A1
Reducing Emotional Loneliness Using Spiritual Care Interventions

Chaplain Bryce Woyak, M.Div, BCC

​​

Workshop Summary:
Our society is growing ever lonelier, and this is leading to serious decreases in population health. While we are most likely to think about loneliness in terms of social isolation, another type of loneliness exists--emotional loneliness. This workshop will synthesize current research to provide a working knowledge of emotional loneliness and to explore how chaplains can use spiritual care interventions to address the negative impacts of emotional loneliness on their patients.

​

 

​

A2
Navigating Grief and Bereavement Calls
Rev. Gregory C. Smith, Ph.D., Disaster Resilience Institute

Workshop Summary:
This workshop equips participants with essential skills to effectively navigate grief and bereavement calls, providing support to individuals facing loss. Topics include understanding the grieving process, communication strategies, active listening, empathy-building, and self-care. Participants will learn how to offer comfort, guidance, and practical support while respecting individual coping mechanisms. By the end of the workshop, attendees will feel more prepared to provide meaningful support to those experiencing grief and loss.

 

​

A3
Expertise Meets Empathy
Sharon Cesare, BSN, RN, CNML, Faith Community Nursing Coordinator, BayCare Health System
Sr. Sara Proctor, PA-C, Congregational Health Promoter, BayCare Health System
 

Workshop Summary:
This workshop will reflect the collaborative work of BayCare Health System's Faith Community Nursing, Feeding Tampa Bay's Trinity Cafe2, and the First Church of God to provide foot washing, foot assessment/care, socks, shoes, and spiritual care to the underserved population of Tampa, Florida.  The start-up process, funding, staffing, and guidelines of this foot-washing ministry will be shared along with client stories and pictures.

​​
 

A4
Providing End-of-Life Spiritual Care in Long-term Care Settings
Kevin Wardlaw, Ph.D., M.A., M.Div., Chaplain, Palm Garden Healthcare
 

Workshop Summary:
This workshop will reflect collaborative and interdisciplinary work with chaplains and long-term care center clinical teams in providing end-of-life spiritual care to their residents. Having been a hospice chaplain for 17 years, I presumed providing end-of-life spiritual care in long-term care settings would be less emotionally draining. By conservative measures, I estimate that I had journeyed with approximately 100,000 individuals and their loved ones during this span. While I was not present during the majority of their last breaths, I was blessed with sacred opportunities to journey with them during much of their final months, weeks, and days. As I reflect on my first year serving as a full-time long-term care (i.e. nursing home) chaplain, I have and am finding its emotional challenges to be at least equally draining, if not more so. Why is this and how can this problem be addressed in order to provide effective end-of-life spiritual care in long-term care settings?

​
 

A5
Psychodynamic Chaplaincy with Adult Psychiatric Inpatients
Rev. Dr. Jessica A. Sommar, LP, D.Min., BCC, Yale New Haven Health Lawrence and Memorial and Westerly Hospitals

Workshop Summary:
This workshop will outline psychodynamic approaches in assessment, treatment planning, and interventions with adult psychiatric inpatients in a secure hospital unit. The presenter will discuss basics such as chaplain, patient and staff safety, group facilitation and psychodynamic opportunities in transference and countertransference, and what we are listening for as a clinical chaplain and psychiatric attending chaplain.

 

​

A6
Who Wants to Live Forever? Longevity and Sacrifice in Science Fiction
Rev. Dr. Ben Janzen, APBCC, Bereavement Services Manager, VITAS Healthcare

​

Workshop Summary:
Immortality and longevity is considered the Power of youth or wisdom. Many works of science fiction state that death, or the uniqueness of human existence. However, there have been several situations where death has been avoided, delayed, or circumvented. Cloned personalities, Vampires, mythological figures, and gods are models of longevity but cause questions about morality and personal conduct. The flip side to immortality is the sacrifice of the hero. Most of the most successful movies have been movies about redemption, the hero serves as the redeemer. The hero sacrifices longevity to help humanity. These are secular parallels to Soteriological concepts in Christianity and the Bodhisattva model in Buddhism. Longevity is rarely envisioned as an ideal if it is disconnected from sacrifice. This concept can inform chaplaincy for end-of-life care and show the importance of legacy building and finding meaning in death.

​