Bayat, Jawad

Jawad Bayat is a spiritual care educator, currently in the final phase of becoming an ACPE Certified Educator. He describes himself as a Muslim chaplain, working with the wide diversity of patients and staff at the Cleveland Clinic. Although he doesn’t shoulder burden of providing spiritual care to every one of the clinic’s Muslim patients, when specific issues arise, Jawad may receive a referral, as he’s able to leverage resources others cannot. He will be the fourth ACPE Certified Educator who is Muslim and the first Afghani-American. (Update December 17, 2024: Jawad is now ACPE Certified Educator and Manager of CPE at Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic)

Q: What most excites you about the field of chaplaincy?

A: Some of it is perennial. We’re caring for the human soul. Maybe it is because of the state of society, but spiritual care is becoming more mainstream. Somehow chaplains are more accessible because of that. I don’t know if they are seen as representing “the cloth” in the same way they used to, but the essence of the work is perennial: providing healing for folks. This is helped partially by the fact that religion itself now has a lower case R , with spirituality and big questions being more accessible.

Q: What do you see as challenges to the field at present?

A: I worry about the relationship between standards and inclusivity.  I’m a minority, so when the majority culture talks about being inclusive, we stand to benefit, but I’m still concerned that standards will get lowered. We need to be thoughtful about setting standards. For example, there is an ongoing conversation about the appropriateness of “MDiv equivalence” requirements. There’s nothing inherently wrong about MDiv equivalence. Elsewhere, Christians seem to be more concerned about inclusion than some minority communities and individual practitioners themselves themselves. We need equitable standards – a wider gate, so to speak, and without doing away with the gate altogether. And we should make sure that conversations about inclusivity are being drive by minority communities and individuals.

I think we also need to be cautious about how far we broaden the concept of spirituality. Although they are clearly distinct, there is a relationship between spirituality and religion, the latter of which long has been a “holding space” for spiritual cares; what if that holding space goes away? Then the need for chaplains is itself in danger.

Q: What do you consider to be the most important skills to cultivate in future chaplains?

A: Having an applied sense of self-awareness – when chaplains are or are not getting in the way of relationships. Being able to pay attention to verbal and nonverbal cues in a way that illuminates what is and is not being said. Awareness of group dynamics and one’s own role therein, and being able to facilitate one’s own navigation through them. I think chaplains also need to be self-driven and motivated and this is tied toto having administrative sense, an awareness of how to navigate organizations. Formation is critical, because it’s very difficult to prepare a chaplain for every single situation that will arise. Just develop the person to be able to handle many scenarios.

Q: How can educators respond to the pandemics both of COVID-19 and systemic racism?

A: I think that as clinical educators, we’re in a unique space. We can raise up students’ own stories and make space for listening that is intimate. We can help them articulate those stories; this is critical because they do the same thing for their care receivers. We have to help chaplains deal with these issues in real time because patients are dealing with it in real time, as well.

Any final thoughts on the field?

We’re in a space of change and flux. Sometimes we make changes without knowing what the implications are. We need to be intentional about change. As the child of refugee parents, I’ve had to deal with change my entire life. Change may seem positive but often we are leaving something else behind. For example, in using telechaplaincy, we lose something out on the personal side. We don’t have to avoid moving forward, but we have to realize what is being left behind, and it’s OK to grieve that.

Finally, we chaplains need to be compassionate with ourselves. There is so much work to do. Trying to do my own part constantly causes its own stress. The next year or two are going to be interesting times. Who knows what will happen our country and the state of our work?

Michael Skaggs is Director of Programs at the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.