An invited keynote to the St Vincent de Paul Society Conference 2022 on emerging from the Pandemic and tasks for the Church and associated organisations

1. Emerging from a Pandemic…
Jim McManus, CPsychol, FBPsS, CSci, Chartered FCIPD, FPH, FRSB, FISSR
Executive Director of Public Health, Hertfordshire County Council
President, UK Association of Directors of Public Health
Jim.mcmanus@hertfordshire.gov.uk
St Vincent de Paul Society Conference, 5th August 2022

2. The next two
years?
• Microbial uncertainty – viral volatility
• Living with Covid
• Social Un-safety
• A false choice between “woke supremacy”
on one hand and aggressive populism
harnessing religion as a tool for culture war
on the other
• Economic challenges
• An atmosphere of vulnerability, threat and
uncertainty
• Long Covid impacts - enduring for some
• Readjustment

3. What can
we be
certain of?
Covid isn’t going away anytime soon – we have to
manage it as best we can
There will be misinformation, failure of policy and
misuse of science for ideology
There will be another pandemic, of what nobody is
sure. And global emerging diseases are accelerating
Inequalities started before Covid will persist
It’s a time for Mission!

4. From
Grief to
Grievance
How did we go from
clapping the NHS in the
first wave of the
pandemic to slashing the
tyres of vaccine nurses in
the third?

5. Undoubted Impacts
• La Pandémie…a surprisé,
desorienté et desorganisé dans
toutes leurs structures tous les
pays du monde” (Larchet, 2022)
• shattered assumptions
• Shattered reality
• Psychological
Petite théologie pour les temps de pandémie (editions-
syrtes.com)

6. As if that isn’t enough..
“Ive become acutely award that religion sits
at a volatile juncture of politically
progressive hostility…and the attempt of
the political right to weaponize religion as a
demographical powerhouse”
Michael F Bird
Religious Freedom in a Secular Age |
Zondervan Academic
How do we navigate through?

7. “We all have
mental health”
• About 1 in 4 have a current mental health difficulty
• Lifetime risk approx. 3/4
• Risk and protective factors determine our positions on the spectrum during our lives
• A lot of us went from coping to struggling and
unwell because of the massive disruption in the
last two and a half years. This spectrum model
from the Centre for Mental Health is extremely
good
Reproduced by permission of the Centre for Mental Health

8. Stop blaming
the pandemic
as the root of
all evil – that’s
ideological,
not evidential
• Mental health need was rising before the pandemic,
it has accelerated
• Suicides have not risen – the main risk for suicides
is economic difficulties we are now entering
• inequalities that existed before Covid worsened
during it
• Obesity was rising, it has accelerated
• Social divisiveness was increasing due to cultural and
political factors
• The Americanisation of Catholic culture wars
• THE NHS
• waiting list was 4.4m in December 2019, it grew
worse during the pandemic but was already a
record
• NHS Vacancies were running at 100,000 before
Covid
• Public Health had been cut by 25% before Covid

9. History
repeats itself,
so should
recovery : Big
Tasks for us
• Deal with reality
• Deny misinformation oxygen
• Promote Hope
• Promote Psychological Safety
• Promote Pro-Social Behaviour
• Promote Resilience
• Dealing with physical and economic health
challenges
• Build back fairer

10. 7 Tools the
Church has
for Recovery
Discerning God in
circumstance and
change
Social Ministry,
Social Teaching
The Saints
Liturgy and
sacramental
theology
(Reconciliation;
Grace)
The Psalms
Trust and
Perseverance
Theological tools
for resilience
Lament Solidarity Care for Others Lament

11. Important
presuppositions
(Important work to do but beyond the
room available for this piece of work)
The whole basis for doing this at all is theological –
commitment to the health of Gods people is a
participation in the Mission of Christ
Faith in the public square
The grounding of response to trauma must be
theologically wrought, no space for that here but
important
Engagement – not uncritical – between scientific
psychology, social sciences, social epidemiology and
pastoral theology vital.

12. A Public Health Approach to mission in recovery
The art and science of the
organised efforts of society
to protect and improve the
health of the population
Faith is inherently social and
affirms our social identity. A
healthy society is therefore
an inherently pastoral and
theological priority
In theological context “the
art and science of the
organised efforts of faith
communities to improve and
protect the flourishing of
God’s people.”

13. We should
be trauma
informed
because of
the
impacts

14. The Trauma Briefing
• An attempt to provide a simple framework and
resources for church organisations and parishes
• Help the Church respond to trauma as part of
mission post the pandemic
• Distill psychological science for practice
• Setting trauma in the context of mission and
leadership – it happens
• Part of a series – mission is next then a paper on
Leadership itself
• Download and watch video at
https://www.cbcew.org.uk/resilience-trauma-and-
pastoral-recovery/
www.faithaction.net www.gohealth.org.uk

15. Five
Leadership
Tasks for a
Trauma-Ready
Organisation
1. Prepare for and seek to Prevent and Minimise trauma in your people
and organizations
• Get someone to lead
• Train new “trauma aware” leaders
• Spot the signs, and have a plan to refer on and support
• Do whatever you can to build a positive and authentic psychosocial
workplace
• Do some training/learning for yourself (the briefing)
• Understand different types of impact,
• Burnout, stress, Post Traumatic Stress, Moral Injury
2. Acknowledge the reality and multiple dimensions of trauma in your
organisation and workforce
• Burnout, stress, post-traumatic stress, reliving previous trauma, moral
injury, compassion fatigue
• Help people find meaning amid chaos
3. Ensure you do this for yourself too, your trauma can harm your
leadership and harm others
• Turning down from pandemic to normal pace is traumatising some
public health and NHS teams
4. Do no harm – do not re-traumatise
5. Identify where the “social cure” exists in your teams and organisations

16. The Tasks of Leaders on psychosocial wellbeing
Derek Mowbray
• Creating and maintaining a
positive, trusting and authentic
psychosocial environment
• www.mas.org.uk
Rule of St Benedict
• Let everything be
so arranged that
the weak have
nothing to run
from, while the
strong have
something to aim
for

17. Impact: If this is
reality, I want a
different one
Collective Major Trauma, Syndemic
Impacts.
Ongoing uncertainty
disintegration, struggles, hardships
Individual and Group differences :
different folks, different responses
1

18. Response
Self-care is the foundation of good
pastoral care for ministry
Identify protective factors and promote
them (group identity, shared healing)
Identify vulnerability factor and address
them (grief, grievance, debt, exclusion)
Avoid further harm or re-traumatising
people from dangerous practice
2

19. Theological
Core
Action by the people of God must be grounded
in prayer, worship and encounter with God
That means reflective dialogue including with
evidence and practice
Discernment, prayer
The Church and our activities as “Social Cure” –
building flourishing
3

20. Pillars for
Leadership
Care for Self as part of care for others – Kenotic
leadership requires this – Apostolicam Actuositatem
Rediscover the Purpose – Gaudium et Spes, Lumen
Gentium, Apostolicam Actuositatem
Use all the talents – build up all the vulnerabilities,
make the Church safe – Fratelli Tutti
Articulate Hope – Spe Salvi
Liturgy, Spirituality, Worship – Desiderio Desideravi
Listen, Dialogue - Ecclesiam Suam
4

21. Thank You!
Jim.mcmanus@hertfordshire.gov.uk
President@adph.org.uk
www.adph.org.uk
#DPH175