many calls I have from severely traumatized people sometimes screaming, many times crying. But essentially saying, doesn’t anybody understand? Isn’t there anybody out there who can support me? I’m all alone.

“Isn’t there anybody out there who can support me? I’m all alone.”

I can’t do this by myself. And all I can do is commiserate a bit, maybe pray with them because that’s not my role. We need support people. Not just a support person but someone qualified, someone who understands a broken person’s way of living. We need to understand what dissociation is, if they’re dissociated.
I would imagine a lot of you have a family member, friends, coworker with whom it’s very difficult to have a relationship. They’re this way one day and that another, sometimes act very strange. But you want desperately to have a good relationship with them, to help them. Well, the Obadiah Company is your cup of tea because we are going to train people so that they can be effectively, understanding support people. And at the same time be safe themselves to learn how to protect themselves from being devastated. You know, if you have poured yourself out and then things blow up in your face.
We’ve identified there are five areas that would really be beneficial for these people who are passionate about helping a traumatized person in their healing journey. God has designed them with the beautiful gifts of mercy and giving. They want to help but sometimes they just hurt because they don’t know how. Sometimes they’re wounded themselves. And so we know that the first step in training is to help people understand am I wounded too? We don’t function well if we’re wounded healers ’cause we usually hurt. And our purpose is not to hurt but to heal. So that’s the first step.
The second step is really to educate the Obadiah Company, those passionate people who want to support about dissociation. Teach them about the body, how it functions, how the brain
functions. How does trauma happen to begin with? What is a coping skill? What’s a trigger? All these languages that these people use. We need to be educated.
We also need to learn, thirdly, what are the do’s and don’ts when we are working with someone who is not trusting anybody, even themselves. Who is hypersensitive to every single thing you seem to say. Who may be addicted. Who is unhealthy because they can’t sleep or they have all these body memories that are coming up. You need to understand that. So that education would be provided.
Also, you as a supporter need support. You know, to be a good supporter you have to be able to pour out without any expectation of anything in return. You can’t act like you’re disappointed or whatever. And yes, the Lord says we’re supposed to give, right? We’re supposed to function on His kingdom. And it is more blessed to give than to receive. So there is a blessing in that giving. A great satisfaction when you see human beings becoming whole again and taking back their lives, having strength in their person.

“A great satisfaction when you see human beings becoming whole again and taking back their lives, having strength in their person.”

If a person is not healed, they may not have good boundaries. And usually traumatized people don’t have good boundaries. So we have to learn how to establish healthy boundaries and for protection for ourselves, as well as model that for the people we’re supporting and helping. And that also builds trust. We also want to support the people who are the supporters by continuing education as they might find a problem in the relationship they’re having with the person they’re supporting. Well, we would discuss that. And I’m sure others in the group would have the same problem, or at least will have.
So it would be beneficial to everybody in the group. We also need to provide good policies and procedures so that people can be, you know, dependable, I guess, is a good word. Dependable to offer the kind of high quality, confidentiality, and ethical behavior that is required to do this work well, And to truly represent Jesus Christ whom we are His hands and feet for. Right? They eyes of compassion.
So I have a hope that very soon we’ll be able to even have webinars. So that we can reach people around the globe. There are so many people who care for so many people and they don’t have the tools. They’re not equipped to know how to help. It may be your own family member. It may be yourself. You may need the support. So we would love to hear from you. You can go to our website Contact ACACIA and send us an email and tell us your need. Tell us if you are interested in being a support person, an Obadiah Company member. And I just bless you with asking Holy Spirit, is this my call? Because it takes special people to give and give and give. But you know, as we do that the Lord gives right back. So I’m looking forward to hearing from you. And letting you know as soon as we have some products and other events coming up that you can participate in. Thank you for listening and God bless you.