OMC's Provincial Educational Conference 24 - 25 June, 2008 at Glendon College
Theme: Spiritual Care: A Healing Presence
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Post Conference Posts:
- Conference Evaluation Questionnaire / Workshop Evaluation Questionnaire
- Guest Speaker: Dr. Peter Barnes
- Guidelines for arranging group visits to Houses of Worship, By JW Windland
- Workshops: Grief, by Tom Easthope {details coming soon}; Holy Silence by Pearly Susan Daniel ; Caring for the Caregivers, Bill of rights for Chaplains, Breathing exercises, tension and release by Michael Abdurrashid Taylor
- Panel Discussions: Healing and Judaism, by Ronald Weiss {details coming soon}; Healing and Islam, by Habeeb Alli; Spiritual Care healing by Harsharan Singh; Pagan Healing by Richard James; Healing and Hinduism, by Roopnath Sharma {details coming soon}
- Post Conference message from the President, OMC: Thought this would be encouraging & delightful and for those at last week's conference, another take. Blessings, Ray Czajkowski. Healing Water
Resources on Healing Presence Printed resources, such as,
The Healing Presence. Spiritual Exercises for Healing, Wellness, and Recovery by Thomas A. Droege.
The Art of being a Healing Presence by James E. Miller.
Healing Presence: A Select List of resources at OMC's The Multifaith Library [NB. This bibliography includes many items (print, online and audio-visuals), some online sources are listed below]: - CARING FOR CAREGIVERS: A Resource for Congregations
- Are you a healing presence where you work?
- Healing presence as therapeutic phenomenon. Doctoral candidacy essay,
- Healing Presence: Creating a Culture that Promotes Spiritual Care and powerpoint. by Carol Taylor
- A Fierce Presence, by Rochelle Melander, Alban Weekly (No. 109, August 21, 2006), with permission from the Alban Institute. Adapted from A Generous Presence: Spiritual Leadership and the Art of Coaching by Rochelle Melander. Copyright © 2006 by The Alban Institute, Inc.,
Subject: The Art of Caring @ The Chaplain's Corner, 2 Jul 2008
In their book, The Art of Healing Presence, James Miller and Susan Cutshall share the following story, “An aide bathes an elderly woman who lies in a nursing home bed. The woman seems alert but cannot speak. With care the aide gives the woman a bath and shampoos her hair, talking softly, moving gently. Tasks complete, the aide sits for a few moments beside the woman’s bed, holding and stroking her hand.”
This gentle interchange between caregiver and the one being cared demonstrates some of the subtle qualities of being a healing presence for another. Such presence is an understanding that “both you and the person your accompanying are unique, immersed in different circumstances and roles…but where healing presence (or patient centred-care) is concerned, whoever you are, you’re equal-equally human, equally created, equally capable, equally loved.”
We can become so immersed in the roles we are called to play out in life that we can forget that person who presents before us for care is “equal-equally human, equally created, equally capable, and equally loved.” Any subtle or not-so-subtle changes in the perception of ourselves over another have implications for the care we offer. The minute the estimation we have for another lowers – so does our ability to be a caring presence. We are gifted to empower others rather than to have power over them. This is what Benjamin Disraeli alludes to when he states, “The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to them their own.” The aide in our story above revealed and dignified the humanity of another and in doing so offered healing and sacred presence.
From The Desk Of:Chaplain Donald Shields dshields@msh.on.ca
Coordinator of Spiritual and Religious Care Markham Stouffville Hospital