Discover the transformative power of spiritual care in healthcare with our enlightening conversation alongside Reverend Christine Davies, an ordained Presbyterian minister and certified pastoral educator. Reverend Davies shares her profound insights on the essential role of hospital chaplaincy and spiritual direction, shedding light on how these practices provide critical emotional and spiritual support during life's most challenging moments, including trauma and end-of-life situations. Through our engaging dialogue, you'll learn how spiritual care can complement traditional medical treatments, offering a holistic approach to healing that honors both body and spirit.
Together, we explore the nuances of spiritual direction and its unique ability to guide individuals in their spiritual journeys, distinct from therapy or coaching. Reverend Davies and I discuss the importance of integrating spirituality into medical practice, highlighting how it enriches caregiving by fostering deeper self-understanding and clarity. We also touch on the vital role of self-care and support systems for healthcare professionals, emphasizing the necessity of community and self-awareness in maintaining well-being. Join us for an episode that promises to broaden your perspective on the integral connection between spirituality and healthcare.
Contact Information for Rev. Christine Davies
https://www.christinevdavies.com/
https://www.instagram.com/cvdavies/
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*Disclaimer: While our discussions aim to inform and educate, it's important to remember that the content provided here is for educational purposes only. We strongly advise consulting your healthcare professional before implementing any advice or recommendations from our guests.
Speaker 1: When I was in the throes of going through my
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initial diagnosis, I had a lot of atrocious bedside manner from
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some of the physicians that I was working with and didn't feel
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like they saw me and what I was going through.
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And it was around that same time that the church I had been
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attending received a new associate pastor and she took me
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out to dinner and just talked about what it was like to have
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to lose my license or have these medications that made my hair
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fall out, or to not know when I was going to have a seizure and
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fall out.
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I remember thinking afterwards I'm like, oh, that's a different
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type of healing too.
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And looking back on it, she was giving me spiritual care, which
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is now what I try to do.
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Speaker 2: You're listening to Cold Press Conversations with Dr
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Jewel White-Williams, a lover of numbers, lists and a good
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glass of cold press juice, who is sharing episodes each week to
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help you explore the back end of health care and health
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sciences of healthcare and health sciences, where a lot of
00:01:03
that grit is done.
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We'll dive into topics covering research, education and
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clinical practices, as well as guest shows with other leaders
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in the field.
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Pull up a seat and let's dive into these amazing and
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game-changing conversations.
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Hello, hello.
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This is Dr Jewell with Cold Press Conversations.
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As you know, this is a health and education podcast.
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I am here to present to you some really good information
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today.
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As you know that, I have discussed a little bit about
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faith here and there throughout my episodes, and I'm just going
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to say it very kindly that sometimes, when we pray for what
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we are looking for and if I step on anyone's toes, sorry
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about it, but this is going to be Jewel, dr Jewel all the way,
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jewel herself Sometimes our prayers are answered and,
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believe it or not, the prayer was even deeper than I thought.
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Sometimes he gives us what we need, and I currently have
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Reverend Christine Davies.
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Speaker 1: Hey how you doing.
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Speaker 2: Hello, I'm thrilled to be here.
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I am very thrilled.
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I'm thrilled because we talk about health and we talk about
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how we talk about the community itself and you do so so much.
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And before I go any further, I want them to hear who you are.
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Based off of just your bio, the Reverend Christine Von Davies
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is an ordained Presbyterian minister, a certified educator
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with the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education, a seminary
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professor and a trained spiritual director.
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Christine earned her Master of Divinity degree from Princeton
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Theological Seminary and a Master of Social Work degree
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from Rutgers University.
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With over two decades of experience as a hospital
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chaplain, pastoral educator, cognitive behavioral therapist
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and healthcare administrator, christine brings a wealth of
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real-world knowledge to her work .
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She lives with her family in a small farm in New Jersey and
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spends time chasing chickens, chauffeuring her school-age
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children to all their activities .
