Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020, the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab has heard from chaplains in town halls, in our Facebook group, and in direct contact with us about their experiences on the frontlines of spiritual care. As a result, we partnered with the Henry Luce Foundation to support and enhance the work chaplains are doing and build resilience in places it is needed most, funding multiple projects through the end of 2021.
The project had three components for chaplains:
- The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab partnered with the Albert and Jessie Danielsen Institute at Boston University to offer free support groups for front-line chaplains.
- The Lab offered a series of webinars and educational materials about trauma and resilience open to all.
- The Lab Grant funding: The Lab issued a 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.
An eBook will also be published to report on chaplain projects.
For more information, contact us here or call (812) 269-2370.
Round 1 Recipients
“Wellness is Essential”
Hampton VA Medical Center
Hampton, Virginia
The Hampton VA Medical Center “Wellness is Essential” campaign is a multi-pronged campaign developed in response to identified challenges and stressors within Environmental Management Service. The campaign includes guided spiritual meditations and presentations on coping mechanisms, family care, and interpersonal relationships. Central to the campaign is a Studio Elsewhere-created Recharge Room designed using evidence-based practices and a bio-feedback massage chair. The room is a participant voice-controlled multi-sensory experience incorporating biophilic scents, sounds, lighting and visuals designed to address stress, anxiety and trauma. Each participant will be offered refreshments and invited to take a pre and post survey.
Caring for the Caregiver: Developing Wellness Champions
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
San Francisco, California
Sojourn Chaplaincy at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and trauma center is developing a wellness curriculum for hospital staff. Caring for the Caregiver: Developing Wellness Champions will be focused on a leadership development model training healthcare staff in basic spiritual care, resilience practices as well as triaging and referrals. After this program is complete, each department in the hospital will have a “wellness champion” who is equipped to provide basic spiritual support in their workplace. We also hope to have a portable curriculum available for chaplains to utilize in implementing similar programming in their contexts.
Code Lavender: Supporting Our Front-Line Family project
ProMedica Health System
Lucas County, Ohio and Monroe County, Michigan
COVID-19 and the issues surrounding inequality in our communities has had a significant impact on the staff at ProMedica Health System. The Code Lavender: Supporting Our Front-Line Family project will address these stresses through three objectives: (1) Create a Code Lavender support program to be used in five local hospitals with staff chaplains, as well as Air/Mobile and Market on the Green locations. (2) Expand our chaplains’ knowledge through training in stress management, compassion fatigue and suicide prevention. 3) Develop a care curriculum for staff in stress management, empathy training and suicide prevention including self-care, team care and spiritual care.
Pine Rest Prevails: Fostering Spiritual Resiliency in Frontline Staff
Pine Rest Mental Health Services
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Pine Rest Prevails: Fostering Spiritual Resiliency in Frontline Staff allows the Pine Rest Chaplains to provide education and spiritual reflections on qualities that build resiliency for frontline staff and resources for managers when their employees require additional assistance. Chaplains will expand opportunities for providing spiritual support of staff, targeting programs most impacted by COVID-19. A labyrinth with guided meditations will be made available to all employees for centering, self-care, and prayer. These activities will help staff unveil their strengths and foster their personal resiliency, in turn reducing their stress and increasing job satisfaction and knowledge of resiliency skills.
Spiritual Leadership Theory Pilot
Owensboro Health
Owensboro, Kentucky
To address the needs of nurse managers for spiritual support, this project will provide training in Spiritual Leadership Theory (SLT), daily spiritual practices and bi-monthly spiritual direction meetings over three months with an option to continue. SLT prioritizes the utilization of spiritual practices and concepts to empower and develop leaders.[1] Findings from a pilot project included improvements in the nurse manager’s ability to be reflective rather than reactive, interact with team members holistically and experience a sense of spiritual refreshment and renewal.
We’re Better Together: Supporting Resilience among Frontline COVID-19 Healthcare Staff
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minnesota
A multi-modal interdisciplinary team support pilot at Mayo Clinic, We’re Better Together, will include unit-based Schwartz Rounds, reflective prompts for journaling or one-to-one sharing with a colleague, and/or half-day retreat participation based on the Courage and Renewal Circles of Trust facilitation. Nursing administration partnership, as well as IDT membership on the Schwartz Rounds committee will be key contributors in planning, encouraging colleague participation, passing on feedback and helping to evaluate and make future recommendations.
Round 2 Recipients
“Restorative Care for Faculty/Staff during COVID-19”
Keene State College
Keene, New Hampshire
Our project seeks to address two important needs in the Keene State College community: directed spiritual care related to the COVID-19 pandemic for faculty and staff, and opportunities for restorative circle practices as a mechanism for campus-wide discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We see these two elements as connected and synergetic, working together for the holistic growth and care of our campus community. Our grant award will be used to create support groups, pop-up events, and spiritual care workshops for faculty and staff, and will also assist in training a cohort of restorative circle practitioners.
Press: Kelly Ricuarte, “Keene State Implements Restorative and Racial Justice Programming with New Grant,” March 10, 2021.
