Weekly Chaplaincy Newsletter – Update 8.24.20

THIS WEEK’S  – WHAT CHAPLAINS NEED TO KNOW…

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From Michael Skaggs, Executive Director

We hope this issue of our newsletter finds you well. We’ve had a number of events lately calling attention to how new areas of the country are experiencing and coping with the COVID-19 pandemic; we want to remind you that our COVID-19 resources page has been updated, both to curate the very long list of resources that was there before and to reorganize it to be more readable. Let us know if there are other resources we should know about.

The news continues to be filled with stories of chaplains doing incredible work. Clifton Dawkins attends burials for the impoverished. Karen Landy continues to provide support to residents and staff at a senior living facility in Boston. The Louisville Courier-Journal recently published this powerful profile on the work of Adam Ruiz in one of the city’s healthcare systems. Spiritual care remains more important than ever before. Thank you for all you are doing.

NEW TEAM MEMBERS!

The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab team is growing! We’re very pleased to welcome two new staff members:

Shirah Hecht, PhD (right) joins us as the Lab’s inaugural Research Manager. She will collaborate on our new project to map Jewish chaplaincy in the United States, funded by the Charles H. Revson Foundation, as well as several other research projects in progress. She received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago and has extensive experience in program evaluation.

Darra Sweetser joins us as our first Finance and Grants Administrator. Most recently, Darra was a senior financial research administrator at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and brings extensive training and experience in finance and grant portfolio management. She received her MBA from Simmons School of Management.

As the Lab becomes more a part of Brandeis University, Wendy Cadge, will become Director of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, as is traditional in academic contexts. Michael Skaggs, who holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Sociology at Brandeis, will become Director of Programs and continue the day-to-day operation of the Lab, especially  in outreach, communications, and partnering.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

A team of educators and chaplains in the Educating Effective Chaplains project is currently drafting a textbook to be published by the University of North Carolina Press about chaplaincy and spiritual care. The textbook will combine history information, focus on key competencies, and opportunities for reflection and will be suitable for use in any introductory course about chaplaincy or spiritual care.

We hope to publish several short vignettes in the textbook about the work of actual chaplains. Would you consider writing one? We are looking for a glimpse or slice of your daily work in 200-300 words. If you have an idea, please email Michael Skaggs for more information.

The Educating Effective Chaplains project also profiles innovative educators in institutions and other settings across the country. Read our most recent profile, an interview by Rachel Payne of Boston University with Rev. Dr. Mike Langston of Columbia International University.

EVENTS ON DECK

As always, we have a number events on deck that may interest you. You can find more information here.

• On September 3 at noon Eastern, we’ll join our partners at Transforming Chaplaincy in hosting “Mitigating Poor Bereavement Outcomes and Supporting Staff during COVID-19.” Chaplain-researcher Shelley Varner Perez of Indiana University Health will interview Dr. Lucy Selman, senior research fellow and co-leader of the University of Bristol Palliative and End of Life Care Research Group. You can register here.
• On September 9 at 1 PM we’ll host “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Spiritual Care,” sponsored by the spiritual care department at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. The panel of chaplains and researchers will discuss significant questions around diversity, equity, and inclusion healthcare spiritual care, not only in patient care but also in chaplaincy training and leadership. You can find more information and register here; panelists include:
  • Rev. Marilyn Barnes, Vice President Mission and Spiritual Care, Advocate Aurora
  • Rev. Dr. Danielle Buhuro, CPE Supervisor, Advocate South Suburban & Trinity Hospitals
  • Rev. José Cedillo, M.Div.,BCC, ACPE Supervisor, Director of Pastoral Care, UTMB Healthcare Systems
  • Rev. Dr. Tammerie Day, Associate Director, Clinical Pastoral Education, UNC Health Care Chapel Hill
  • Kelsey White MDiv, MSc, BCC, Chaplain, Norton Healthcare; Research Assistant, University of Louisville Center for Health Organization Transformation; Visiting Professor, Union Theological Seminary
• We had looked forward to joining many of you in May for the Partners for Professional Excellence in Spiritual Care Conference, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to present one of our panels as a free webinar now. “From Education to Employment: The Demand Side of Spiritual Care” will feature a panel of  employers committed to providing spiritual care, in and across multiple sectors, to discuss the demand side of chaplaincy and the implications it has for education and training in the future. We will have national leaders in spiritual care employment to discuss how chaplains-in-training can best be prepared for the sectors in which they are most needed. Find more information and register here; panelists include:
  • Chaplain (Colonel) Paul Minor, Senior Army Chaplain, MA National Guard
  • Rev. Amy Greene, Director of Spiritual Care, Cleveland Clinic
  • Doug Fagerstrom, Executive President and CEO, Marketplace Chaplains
  • John Scarano, Director of Campus Ministry, John Carroll University

