The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab invites all spiritual care providers, educators, and others to take advantage of the following resource, which we are gathering and passing along for the use of all. If you have resources and strategies you would like to share, info@chaplaincyinnovation.org. We will update this page as more resources become available.
As telechaplaincy becomes more and more significant and needed, please take a moment to review our resources on telechaplaincy here.
Strategies for Caring for Ourselves and Our Chaplain Colleagues
- Request to join our Facebook group for chaplains. The group is set to private so it can remain a space for chaplains to discuss resources, needs, etc. amongst themselves and with a degree of privacy; please simply request to join if you would like to join the discussion.
- Join us for a special town hall-style webinar from 12-1pm Eastern Tuesday March 24th. This webinar will be an opportunity to reflect on spiritual care in the midst of the virus in a way that we hope will provide support and self-care. This webinar will be facilitated by Eric Skidmore of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Assistance Program, Donna Mote (chaplain at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport), and Peter Gudaitis of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.
- David Lewellen, editor of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains newsletter, helpfully provided a summary of our first town hall on March 17. Tahara Akmal, CPE Educator at MedStar Washington Medical Center and one of our panelists on the town hall, has also provided a follow-up piece. You can view the full recording of the webinar here
- Join one of our topic-specific resource groups, to get tips, share tips or ask for help:
- For those of you moving teaching online, share tips here.
- Explore using online tools like Vennly. Vennly is an app that offers a safe, inclusive place for people to explore themes related to spirituality and everyday life through the perspectives of respected spiritual and community leaders across different backgrounds and traditions. The company has very generously offered a free month of service (which is $4.99) to CIL listeners who use this link; the subscription can be cancelled at any time, including within the free month. The app is available on iPhone now and will be available for Android next week.
- Read Micky ScottBey Jones’ “An invitation to brave space”
- Check out Spiritual Wellness Practices, provided by Heidi Kugler of the Bureau of Prisons.
- Take advantage of another Facebook group: Clergy & Spiritual Communal Responses to COVID-19
- Check out Carrie Doehring’s “Coping with moral struggles arising from coronavirus stress: Spiritual self-care for chaplains and religious leaders”
- Read Doehring’s “Using spiritual care to alleviate religious, spiritual, and moral struggles arising from acute health crises,” Ethics, Medicine & Public Health (2019)
- Download The Hastings Center’s two documents to assist those working in healthcare: Ethical Framework for Health Care Institutions Responding to Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and Guidelines for Institutional Ethics Services Responding to COVID-19:Managing Uncertainty, Safeguarding Communities, Guiding Practice
- Take a moment to read Stress management tips from Sojourn Chaplaincy
- Join the Sacred Design Lab by Zoom daily at 12:30p Eastern / 9:30a Pacific for “family chapel,” a gentle, 25-minute intentional experience of shared reflection. You can also join their weekly “Wisdom for Troubled Times” call, Tuesdays at 3:30p Eastern / 12:30p Pacific.
- Check out Calm’s free resource page with meditations
Strategies for Caring for Those in Need
- Join us for a webinar on Friday, March 20 at 2pm Eastern on telehealth chaplaincy, with a conversation facilitated by Petra Sprik (Carolinas Health) and Deborah Ingram (Advocate Aurora).
- Utilize and share Jennie Thomas of NCH Healthcare’s breakfast tray communication that patients can use when chaplains and others are not able to enter rooms.
- Check out Alex Kern‘s “Caring for Self and Others in Times of Trouble”
- Review the resources available here from the Zen Caregiving Project
- Download a copy of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’ Light Our Way, ( 1-2 copies available at no charge, here) . This resource by National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (NVOAD) informs disaster response volunteers, first responders and disaster planners in the areas of emotional and spiritual care giving.
- Offer online support through the Vennly app. This is available to anyone for $4.99/month and is ideal in these times of limited personal contact. The app is available on iPhone now and will be available for Android next week.
- Join the Sacred Design Lab by Zoom daily at 12:30p Eastern / 9:30a Pacific for “family chapel,” a gentle, 25-minute intentional experience of shared reflection. You can also join their weekly “Wisdom for Troubled Times” call, Tuesdays at 3:30p Eastern / 12:30p Pacific.
- Check out Calm’s free resource page with meditations, stories, music, talks and more to support your mental and emotional wellness.
- Check out resources from the National Disaster Interfaith Network on crisis spiritual care.
- Review our tips on telechaplaincy.