ALL God’s Children: Spiritual Care and Support for Lower-Wage Hospital Colleagues Managing Burdens of COVID-19
St. Joseph Mercy Hospital
Ann Arbor and Livingston, Michigan
St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor hospital frontline colleagues are stressed by the COVID-19 pandemic. For people in lower-wage jobs—environment services, food service, transportation, security—the impacts can seem insurmountable. These colleagues make lifesaving contributions to the health, safety, and well-being of patients, but need better support for the burdens of COVID-19 illness at work and home. This program will offer them: 1) individual and group spiritual support, 2) monthly Lunch and Learn sessions and handouts about building and maintaining resilience, 3) fresh farm produce and staples for families in need of food security, and 4) referrals for additional services.
The Body Knows
New York – Presbyterian Hospital
New York, New York
The Body Knows is a psycho-spiritual program designed to enhance relational resilience in frontline healthcare workers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. This cross-campus chaplain-led program will foster healing and transformation through collaborative spiritual integration with trusted others using workshops, follow up and regular evaluation. THE BODY KNOWS will encourage the courageous sharing of spiritual, moral, and/or religious struggles arising from COVID-19, public anguish/lament of systemic racism and its impact on the body, and related stressors (e.g., political, financial and family concerns) by recruiting spiritual resources and body-centered practices to alleviate stress and to integrate staff experiences in healthy and embodied ways.
Building Resilience during COVID for MLH Frontline Folx
Mainline Health
Wynnewood, Pennsylvania
To support frontline workers at Lankenau Medical Center, Rev. Dr. Liam Robins, the Manager of Clinical Pastoral Education, and medical center administrators are bringing new programing in Self-Compassion Training to Lankenau’s healthcare staff. Self-Compassion Training for Healthcare Communities (SCHC) is a 6-hr evidence-based healthcare adaptation of the empirically-supported Mindful Self-Compassion program created by Dr. Neff and Dr. Germer. Facilitated by trained SCHC teacher, Dr. Annie Allen, online group trainings will support healthcare staff to build resiliency and strengthen skills to deal with stress in daily life. In addition, 5 candidates will continue on to become facilitators to ensure on-going support.
A HeartMath Pilot to Support Staff Resilience
Presbyterian Health Services
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Our team will pilot HeartMath
Implementing Code Lavender
Carilion Clinic
Roanoke, Virginia
Implementation of Code Lavender includes staff support for frontline healthcare providers. This will include all members of the healthcare team. Code Lavender will provide support of the caregiver to include presence, aromatherapy, and resources for the recipient. This will assist in the promotion of resilience and well-being for the caregiver. Initial implementation will occur on the COVID-19 units and the Intensive Care Units with the highest mortality rates, and advanced in phases. Research on the effectiveness of the intervention will be performed. The team is interdisciplinary and includes chaplaincy and nursing with oversight from the organization’s Wellness Advisory Council.
Space for Wholeness at Work: Nourishing and Sustaining Resilience in Medical Language Interpreters
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System
Richmond, Virginia
Space for Wholeness seeks to engage frontline Medical Language Interpreters to identify sources of stress and strength as they provide a vital bridge between patients, families and the healthcare team during COVID-19. Focus groups and interviews will shape a two pronged intervention:
- Education- workshops with presentations to empower and inspire language interpreters to consider their areas of needs and interests.
- Reflection- an opportunity to participate in a 6 week evidence informed journaling intervention facilitated by a team of Board Certified Chaplains (BCC).
Supporting Resilience among Frontline Providers
Providence Regional Medical Center Everett
Everett, Washington
Forty healthcare employees (known as “Caregivers”) at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, WA will receive training in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) for a total of 79 Caregivers (13 teams) trained in CISM. These trained Caregivers will offer peer support to other Caregivers when a critical incident happens to them at work that affects their well-being and productivity. The CISM Teams will be deployed to provide crisis interventions, defusing, and debriefing for Caregivers who have been negatively impacted by stressful, critical or traumatic incidences at work in order to decrease job stress, burnout, or suicidal ideations or actions.
Supporting Resilience among Frontline Healthcare Workers & Spiritual Care Staff
Baylor Scott & White Health
Temple, Texas
Baylor Scott and White Health’s Office of Mission and Ministry and Department of Community Health will launch a pilot program that uses video conferencing, quantitative assessments, and other tools to provide individualized staff support. The participants in this project will have personalized care plans created by chaplains based on the scores of their quantitative assessments for moral injury, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and spiritual struggle. Interventions to address their needs will be provided over the course of an 18-week period, and the participants will be assessed three more times during the project to adjust their care plans as needed.
The Well
Liberty Hospital
Kansas City, Missouri
The Well concept is to create a mobile self-care training and practice lab that can be brought to hospital staff instead of asking more of already overwhelmed and depleted staff by adding yet another training to their plate. The goal is to enable employees, through the lab, to discover small, quick methods of providing self-care, practicing self-empathy for themselves in their regular work day. As employees learn these techniques, they will have the ability to draw upon these practices in times of stress. As the demands of the day empties an employee’s well, their own personal practices have the possibility of pouring back into their well. And what’s down in the well, comes up in the bucket. Empathy and caring beget empathy and caring.