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It sounds like I have someone from the country and I'm so
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elated.
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There's nothing like the peace of a farm.
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Speaker 1: Some days.
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Some days it's more work than it's worth.
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Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much for just coming.
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One thing people do not realize is that most hospitals I
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haven't seen one yet that doesn't have one but they have a
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chapel and it is non-denominational.
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They have everything and anything a person needs, that's
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there.
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They have chaplains who are there in the hospital to help
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patients.
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I just want to start off.
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Just give me a little bit about your background first, if you
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don't mind your current practice , and then delve into what
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exactly is hospital chaplaincy.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely, so maybe I'll start there and then go
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into how I got there.
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So a hospital chaplain is someone who is certified and
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trained and has their own religious background.
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So I, for instance, I'm a Presbyterian minister, as you
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said, but we are trained to be with individuals of all faith
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traditions or no faith tradition , and it is a professional field
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.
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So people do need a master's degree in divinity or theology
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or something equivalent to that, as well as 1600 hours of
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postgraduate training.
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Speaker 2: So it is a lot.
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Speaker 1: And I get to teach that training which I love to do
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for chaplain interns and residents, and sometimes clergy,
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who are already established in their field but really trying to
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increase their efficiency in their spiritual caregiving.
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Trying to increase their efficiency in their spiritual
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caregiving and so, yes, most hospitals have us integrated in
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various ways.
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So sometimes that is going to all of the traumas that come
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into the hospital as the family support person, because you can
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imagine getting a call that your loved one's been in a car
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accident and we are there to be the support person for that
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family member and to help liaison with the medical team so
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that they can get information as quickly as possible and then
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if, unfortunately, that patient does not make it through their
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injuries and dies, we are there to provide that support and that
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bereavement care to the families.
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We see people all over the hospital.
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Sometimes it is at end of life and death.
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That's probably about 80% of what we do, but not all of what
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we do.
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Being in the hospital can bring about so many different issues
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for people even just waiting around, and you have all this
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time to think through things and your body is failing you in new
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and different ways.
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So I like to describe chaplaincy as an extra layer of
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emotional and spiritual support.
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We're there to tend to your whole person.
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That's a little bit about hospital chaplaincy.
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People ask me all the time how did you get into this?
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Speaker 2: This wasn't on the Was this automatically always on
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your radar?
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Speaker 1: It was a little bit of a circuitous journey, but I
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grew up in the church.
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My family took me to the local Presbyterian church and I was
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very into it.
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I think they were confused as to why I liked it so much.
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But I went to youth group.
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I served as a deacon, sang in the choir even though I cannot
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sing to carry a tune and was convinced at a young age of
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God's presence in my life and thought that God wanted me to
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help the most people possible.
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That's what I determined that I was to do, and I thought that
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that was going to be through becoming a doctor.
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I was convinced that that's how I can help people, and my mom
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was a nurse, so I think she kind of pushed that dream along.
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And so, you know, at a young age I was a candy striper in the
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hospital back when we had those , you know, in the pinafores and
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and it was actually there I ran into a surgeon.
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I probably ran into him with, like my little flower cart that
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I was pushing as I was handing out flowers to patients, and he
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said you know, why do you want to do this?
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I was like I want to be a doctor, like you.
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He's like well, then, go be an EMT, like that's where you learn
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all of what it entails, and so having that in common with you,
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that was a lot of what led me to this journey, because it was
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being in the box of the ambulance with people you know I
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could do the minimal repair of, you know, tending to their
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wounds, giving them oxygen, ensuring that safe transport,
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but it was holding their hands while they were saying, why is
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this happening to me?
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It was being present to them in their suffering.
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That really helped me to see, oh, there's more than one way to
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heal people.
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And it was around that same time I became a patient myself
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and I was in and out of hospitals.
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Eventually I was diagnosed with what I have today, which is
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generalized epilepsy, which I'm very thankful is well controlled
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and I have fantastic neurologists that I work with.
