Lauren Van Ham was in the first class of ChI graduates and was ordained an Interfaith minister in 1999. She served as a hospital chaplain at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco for eight years, specializing in adolescent psychiatry, palliative care, and bereavement support group facilitation. From 2004-2006, she was Executive Director for Green Sangha, a non-profit organization practicing spiritually-engaged environmental activism. In 2007, she renewed her ordination vows and declared herself an “Eco-chaplain,” re-dedicating her ministry to the care of the Earth and all Her inhabitants. Currently Lauren works for Saatchi & Saatchi S, as its Director of Learning and Development. In this work, she develops curriculum and facilitates sustainability training intensives and employee engagement retreats for companies committed to becoming more sustainable in their business practices. Lauren holds a B.F.A. in musical theatre from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.A. in Humanities and Leadership from Naropa University, and in addition to completing the Interfaith Ordination program, she completed ChI's training in Interfaith Spiritual Direction in 2006. In addition to her ministry, which she loves, she enjoys bicycling, backpacking, singing, dancing and laughing.