Credentials:
- Ecclesiastical ordination & endorsed chaplaincy certificates
- Fellow & Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress - Diplomate
- Certified in Acute Traumatic Stress Management
- Pastoral and Individual Crisis Intervention Approved Trainer
- Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Trainer & Program Manager
Credentialing entities:
- General Council of the Assemblies of God
- International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
- American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress
- National Center for Crisis Management
Biography:
Chp. Gary Evans is the Executive Director of CALM, Inc. He has been in ministry since 1978, received his ministerial ordination in 1984, and has served in various pastorates and as a pastoral counselor. In 1994, he received ecclesiastical endorsement as an emergency services chaplain.
Mr. Evans has earned Bachelor and Master Degrees and has been awarded a Doctor of Letters for his work over many years in community service. As a chaplain,his crisis management experience has included involvement with various police, fire, and emergency medical services agencies from which he has received numerous decorations. He has also been a Critical Incident Stress Management Team member, trainer, and group debriefer as well as a corporate national chaplain services coordinator.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and the Flight 587 disaster in New York on November 12, 2001, Chp. Evans was called to join the American Airlines Crisis Management Team at JFK International Airport to conduct group and individual crisis interventions. For his service, he was awarded American Airlines' "Alabaster Eagle". He has been deployed to assist in crisis interventions in places such as Louisiana/Mississippi for the Hurricane Katrina Disaster, the Virginia Tech. massacre, the California wildfires, and Hurricane Ike relief. He has also been designated as the CISM and Training Coordinator for Christ in Action, a faith-based first-responders entity commissioned by the President of the United States to provide training for and response to national disasters.
Mr. Evans' career instructional experiences include teaching in junior and senior high schools as well as at the college level while serving as a department chair. He has taught corporate stress and anger management in community college continuing adult education courses. He has also been a certified police academy instructor in stress management and methods of instruction.
Chp. Evans is in demand around the country as a crisis intervention conference clinician, crisis and life management consultant, and critical incident stress management response coordinator. Presently in the Pittsburgh, PA metro area, he serves as a spiritual care coordinator with Heartland Hospice, crisis chaplain with the Penn Hills Fire District, a Pennsylvania State Police chaplain and CISM team member, lead crisis response chaplain with the Allegheny Valley School District, and the national chaplain services coordinator for the Ferguson Corporation.