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But when I was in the throes of going through my initial
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diagnosis, I had a lot of atrocious bedside manner from
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some of the physicians that I was working with and didn't feel
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like they saw me and what I was going through.
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And it was around that same time that the church I had been
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attending received a new associate pastor and she took me
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out to dinner and just talked about you know what it was like
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to have to lose my license or have these medications that you
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know made my hair fall out or to not know when I was going to,
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you know, have a seizure and fall out.
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I remember thinking afterwards I'm like, oh, that's a different
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type of healing too.
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And looking back on it, she was giving me spiritual care, which
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is now what I try to do for patients and teach others how to
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give that spiritual care.
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So that's what led me back into working in the hospitals, is
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figuring out this chaplaincy piece, and when I did my
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internship I fell in love with it, and so now I get to talk to
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people all the time about what's going on with them emotionally
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and spiritually.
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Speaker 2: That is incredible.
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That is incredible so it did come from your own personal side
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and the way that you have evolved in your position,
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because I even went to your website.
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I looked at a lot of the other areas that you've provided to me
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.
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Even though you're a chaplain and we know that chaplains are
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supposed to give and they're supposed to listen you're giving
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.
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I found it a little bit different, and the reason I say
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that is because on your website, you do focus on one particular
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way of helping people.
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Do you want to go into in a little bit about what it is that
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you do, cause I don't want to say the name but go for it.
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Speaker 1: Sure.
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So um do?
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I'm trying to figure out.
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Oh, what is she talking about?
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For my website, I think I do two things that are probably
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featured on there.
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One is I do a lot of writing, and so people can follow my
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newsletter if they want to read more about chaplaincy and some
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of the educational tips for how to care for people.
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So that's on there.
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The other thing that I do is individual spiritual direction.
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So I that's it.
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That's what you're talking about, and I also write about
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that as well.
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So, spiritual direction I didn't know what this was until I went
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into seminary.
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It's kind of this best kept secret that started in the
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church and now is much more outside of the church.
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It started in the church and now is much more outside of the
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church.
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But I was like what you know?
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What is this?
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And it is meeting with a spiritual director.
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Some people call it a spiritual companion, sometimes they say
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spiritual guide, but it is a trained program that people go
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through it's two to three years to how to sit and listen to
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other people, and we talk about what the divine might be doing
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in your life, and for some people that's going to be God or
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Jesus.
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For others it's going to be spirit or transcendent Um, so it
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is really beyond um, religion and denominations.
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But it's what are you feeling invited to in your life?
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What are you longing for?
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And so it's this beautiful conversation.
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I usually meet with my individuals about once a month,
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sometimes every other week, and we're just listening for God's
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movement together.
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And so I have a lot of clergy who are clients.
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So the clergy have been used to using this type of thing
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because they're like I want to go deeper in my spiritual
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practices or I'm feeling really disconnected from God right now
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or I'm feeling really angry at God.
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So it's a safe space to name these things that we might be
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going through.
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And the reason that I started that was because I love my work
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as a hospital chaplain and as an educator of chaplains.
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But it's short term.
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I'm seeing people usually in the hospital on the worst day of
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their lives and then I never know what happens to them.
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That you know ongoing and I missed having that relationship
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with people over time.
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And so, with the people I'm providing spiritual direction
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for, I'm able to get to be with them and witness their journey,
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you know, over the course of years and and see.
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You know where, where their life is leading them and so it's
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.
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Some people ask what the difference is between spiritual
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direction and therapy or like coaching and that sort of thing,
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and I would say that in spiritual direction we are
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focused on what you are listening for or longing for in
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your spiritual relationships.
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There are therapeutic elements that certainly come up, because
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that's going to impact your sense of spirituality as well.
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Many of my individuals that I work with sometimes people call
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them spiritual directees.
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I don't love that term, it doesn't roll off my tongue, um,
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but it feels like we are.
