February 2017 Vol. 19 No. 1

APC™ Attends Annual NAJC Conference
by APC™ President Kimberly Murman MDiv MBA BCC

In mid-January, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with our NAJC cognate brothers and sisters as they gathered in Cincinnati, OH for their annual conference "Changing Times: Paradigm Shift in Spiritual Care".

APC™ CEO Pat Appelhans and I attended the conference as part of our continued collaboration with our cognate partners. About 100 members of NAJC attended the conference which allowed for significant conversation among attendees and the plenary speakers and panels. Read More

2017 APC™ Annual Conference Registration is Open
by Rev. Brian P. Hughes MDiv MS BCC

Registration is now open for the 2017 APC™ Annual Conference, The Powerful Voice of Chaplaincy, taking place in beautiful Houston, TX. This year's conference location features a brand new "Super Bowl" downtown hotel that even has a Texas-shaped lazy river! The conference will bring tangible take home resources, networking with colleagues from around the world and exciting opportunities to learn and grow.

The 2017 APC™ Conference focuses on three things: 1) Empowering Leadership - where we can hone our voice of influence; 2) Championing Diversity - where we can assert our roles as cultural experts; and, 3) Claiming our Story - where we seek to unite our distinct contributions. Read More

Board Nominations Deadline is March 10, 2017

Serving in leadership is one of the most important ways for members to contribute and shape the work and mission of APC™. As a member of APC™ you are encouraged to consider and submit qualified nominations for the APC™ Board of Directors, including self-nominations. Only current Board Certified Chaplains may be considered for these important positions... Read More

APC™ Announces 2017 Spring Symposium
Symposium Registration is Now Open

The Association of Professional Chaplains™ is hosting its Spring Chaplain Symposium in Littleton, CO at Denver Seminary on Thursday, March 16, 2017. The theme, “The Importance of Collaboration in Achieving Common Goals,” will feature relevant and inspiring content from which chaplains in all practice settings can benefit. Registration will be available through March 14^th for remote participation. Presentations will include... Read More

News
Add your Voice to the 2017 Annual Conference
by Rev. Anne Lange MDiv BCC

Our conference goals,empower leadership, champion diversity and claim our story, will be a common thread throughout our PDI and Workshop offerings. Conference is a fabulous time to expand our learning palette as well as be emboldened to use our voice in chaplaincy.

There are more than 40 workshop (90 minute) opportunities and 15 Professional Development Intensives to participate in. This year we are offering 2 workshops after our Saturday afternoon plenary by the panel speakers (make sure your register early for these because these workshops will fill up!!)... Read More

Transforming Chaplaincy Announces
Chaplaincy Research Summer Institute

Our friends at Transforming Chaplaincy have announced the Chaplaincy Research Summer Institute (CRSI) to be held July 24-28, 2017 at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL. The CRSI is being led by George Fitchett DMin PhD BCC, Professor, Department of Religion, Health and Human Values, Rush University Medical Center and Co-Director of the Transforming Chaplaincy project.

The CRSI is designed for chaplains who: 1) wish to develop modest projects to advance their understanding of chaplaincy-related issues and practices (e.g. the religious and/or spiritual needs and resources of patients and families being served in a specific clinical context; pilot testing a new approach to screening for religious/spiritual need in a new clinical area), 2) are providing leadership to chaplaincy quality improvement projects, 3) plan to collaborate on research projects with other non-chaplain investigators, or 4) are working on chaplaincy-related DMin projects. Learn more about it on the Transforming Chaplaincy website.

Spiritual Resilience
by William P. Selig DMin PBCC

In my experience as a chaplain, I find the hospital to be an ideal place to grasp the meaning of spiritual resilience. Every single person I meet - patients, family members, staff - is dealing with and looking for the means to cope with change, the unexpected, the unexplainable and sometimes the unwanted. Spiritual resilience is about digging deep inside and defining a sense of self and purpose for when times are tough. In essence, it's about counting our blessings and recognizing what gives us the strength, the will and the hope to live.

Recently I knocked on the door of a patient, an 81-year old man, and introduced myself as a hospital chaplain. "Would you like to talk?" He motioned me to come in the room. "How do you feel?" That common expression came out of my mouth but in an instant I regretted it. His face contorted with rage. "How the hell do you think I feel?...Read More

Annual Leadership Award Nominations due February 28

APC™ recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the profession of pastoral care through our Annual Leadership Awards. From administrators who demonstrate exceptional commitment to the development of chaplaincy care programs to chaplains who provide chaplaincy care in an exemplary manner, we celebrate the gifts and contributions of those who promote... Read More

Beyond Cure: The Chaplain's Role in Helping Patients Navigate the End-of-life Maze
by Rozann Allyn Shackleton MDiv MA BCC

Who is responsible for teaching people how to die?

This provocative question was posed by Richard Payne, MD, professor of medicine and divinity at Duke Divinity School, who keynoted the John Suydam Kuhlthau Bioethics Conference held recently in New Brunswick, NJ.

Dr. Payne noted the shift from community death (at home surrounded by family) to medicalized death (often hooked up to numerous machines in hospital ICUs). Further he described this medicalization as often reducing suffering to pain and reducing care to pain management. Read More

Call for APC™ Annual Conference Poster Presenters
by Rev. Anne Lange MDiv BCC

APC™'s Conference Education Task Force invites you to submit poster presentation proposals for the 2017 APC™ Annual Conference by Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. The accepted posters will be displayed in the hallways around the conference from Friday to Sunday, June 22-25. There will be a special session from 5:30-6:45 pm on Saturday that will bring a crowd of chaplains, peers and students to see your poster, converse about it...Read More

BioEthics in the Work of Professional Chaplains
by Rabbi Jodie Futornick MA BCC

I am excited to share with our APC™ membership news about the new Bioethics Standards of Practice Task Force.

Professional chaplains encounter ethical issues in just about every aspect of their work with patients, family and staff. The new task force was established to formalize the place of bioethics in the work of professional chaplains.

We are approaching our work in two distinct phases: Read More

A Call for Spiritual Care Research Volunteers

U.S. healthcare pay-for-performance necessitates objectification of the results of clinical pastoral/spiritual care in order to provide demonstrable, replicable, evidence based best practices resulting in desired outcomes. Toward that end a content analysis of the 83 spiritual care case vignettes in The Pastoral Caregiver's Casebook, Volume One (Judson, 2015) identified and italicized words and phrases suggesting effectiveness. The most effective five cases (six or more words and/or phrases indicating effectiveness) underwent a more thorough analysis.. Read More

Ideas
Resource Reviews for Continuing Education and Reference February 2017

Critical Care: Delivering Spiritual Care in Healthcare Contexts by Jonathan Pye, Peter Sedgwick and Andrew Todd

Spiritual Care with Sick Children and Young People: A handbook for chaplains, paediatric health professionals, arts therapists and youth workers by Paul Nash, Kathryn Darby and Sally Nash

Our Religious Brains: What Cognitive Science Reveals about Belief, Morality, Community and Our Relationship with God by Ralph D. Mecklenburger

Overcoming Stress: Advice for People Who Give Too Much by Tim Cantopher
... Read More

Learn More about the Claremont School of Theology

Learn More about the Institute of Pastoral Studies

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APC^TM extends our sympathy to the family and friends of members who have died. Memorials are listed on the website in alphabetical order by last name.

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Save the date:
2017 APC^TM Annual Conference
June 22-25, 2017, Houston, TX

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