Debriefing: A Healthy Rhythm for Cross-Cultural Workers
A snack, a dessert at a special restaurant, or a seven-course meal are all ways to consume food, but they have varying purposes. Similarly, debriefing comes in different sizes and varieties; each one having an important purpose and potential impact. But before we explore these various types of debriefing, let’s look at the “why” behind debriefing.
The Purpose of Debriefing
Debriefing is the routine process of telling one’s story in a safe space. It is an opportunity to reflect on the joys, the losses, and the impact of ministry (or life events) on one’s heart, soul, mind, and body. It may be the catalyst for the adoption of soul-care practices into one’s life. It can be a time of evaluation. It can be messy. It is like dumping out your backpack at the end of a trip and sorting through the pile of items. Important items like money and passports get saved and put in safe places. Ticket stubs and photographs get stored away as mementos. Candy bar wrappers and empty trail mix bags get tossed in the trash. Debriefing helps us take a look at our experiences and make some sense of where we have been and where we want to go.
Daily and Weekly Check-ins
Let’s look at “snack-sized debriefing.” Regular daily or weekly debriefing is like grabbing a healthy snack! Perhaps it looks like a nightly dinner discussion around the highs and lows of the day.
It could be as simple as having a little yay duck and yuck duck that sit near your salt and pepper shakers in the middle of the table reminding you to reflect on the day and process the impact of the day’s events.
This regular check-in with one’s own heart, as well as those in your family unit or team unit, allows for the daily paradoxes of life to be processed and laid before God. This snack-sized debriefing is highly valuable for children. What a gift to model, provide, and encourage children to bring their cares, concerns, joys, and griefs before the God who loves them.
Debriefing on Home Assignment
Debriefing at MTI would be more analogous to a dessert at a special restaurant. It is an organized time with trained debriefers done on a yearly basis or during home assignments. This type of debriefing requires more planning and involvement, but it allows for a deeper dive into one’s story. It is necessary to process through one’s experiences, whether as a single, a couple, or a family unit. While we do provide time and space for private reflection, we also encourage participation within a broader group of cross-cultural workers. For the cross-cultural worker, there are endless oddities about life that are fairly common among cross-cultural workers around the globe. It can be refreshing and comforting to share your experiences with others who understand what you have been through.
Long-Term Debriefing
The seven-course-meal of debriefing may be a longer organized program, a sabbatical, or extended time of intentional rest. Rather than a moment or event, this is a season of debriefing. This level of debriefing may be necessary when there have been considerable life changes or events - especially when these events have been imposed rather than chosen. A season of debriefing may also be necessary when trauma has occurred. This seven-course meal of debriefing provides an intentional pause which creates the space needed to unpack, notch down, and process at a slower pace.
Creating a Rhythm of Debriefing
Whether it is a daily or weekly snack, a dessert enjoyed at a special restaurant, or an elaborate and rich seven-course meal – sustenance is needed just as consistent debriefing is needed. Debriefing creates space for health and healing. Debriefing is a beautiful and messy process in which the weaving of God’s grace, mercy, and love can be seen and celebrated.
Which meal do you need right now - a snack, dessert, or a seven-course meal?