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You know we're in it together and it's much more so than
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clients or you know.
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So I'm still struggling sometimes with the language that
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I use.
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But, um, we, uh, many of my spiritual directees are also in
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therapy and we'll bring in therapeutic issues to with my
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work.
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But then we'll also say, oh, okay, I'm going to tell my
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spiritual director that you said this and um, and so sometimes
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the other thing I sometimes do is consultation with um
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therapists to, um, when there are spiritual issues that are
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coming up for um, their clients that they're working with.
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So that's a uh, kind of a third realm.
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But if people haven't experienced spiritual direction
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before, I would invite them to try it.
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Certainly they're welcome to try me out, but there's lots of
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spiritual directors out there, and if you go to spiritual
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directors international, which is sdiorg, there is a whole
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database, and so you may want to meet with people in person, or
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you may want to meet with people on zoom, or you may want to
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meet with people on zoom.
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I do mostly zoom, although if you're in new jersey, you can
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come to my farm and have spiritual direction there, and
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sometimes people want someone of the same faith tradition.
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Sometimes they want them of a different faith tradition and
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you can read everyone's you know bios there and try it out, and
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sometimes I'm also recommending different practices so we might
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meditate together during that time, or certainly we're praying
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together or sitting in contemplative silence together.
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There's all different ways of being, and so I encourage it to
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anyone that is feeling pulled to pay more attention to their
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spiritual lives.
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Speaker 2: It's almost like the discernment.
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Speaker 1: We deal with a lot of discernment, absolutely.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds a lot like discernment, and the
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reason I brought that up is because we talk about religion,
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we talk about spirituality and there's a difference between
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each.
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So, if you don't mind, just giving us how is religion and
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spirituality different?
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And then, how can medical practitioners be the spiritual
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care generalist?
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Because I think the reason I brought up your spiritual
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direction for intentionally is because you have a lot of
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thoughts.
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If you are of some type of believer, you have a lot of
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thoughts.
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When you are in the field as a medical practitioner or a
00:15:09
clinician or someone who's providing care, you have that,
00:15:13
and so sometimes you need to have that moment.
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How are they?
00:15:15
Like a spiritual journalist as well.
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So I gave you two, sorry about that, but I think the spiritual
00:15:23
discernment.
00:15:23
That's why I didn't want to say it out front it kind of gives us
00:15:26
an idea of why that piece is needed or that form of
00:15:31
discernment or that meditation is needed to kind of learn more
00:15:34
about who we are to be better caregivers, so that's why I put
00:15:38
those together.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it makes perfect sense to me.
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So we'll start off defining the difference between religion and
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spirituality.
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So, and these are my definitions.
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There's all sorts of I don't think there's great definitions
00:15:50
out there, but there are lots, but this is how I define it for
00:15:53
my purposes.
00:15:54
So religion is an agreed upon set of rituals, practices and
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beliefs held by a community for the sake of communing with the
00:16:05
divine.
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So that could be different churches or synagogues or
00:16:10
mosques, different denominations , different faith beliefs, but
00:16:13
the idea is that it's a community for that purpose.
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Now, religion comes with so much baggage and so many of the
00:16:22
individuals that I see in the hospital or in my private
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practice say, oh, I walk into a hospital room and I explain I'm
00:16:33
the chaplain.
00:16:33
They're like I, not religious.
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I say that's okay, I'm not.
00:16:36
You know I'm not the church attendance police.
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You know I'm not here to proselytize or to convert you.
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What I am here to do is to really check in with how things
00:16:45
are going with you.
00:16:47
So spirituality is defined as how you connect to and explore
00:16:53
the world within and around you, how you make meaning of your
00:16:58
experiences and how you find transcendence.
00:17:02
So for some of us, we're going to get into that spirituality
00:17:07
through religion.
00:17:09
For others of us, religion is not a part of it and we can
00:17:13
still hold on to spirituality, and for others it's going to be
00:17:17
a mix of those different things.
