Toronto — Wycliffe College, an evangelical Anglican seminary at the University of Toronto, is in the second year of a unique research project to explore and understand the stress and satisfaction of ministry life.
The Wycliffe Wellness Project launched in July of 2014 and continues to seek new participants for the study.
The project is a long-term study and assessment tool aimed at better understanding the ups and downs of ministry life. The goal is to gain insight into the aspects of ministry life that are particularly stressful and especially satisfying, and how these stressors and satisfiers interact to impact the experience of ministry life.
Wanda Malcolm, clinical psychologist and professor of pastoral psychology at Wycliffe College, heads the study. “It is like a vocational wellness checkup,” she explains.
Participants complete a series of confidential questionnaires and have the option of receiving a personal feedback summary and taking part in a confidential postsurvey conversation that will help both participants and researchers understand the findings. They are asked to participate in check-ups at three-year intervals. “Of course, clergy can withdraw from the study at any time,” says Malcolm. “But we believe they will find it as beneficial as we will in revealing the ups and downs of ministry life.”
“The research should help us better prepare students for ministry life by helping us better understand what creates the most stress and what supports vocational wellness,” says Malcolm. “We will have a much clearer sense of how to best support clergy wellness as a seminary but also as a Church. The individuals who participate will also come to understand their own wellness betterand how they can care for themselves, and in turn be more available to their families and the people they minister to in ways that are emotionally and spiritually healthy.”
Interested participants can visit www.wycliffewellnessproject.com for more information.
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For more information and interviews contact:
Wanda Malcolm
Email: wanda.malcolm@wycliffe.utoronto.ca
Phone: 416-946-3535 ext.2557
Website: www.wycliffewellnessproject.com