Training Spiritual Generalists
Please see below for more information regarding the 2020 pilot course in spiritual generalist training, provided at no cost by the California State University Shiley Institute for Palliative Care.
Funded by the Josiah Macy Jr Foundation
2017-2018
Wendy Cadge (Brandeis University), Sara Paasche-Orlow (Hebrew SeniorLife), Rev. Mary Martha Thiel (Hebrew SeniorLife), Qiang Zhang (Brandeis University), Julia Bandini (Brandeis University), Carol Damm (Brandeis University)
Funded by the David and Lura Lovell Foundation
2019-2020
Wendy Cadge (Brandeis University), Carol Damm (Brandeis University), Rev. Mary Martha Thiel (Hebrew SeniorLife), Elaine Meyer (Harvard Medical School)
This project expands the spiritual care generalist workshop developed by the Boston Children’s Hospital’s Institute for Professionalism & Ethical Practice (IPEP) for geriatrics practitioners. The Interprofessional Spiritual Care team developed the materials required to train “spiritual generalists” for geriatric caregivers and trained nearly 75 caregivers in an interprofessional setting. These caregivers are now poised to deliver care to the more than 3,000 seniors receiving long-term care at HSL. An article is forthcoming about the training and its effects, “Interprofessional Spiritual Care Training for Geriatric Care Providers,” is now available from Journal of Palliative Medicine. Cadge, Paasche-Orlow, and Thiel are collaborating with another colleague skilled in distance learning to deliver these online to geriatric clinicians outside of the greater Boston area. This project was supported by a grant from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.
The next step of the project, funded by the David and Lura Lovell Foundation, adapts the successful training framework previously developed in a geriatric setting and deploy it in two pediatric settings: Cedars-Sinai and Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, both in 2020.
Wendy Cadge, PhD, Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Brandeis University
Elaine Meyer, Harvard Medical School
Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Director of Spiritual Care, Hebrew SeniorLife
Rev. Mary Martha Thiel, Director of CPE, Hebrew SeniorLife
In partnership with the Lab and support from the David and Lura Lovell Foundation, the CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care has announced a free, 4-week online course. “Integrating Spiritual Generalist Skills into Healthcare Practice” will help health professionals in any discipline address this important aspect of patient care. The Lab especially encourages its chaplain colleagues to pass this along to their partners on the multidisciplinary care team.
The course can be completed at the learner’s own pace and on their schedule, requiring only 1 hour of coursework per week. Completion of the course confers 4 CE credits through California State University at San Marcos. This pilot course is provided at no cost to participants. Participants will learn to:
- Apply the concept of compassionate presence to clinical care
- Understand the role of spirituality in their professional lives
- Recognize how spirituality affects patients’/families’ health care decisions
- Incorporate spiritual care at the generalist level into clinical roles
- Maintain appropriate boundaries in spiritual care with patients
For more information and to register, visit csupalliativecare.org/spiritual-skills/ or call (760) 750-4006.