Chaplaincy in Rural Appalachia: Regional Culture and Spiritual Care Applications
Rural Appalachia is commonly portrayed as an isolated, backward region of the United States. This has historically led to views of Appalachia as a place in need of help and education with little thought to what lessons Appalachia might offer people in other places.
Presenters in this webinar, both chaplains in rural Appalachia, will contend that Appalachia has rich and nuanced cultures, diverse beliefs and values, and opportunities for learning in the practice of spiritual care. The webinar will offer a glimpse into one rural Appalachian region and how the dynamics of chaplaincy interplay with local, rural culture. The presenters will discuss the implications of this interplay for spiritual care practice in any location.
Please register here.
We have indexed this webinar to the following learning outcomes, which should not be construed as endorsement of this event by either ACPE or BCCI:
BCCI PIC2: Articulate ways in which one’s feelings, values, assumptions, culture, and social location affect professional practice.
BCCI PIC4: Respects the physical, emotional, cultural, and spiritual boundaries of others.
BCCI PPS3: Provide spiritual care that respects diversity, relative to differences in race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
ACPE Outcome 3: Intercultural and Interreligious Humility, Levels 1A through 2B.
We’ll be joined by:
Gregory E. Griffey has been a healthcare chaplain for nearly 15 years and has been a Board Certified since 2016. Those years have included service in Kentucky, Arizona, and the San Franciso Bay Area, before circling back to serve in a region of rural Appalachia where he was born and raised. A published author, Greg has written on the intersection of Appalachian culture, religion, and literacy practices. Having grown up in a farming family, he continues to enjoy vegetable gardening and tree husbandry. He currently works as a professional chaplain with Ballad Health.
Ed DeForest, BCC, works for Ballad Health since 2022, covering four hospitals in SW Virginia. Prior to his time with Ballad, he has been a chaplain in a variety of ministries. Volunteer prison chaplain for three years. Three years as a volunteer police and Fire chaplain, where he helped police, fire, and dispatch as well as those they serve cope with the traumatic events they were exposed to.
He also covered two of the three local hospitals as a police and fire chaplain. In 2019, just prior to covid, the largest hospital in Anchorage AK hired him as the night shift chaplain.
Prior to his career change, he was a respiratory therapist for 35 years.
