Rev. Maggie Alsup
Rev. Maggie’s office door
Why Soul Shop?
Soul Shop is the organization that I found that holds together the realities of human complexities around the subject of suicide and desperation. It does a great job of weaving together the data, science, intervention tools, and faith around suicide prevention. Participants leave the training more confident, more aware, and energized to join the movement of caring for one another and building a world where no one feels alone and no one loses hope. And for me, as a trainer, that gives me hope that we are on the right track of equipping our saints to carry out this much-needed and necessary work. As a college chaplain, I love that Soul Shop gives me the tools to help students talk openly about their faith and faith traditions-- to explore and find ways that we should be addressing suicide and desperation in our faith. Many students, when they enter a Soul Shop, assume that I am just going to lecture them about the subject of suicide and how it is wrong and how scripture will back that up. But they quickly realize that the training is one that helps engage scripture in a honest way, challenges the social stigma, and works to empower them to change the narrative of the church and suicide. And as long as that narrative is passed along, there is much work to do. And I will do that work until there is no longer a need.
Bear and Soul Shop
Bear, my schnauzer a therapy dog in training and the unofficial mascot for our college campus. He goes everywhere with me, including Soul Shops. He travels with his pillow and blanket to any Soul Shop. He takes on the role of therapy dog for us while in the Soul Shop. He loves to greet participants, beg for fruit snacks (his favorite treat), and check in with people who might need a little love and support throughout the training. I'm sure if he could talk, he would be a great co-leader of the information! Anytime we host a Soul Shop for students, he is there to help ease the anxiety and offer joy and love to students.
If you were advising new trainers, what would you tell them?
Create and build relationships in your community to help find ways that Soul Shop can work throughout your community. It may take some time to set up a training, but every conversation, email, connection can lead to something. Also, the subtle and not-so-subtle ways you market Soul Shop can help bring awareness of the work of Soul Shop to the world. Wear your trainer shirt, post your stickers all over the place, and make social media posts about Soul Shop. Getting the word out and being an advocate for Soul Shop is a great way for your community to get to know Soul Shop, and can lead to trainings and events.
Also, you've got this! That first or second, or even third, training can be a lot. But you have been given the tools and training to lead. Know that you know this stuff and be confident. In time, it will become second nature to you when leading.
If you could be any flavor of ice cream, what would it be and why?
I think I would be lemon pie-flavored ice cream. I know that sounds weird, but it is refreshing and a perfect summer joy. Just enough sweetness, packed with the tartness of lemon.
Where do you see suicidality and desperation in your work as a college chaplain?
When it comes to being a college chaplain, students today are facing loneliness at levels that previous generations of students did not face. They find it hard to create community, to work at building relationships, and rely heavily on social media for community. All of that creates an anxiety and environment for loneliness to thrive. This generation all faces higher rates of depression. And when you add all their personal stressors onto their own generational makeup, it weighs on them. A lot of my daily job is working with students to break out of the system, to build community connections, to care for them and all that they are facing. And being a trainer for Soul Shop has allowed me to break that stigma of how the church has traditionally talked (or not talked) about suicidality and desperation. It is freeing for students when they hear a faith leader talk so openly about suicidality and desperation. Being able to have the honest conversations with students allows them to see that there is another way in the church. That there is healing and power when the church is honest about the desperation of this world.
As a college chaplain, I inherit young adults from various faith systems and many have done a disservice to these young adults. By not talking honestly about life and things like suicidality and desperation, or by claiming it as a sin, or by silencing others when they bring up such things, the church has done harm to these young adults. And so my role as a chaplain is to offer the other way-- to offer a new narrative. My request for church leaders is to be honest, to have the conversations, to being the work of reducing and ending stigma because young people are impacted by it. And how we as a church responds does matter to them. Soul Shop is a great start for churches and faith leaders to begin.
One of the best tools that Soul Shop offers for participants is the CALL method. And let me tell you, that L for listen does wonders for these young people. Often times they bottle everything up, and they might not know who to talk with or what to day. But if you create that space and just listen to them and their story, that does wonders for them and their anxiety and desperation.
Other stuff
Soul Shop has opened many avenues for my job as a college chaplain. I work closely with the Counseling Center to help address students' well-being from a holistic approach. We create programs centered on faith and mental health, like our sabbath scholars program. This program takes meditative, spiritual practices, and mental health resources to talk with students about ways to integrate these aspects of their lives. I have also worked with students to offer events on meditative and spiritual practices to help them during midterm and final exams. My office also hosts Soul Shop for our faculty and students, alongside other trainings like QPR. Helping equip our community and give them the tools to address desperation and suicidality gives me great joy because we are modeling for our students that we care for them and putting that care into action. However you came to Soul Shop and however you use your abilities as a trainer, I hope you are helping to equip more and more folks to do the work. No one has to do everything in our community, but everyone has to do something. So equip, teach, and pass on the knowledge so that we can reshape our communities and, in doing so, reshape the world.
Also, here are all sorts of photos. Bear at Soul Shop (two images). Bear and me teaching together. His official headshot for the college. My office door. My favorite photo from Soul Shop after completing my first training! And a photo of me and two students who run a podcast called Psych'D on campus. They explore mental health and topics in psychology. They recently held a fundraising marathon from the JOSH Project on campus-- this program office that works on mental health training and care of our campus. This was us during our segment. We decorated cookie cakes while talking about the life transition to college and the ways that impact our faith and mental health.