Books by Gwen Wagstrom Halaas

What would you wish for in retirement? Good health? Financial Stability? A supportive social community? Retiring well is everyone's goal, but accomplishing this end requires planning and effort. Family physician Gwen Halaas recognizes the challenges professional caregivers such as clergy experience as they try to practice good self-care, particularly as they approach the significant changes inherent in retirement.

Clergy are in startlingly bad health. Not only do they regularly report depression, stress, and serious family and financial problems, they also exhibit higher than normal incidences of being overweight, obese or having problem with cholesterol, inactivity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. How effective can professionals in ministry be with such debilities and vulnerabilities? Are clergy too busy helping others to take care of themselves? While Gwen Halaas notes many reasons for the present situation, her caring and savvy book addresses clergy health straight on: clergy have a spiritual as well as physical need to care for themselves, to live to the fullest, to ensure that they enjoy the life and gifts God gave them. Building her short, savvy book around the wellness wheel, Halaas emphasizes not just fat-free food but a whole array of life-affirming choices for clergy. She addresses substance abuse and dependence, but also spirituality; exercise but also personal resiliency; sexual boundaries but also personal fulfillment in relationship. In one short book, Halaas has provided the tools for clergy to choose life, growth, and well-being over stress, burnout, and decline. With this volume, clergy can begin to put their own lives in perspective and "keep yourself in training for a godly life" (1 Tim.).