Press Release
Chaplain Bill Youngblood of the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy was awarded the prestigious John A. Price award by the International Conference of Police Chaplains (ICPC). On Thursday, July 15, 2021, at the annual meeting held this year in Greenville, SC, Chaplain Youngblood was selected, from chaplains all around the world, for his 20 years of exceptional ministry to Lowcountry first responders, survivors, and community members. Chaplain Youngblood serves as a duty chaplain and trainer with the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy and is a lifetime member of the ICPC.
In the tradition of the John A. Price Award, Chaplain Youngblood has consistently demonstrated excellence in his chaplaincy ministry to over 50 public safety agencies through his service in the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy in Charleston, South Carolina. Chaplain Youngblood's wealth of experience in police chaplaincy has been forged over the years responding to sit by survivors after losing loved ones and standing by first responders after tough calls. Bill has served on countless crisis scenes, including the Emmanuel 9 church shooting, the Charleston 9 fire, as well as being a spiritual guide, a good friend, and beacon of Light and Hope to first responders, survivors, and community members. His ministry of presence has brought comfort and peace from front porches to protests, crime scenes to community events, and police ceremonies to police debriefs, all across and beyond the SC Lowcountry.
Chaplain Youngblood is a trained Crisis Negotiator, a Critical Incident Stress Management practitioner, an ICPC instructor, an Pastoral Crisis Intervention (PCI) Instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, and served on a team to start the SC Public Safety Chaplains Association. Bill has served on the training team of the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy for over a decade and currently teaches PCI to chaplains from across the country and serves as a veteran-mentor to new chaplains. Bill also is an approved instructor, teaching the Finding Balance class to the Charleston Police Department and other agencies.
What has made Bill an exceptional trainer is his field experience in all of these areas. He is a first-call and veteran in the Charleston public safety community. While Chaplain Youngblood has stood alongside chiefs, sheriffs, and leaders through the most critical and historical events of our community life, he is known also for his mentoring of those serving in the trenches. His vast experience, depth of spirituality, and compassion have invited many a chaplain, first responder, and survivor to seek him out for counsel.
“Bill Youngblood has a remarkable ministry of presence. When you experience him holding a survivor's hand with comfort or listening to the lives of first responders, you know we have been in the presence of a deep love with a heart for the hurting and a hope for their healing.” (Chaplain Rich Robinson, executive director of the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy)
