Spiritual Care Specialist, Social Work Savvy: What a Social Work Education Brings to Chaplaincy

How does the education of social workers and that of chaplains inform each other? Where do these roles overlap and differentiate? What might it look like to navigate these questions in an interdisciplinary setting?

For chaplains with social work training, these questions become all the more essential, while equipping the chaplain to skillfully navigate them. Chaplains Matthew and Topher serve as professional chaplains whose work is informed by dual MSW and Mdiv degrees. This webinar explores what can be learned from their experiences as MSW-educated chaplains about the mutual benefits of these trainings, articulating role differentiation, and identifying gaps in respective clinical work.

We thank the University of Chicago Medicine Spiritual Care Department and Clinical Pastoral Education for their support of this webinar. Learn more here.

This event is for Subscriber and Innovator level users of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, who may register here. If you’d like to join the Lab and gain access to this webinar and much more, you can do so right here.

Rev. Topher Elderkin, BCC, LSW (he/him) is ordained and endorsed by the United Church of Christ as a board-certified chaplain (BCC) with the Association of Professional Chaplains. He is a chaplain at Comer’s Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago Medical Center, Hyde Park. Prior employment includes seven years as a chaplain and bereavement support staff at Anne & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and as a chaplain resident at Presence Health, Chicago, IL. He received his MDIV from University of Chicago, Divinity School and his MSW from the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice.

Chaplain Topher’s MSW field work included training and service in Chicago Public Schools, high school and elementary settings, focused on evidence-based support groups on trauma-processing and anger-management, as well as training in case management, family dynamics, and support groups for older adults with the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease. Like Matthew, most of Topher’s non-professional time is dedicated to parenting a 1-year old, who dearly loves his 2 feline sisters, bananas, and squeaky voices.

Chaplain Matthew Dimick, MDIV MSW BCC (he/him) is endorsed by the Humanist Society as a board-certified chaplain (BCC) with the Association of Professional Chaplains. He is a chaplain of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction services in forensic psychiatry within the Clients Rights department at Summit Behavioral Healthcare. Prior employment includes seven years as the pediatric chaplain for Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone and as a chaplain resident at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. He received his MDIV from Boston University’s School of Theology and his MSW from Boston University’s School of Social Work.

Chaplain Matthew’s MSW field work included training and advocacy with The Network/La Red, a survivor-led social justice organization that works to end partner abuse in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, kink, polyamorous and queer communities. Additionally, he is a volunteer screener, big buddy, and trained healing circle leader for Comfort Zone Camp, a non-profit organization that provides camp weekends for children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, primary caregiver, or significant person. Most of his free-time is spent parenting a toddler who is really into the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Fiona the Hippo, and cheese.

This event is sponsored by the University of Chicago Medicine Spiritual Care Department and Clinical Pastoral Education. Learn more here.