History

Built upon decades of experience in more than sixty disaster and crisis responses, Crisis Care Ministries provides consultation, training, resources, and operational collaborating in disaster and crisis preparedness and response, particularly related to emotional and spiritual care.

In 2018, the Board of Ordained Ministry of the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church requested that Rev. Mary Gaudreau Hughes create a unique and innovative home for disaster and crisis emotional and spiritual care initiatives that had been thriving since 1995. As a result, Crisis Care Ministries, LLC was born.

Find out more about Crisis Care Ministries' staff below.

Crisis Care Ministries Staff

Rev. Mary Gaudreau Hughes

Executive Director

Rev. Mary Gaudreau Hughes is an ordained United Methodist deacon, licensed professional counselor, and nationally known disaster response specialist with 25 years’ experience in disaster emotional and spiritual care. Mary is a key leader in developing curricula, resources, and national standards for disaster spiritual care and has provided training, consultation, and technical guidance across the United States.

Hughes, a native of Oklahoma, first entered into disaster response work following the 1995 Oklahoma City Murrah Building bombing. Her extensive field experience ranges from low-attention incidents to high profile disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the Sandy Hook school shootings plus numerous hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, and earthquakes.

While working as a national consultant with the United Methodist Committee on Relief, she worked in more than two dozen states, provided training, consultation, technical guidance, and establishing credentialed disaster emotional and spiritual care teams. She also created and managed a five-year pilot program based upon the National VOAD Disaster Spiritual Guidelines through the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, developing a team of more than 175 credentialed disaster spiritual care providers. Hughes also co-directed Project Resilient Spirit alongside SRT, Inc. (home of the Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps’ Stress Response Team.) Project Resilient Spirit’s primary goal was to enhance the emotional and spiritual resilience of rural Oklahomans impacted by the historic 2017 and 2018 Oklahoma wildfires.

Hughes currently serves on the executive committee of the National VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) Emotional and Spiritual Care Committee and is chair of the Oklahoma VOAD Emotional and Spiritual Care Committee. She is also a regional team leader for the Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corp’s Stress Response Team. Her secondary clergy appointment with the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference is to St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City and Edmond.

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Lauren Norcom

Program Assistant

Contact Staff

Lauren Norcom graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Oklahoma State University

Lauren assists Crisis Care Ministries with media management, grant reporting, program development, and general administrative responsibilities for Project Resilient Hope.

Outside of Crisis Care Ministries, Lauren works in agency training, volunteer and response team coordination, conference and event planning, and grant monitoring and evaluation.

Supervisory Board

Crisis Care Ministries serves as an appointable Extension Ministry within the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church. The Supervisor Board for Crisis Care Ministries includes:

Dr. Victor McCullough, District Superintendent, Heartland District of the Oklahoma United Methodist Church
Dr. Bob Long, Senior Pastor, St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Oklahoma City
Rev. Wendy Lambert, Senior Executive Pastor, St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Oklahoma City
Rev. Phil Greenwald, Executive Pastor of Administration, St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Oklahoma City
Rev. Josh Attaway, Edmond Campus Pastor, St. Luke's United Methodist Church, Oklahoma City