00:17:18
Another way I like to explore spirituality from the health
00:17:24
perspective is really defining it even further as three points
00:17:29
of connection.
00:17:29
So I believe that spirituality can be how we connect with
00:17:34
ourselves, how we feel rooted in who we are, how we connect with
00:17:40
others that may be our community, that may be our
00:17:43
family, and then how we connect with the divine, which for some
00:17:48
people may be God, for some people may be nature or the
00:17:50
universe.
00:17:51
So in those three points of connection there can be
00:17:56
disconnection that occurs and we see a lot of that in the
00:18:00
hospital certainly and those are opportunities where there may
00:18:04
be something that is called spiritual distress.
00:18:06
So, for example, if I'm a patient in the hospital, I may
00:18:11
not feel very connected with myself.
00:18:13
If my gallbladder is refusing to function and I'm having
00:18:19
significant issues related to that, I may never have thought
00:18:22
about my gallbladder in my life before.
00:18:25
And now all of a sudden, you know, I don't, I don't feel like
00:18:28
myself, like, and I'm feeling disconnected, right,
00:18:33
community-wise, I am far away from you know, my loved ones, if
00:18:37
I'm spending the nights in the hospital.
00:18:38
I met with a patient the other day and he was in there for
00:18:42
something so routine.
00:18:43
But he said you know, I've been married for 50 years and I've
00:18:47
never not spent the night with my wife, and here I'm in the
00:18:50
hospital away from her.
00:18:51
So even if it's a temporary disconnection, it's still a
00:18:53
disconnection.
00:18:54
We kind of all went through that community disconnection
00:19:00
during COVID when we couldn't be in the physical presence of our
00:19:01
so many of our loved ones.
00:19:02
So we know what that can do.
00:19:03
And then it's also, you know, there's a potential for
00:19:08
disconnection from the divine or how we make meaning.
00:19:10
So you know, if I have a patient who has just been
00:19:13
diagnosed with lung cancer and she says to me I've never smoked
00:19:17
a day in my life, I don't understand this and she may be
00:19:22
interpreting it in certain ways.
00:19:23
Sometimes I hear patients say like I don't know why God is
00:19:26
doing this to me, right, and so that's where we come in and we
00:19:29
explore how they're making meaning of things.
00:19:31
So there's opportunities for disconnection at all of those
00:19:35
levels.
00:19:37
So the other question you asked is you know healthcare providers
00:19:39
are what we call spiritual generalists.
00:19:43
So as a generalist, you are dealing with the patient in your
00:19:48
scope of expertise, but you know when to call the specialist
00:19:52
, right?
00:19:52
So if I'm talking to a doctor who's an internist, you know he
00:19:57
might say, oh, I need a cardiologist to look at this
00:20:00
thing, right?
00:20:01
So sometimes you're going to need to call the chaplain.
00:20:03
Is the specialist?
00:20:04
Sometimes you're going to need to call the specialist.
00:20:06
But you all are generalists by seeing the person as a person, a
00:20:13
whole person, not just the diagnosis or whatever is going
00:20:18
on with them, like when you are in the back of the ambulance, it
00:20:21
is, you know, attending to their emotional side.
00:20:25
You know listening to them as they are saying.
00:20:28
You know, oh, why is this happening?
00:20:30
Or you know assuring them that you're there with them bearing
00:20:34
witness to their suffering.
00:20:35
All of that is doing the work of a spiritual care generalist.
00:20:40
Now, when you get to the hospital and you think, okay,
00:20:43
this person needs more help, you may call in the chaplain for
00:20:47
that reason, or for any of your listeners, if they're nurses or
00:20:52
doctors and the patient's asking things like why is this
00:20:57
happening?
00:20:57
Or maybe they're just really tearful and you're not sure why.
