SEQUIM — Sequim Police Department Chaplain Heike Ward offers support and understanding in times of suffering for both police officers and members of the public.
“It is really rewarding because it is a ministry of compassion and I think we have too little of that,” she said.
Ward, 53, of Sequim, is an ordained minister with the Christian Universalist Association and was commissioned as a chaplain Nov. 8 by the Federation of Christian Ministries following the successful completion of the Police & Fire Chaplain’s Training Academy in Burien.
She graduated from the academy in May after completing 44 hours of classroom training, 12 hours of direct contact experience and 3 hours of seminar training.
Ward now volunteers about 20 hours a weeks at the Sequim Police Department, she said. She has volunteered for the department for the last two years.
“Most small departments don’t have the funds to pay chaplains, so my time is volunteer,” she said.
As chaplain, her primary role is to provide support services and care to law enforcement officers and their families, and crime victims and their family members.
When Ward is called by the department, it is as a “first responder and [as] crisis support,” she said.
While she is a Christian pastor, in her role as chaplain she serves people of all faiths, agnostics and atheists.
“As a chaplain, I meet people where they are at with whatever they have, and I see them through a crisis,” she said.
“I administer to people with faith, at their level, or to people without faith.
“It is about being supportive throughout a crisis when people are at their most wounded and hurting and just giving them a glimmer of hope,” she said.
Ward was born to an atheist family in Schweinfurt, Bavaria, Germany, and has been an American citizen since 1991.
She married her husband, Rick, 33 years ago when he was serving as a military police officer in Germany.
The couple has one son, Nick, 25, who is a police officer in Anchorage, Alaska.
Ward moved to the United States with her family in 1994, and to the Sequim area about 15 years ago, she said.
Her husband is a State Patrol trooper who provides training to other troopers throughout the state.
Ward managed a psychiatric practice when she first moved to Sequim, but was forced to retire for medical reasons in 2004.
She said she has more had than 100 hours of specialized training, including addiction counseling and wellness at Peninsula College.
Other areas of specialized training include individual and group crisis intervention and peer support, classes in incident command systems, disaster behavioral health, spirituality in healthcare and suicide prevention.
Ward currently serves about 19 officers, six reserve officers, volunteers and administrative staff, she said.
“Anyone with the department that would like to get any kind of support from me, I will be there,” she said.
Ward’s services are critical in the wake of traumatizing events such as officer-involved shootings, she said.
She is also able to provide additional support to those who need help when officers must leave to answer other calls, she said.
“They have to go to the next call when maybe they would like to [stay] and make sure this person is going to be OK,” she said.
“This is where I fit in. This is where I can support an officer and the citizen at the same time, because what I can do is be there to provide comfort to make sure they understand the process of what’s next — to not leave the person alone.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