GRANT OPPORTUNITY

“Building and Supporting Resilience among Frontline Spiritual Care Providers” is a new project that will offer individual support, webinars and other educational materials, and more for front-line chaplains – in hospitals and beyond – for use during the COVID-19 pandemic and future crises. We encourage you to get involved in two ways:

• Now open is the call for proposals to fund projects of $25,000-$50,000 for front-line chaplains to collaborate with administrators in their institutions to expand and enrich the spiritual care offered to the staff with whom they work. To be considered for funding, submissions are due by 5pm EDT on September 11.  A Q&A webinar for applicants, open to all and for any questions you may have, will be held on August 12 from 12-1 EDT.
• We are excited to announce a second series of support groups for chaplains, which will begin in October. These free and confidential groups will meet four times via Zoom, with 8-12 chaplains, and are intended to invite candid conversation about the experience of being a frontline spiritual care provider, in any sector of spiritual care. Read more and apply for consideration for one of the groups here.

PARTNER PROJECT

The Lab is proud to partner with ACPE and Boston University School of Theology on a new project funded by the Wabash Center. “Innovations in Chaplaincy Education” will strengthen chaplaincy degree programs at schools across the country, with the participation of faculty at theological schools teaching chaplaincy-related courses. 

Theological educators can apply to participate and will receive a small stipend. Participants will bring their courses into active conversation with current research on chaplaincy and spiritual care; reflect on their pedagogy and talk with other educators teaching similar courses; and engage in facilitated discussions to support teaching and strengthening chaplaincy programs in their home institutions.

If you would like to apply to participate, please visit the call for proposals here. Please note the deadline is September 1, 2020.

 

SEEKING PROFESSIONAL

The CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care, a partner of the Lab, is seeking a professional to provide a lecture on the impact and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers, along with an explanation of moral distress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Find more information here.

 

BLOG POST SERIES – REFLECTIONS

Several chaplain colleagues at Mount Sinai in New York have offered reflections on what it means to be a hospital chaplain during the COVID pandemic. This growing collection of reflections is now available at ChaplaincyInnovation.org. These are powerful stories from the frontlines and we know they’ll resonate with many of you.

 

FREE ONLINE INFORMATION SESSION

This evening from 7:30-8:30pm, join Zen Buddhist chaplains and teachers Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison and Sensei Robert Chodo Campbell for a free online information session to discuss the transformative and practical aspects of contemplative caregiving and the nine-month online  Foundations in Contemplative Care program. Attendees will be able to ask questions, meet other interested students, and discuss the training in a group setting. You can find more information here.

THREE-DAY COURSE FOR CLINICIANS

Our colleagues at City of Hope, where Lab advisor Dr. Betty Ferrell is Director and Professor in the Division of Nursing Research and Education, is finalizing a new Interprofessional Communication Curriculum. This free three-day course is designated for teams of two clinicians consisting of nurses, chaplains or social workers who work in adult oncology. The first course offering will begin January 2021. For more information, contact Yesel Arvizu at yarvizu@coh.org or (626) 218-2987.

WORKPLACE CHAPLAINCY

Workplace chaplaincy is a segment of the profession little explored by scholars and not well understood by chaplains in other sectors. With this in mind we invite proposals from those interested in appearing on potential panels at the 2021 Faith @ Work Conference, which will provide chaplains operating in for-profit settings the opportunity to hear from, speak with, and collaborate with chaplains in settings more traditionally associated with spiritual care. If you are interested, send a proposal of no more than 250 words by September 1, 2020.

HEBREW COLLEGE

We’re please to announce our new partnership with Hebrew College! The Lab is grateful for all of its partners and we’re glad to have Hebrew College join us.

Facebook for Chaplains Only

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS! Consider joining the Lab’s private Facebook group for chaplains. Be a part of our lively conversations and connect with chaplains willing to support and help. Looking for resources? Join us!