A Brief History of this Case
In order to be of some help to Mr. Pepper to aid Dorion Bible Camp in their stated mission to make every possible effort to have Richard return to work, it was important to glean information from differing available sources, and to make an attempt to answer questions of the past, present and future, such as, "How did this situation come about?" or "What were the circumstances surrounding the history and what was the background of this story?" In regard to the present, "What changes is Dorion Bible Camp making to prevent this series of events from reoccurring?" In regard to the future, "What kind of an environment would Mr. Pepper likely be walking into when he returns in January, 2004 or May, 2004 or some time in between?"
To answer these questions a meeting was held with the Chairman of the Board ... and a Board member ... on August 5, 2003. A series of meetings were also held with the individuals of the administrative team of Dorion Bible Camp ..., all in October, 2003. In addition, a group meeting was held with the administrative team of Dorion Bible Camp in November, 2003. A meeting was also held with Richard Pepper and CW on October 28, 2003, and with Richard Pepper and KA on October 30, 2003. [Note that these last 2 were considered goal-setting mtgs; it was not expected that we would actually tackle the issues at that time. Each was only maybe 60 min. long.]
My concern for Mr. Pepper's account in all of this was, of course, paramount, and this was clearly reflected in weekly sessions with him in which we perceived his own role in the account. We rehearsed different ways of responding at the cognitive, emotional and behavioral levels.
The Story
Upon gleaning as much information as possible in the time provided and after listening to individuals separately, in groups of two, in groups of four and the like, an account emerged which described what took place. Conclusions and recommendations follow.
It became clear that the events, action and reactions that led up to his leave did not merely begin in January, 2003 with Mr. Pepper's request that the Dorion Camp Registrar duties be deleted from his role at Camp. What began to precipitate at that point was long in coming and it would appear that if it had not been Mr. Pepper's request regarding the duties of Registrar, it could very well have been one of any number of issues that would have set a similar chain of events in motion.