Currently, I am a Clinical Chaplain and Manager of The Center for Spiritual Care at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in San Diego, CA. Our facility includes the busiest ER in the county, as well as Woman’s Center, Rehab, Behavioral Health, and Cancer Center programs. We have five per diem chaplains, one part time staff chaplain, one resident chaplain, and thirty spiritual care volunteers providing spiritual care.
I have had a successful Spiritual Direction counseling practice for over 25 years. This practice allows me to balance the death and dying process that I am intimately involved with in the hospital. The work/healing that has been accomplished by my provision as Spiritual Director has been a true gift in my life. My clients have been extraordinary, and it has been a privilege to work with them. They continue to be teachers in my life, and I am so grateful for what I have learned from them. I also am a Spiritual Director for staff at the hospital, and I have started meeting with upper management providing Spiritual Direction. Recently I completed training to be a Supervisor of Spiritual Directors.
In addition, I serve as co-chair of the bioethics committee, spending time applying ethical principles to help facilitate decisions related to end-of-life, quality of life, and resolution of conflict among staff and families.
I chose ChI because it was the one seminary that provided an interfaith and inclusive approach as a bridge to make the connection for all faith traditions. Through my education at ChI, I was welcomed into wondrous temples, mosques, synagogues, and churches, each revealing their unique experience of the Divine. I participated in rituals, prayers, blessings, sacraments and so much more that supported me in feeling at home with each sacred tradition.
Each house of worship I visited provided a rich and completely unique way of experiencing the Divine—each unrivaled in its own beauty and tradition. I was enthralled at the diversity, the music, the art, and the creativity of the Divine. How could I possibly feel as if I had come home with each new experience? It was obvious that we were so much more alike than different.
I am now using my interfaith skills from ChI to bring Spiritual Care to a diverse patient population and staff, developing in-services and community programs which address the spiritual needs of a multi-faith community. I do so with confidence and skill, gained from my training at ChI.