00:20:59
You're looking for those opportunities of spiritual
00:21:02
distress where maybe you notice that I teach my nursing staff if
00:21:08
someone hasn't gotten a visitor , if they're a patient in the
00:21:10
hospital and they've had no visitors, call us.
00:21:13
They might be really lonely and maybe not.
00:21:15
Maybe some every once in a while.
00:21:17
People just don't want people to see them in the hospital, but
00:21:20
it could be that they're feeling really disconnected from their
00:21:24
loved ones, or we recommend people call us in when there is
00:21:28
a new diagnosis, because again, that might trip up some people
00:21:32
in terms of not trusting themselves and wanting this is
00:21:36
happening.
00:21:36
So I've just said a lot there.
00:21:38
I think I answered your question.
00:21:39
Speaker 2: No, reverend Davies, it all connected and that's the
00:21:42
reason why I wanted oh, call me Christine.
00:21:43
Thank you, christine.
00:21:45
That's why I wanted to kind of pull it in, because we have to
00:21:48
help the listeners understand the perspective and what you're
00:21:52
doing and how it all encompasses within healthcare, and I needed
00:21:58
to break it down and I think what you've done, if you've
00:22:00
break it down, and I think what you've done is you've broken it
00:22:02
down so that they can really and truly understand the path in
00:22:06
which you have taken and how there are resources within the
00:22:12
hospital, how medical professionals are generalists in
00:22:17
their own way, based off of how they work with people, and that
00:22:20
when they hear the word chaplain in a hospital, it
00:22:23
doesn't mean you need to start running.
00:22:28
Speaker 1: Yes, Sometimes when I go into a room, a patient says
00:22:30
to me why did they send you?
00:22:32
What did the doctor not tell me ?
00:22:34
They think I'm the grim reaper.
00:22:38
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, they sent the chaplain.
00:22:40
Did the doctor not tell me something you know?
00:22:42
kind of one of those things where you're like no, no, no, no
00:22:44
, no, not at all, not at all.
00:22:46
Yes, and you have to give them that comfort, and that's the
00:22:49
reason why I wanted to have you here, because this happens, you
00:22:52
know this happens, and there's so many people within the
00:22:56
hospital.
00:22:57
There's a care team that's there and you are part of the
00:23:01
care team, along other people with the care team that is.
00:23:05
They're there to help exclusively to help with
00:23:09
patients to get through whatever they're going through, and you
00:23:12
mentioned that.
00:23:13
You mentioned that, which is amazing.
00:23:14
But I do have one other question, because I know we're
00:23:17
getting close to the end.
00:23:18
Do you have some challenges that you do have as a hospital
00:23:22
chaplain, when you're trying to be effective and compassionate
00:23:26
with the patients and their families and that's the reason
00:23:29
why I brought that up because they see you and like, oh my
00:23:31
gosh, how do you work through that challenge?
00:23:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, I always respect where a patient or a
00:23:40
family may be coming from.
00:23:41
They can say no to me.
00:23:44
They have every right to kick me out of the room, and some do.
00:23:47
And a lot of what I teach my students is oh, don't take it
00:23:50
personally.
00:23:51
And so, wanting people to know that from people.
00:23:59
When I'm talking with them and maybe we've, you know, been
00:24:03
together for 30, 40 minutes and at the end they say to me
00:24:06
they're like you know, when you first walked in here, I didn't
00:24:08
think that I wanted to talk to you, but now I'm really glad
00:24:12
that I did.
00:24:13
And sometimes they'll tell me things that they've not been
00:24:16
able to share with anyone else, particularly if I'm talking with
00:24:20
a patient.
00:24:21
You know they may say to me you know, my family just wants me
00:24:25
to be strong and to fight this, but I'm really tired and I'm
00:24:30
ready to die, but I can't say that to them because they can't
00:24:34
hear that.
00:24:34
Or sometimes I'll be with, with patients where it's it's not
00:24:38
even the medical piece that we're talking about so much, but
00:24:40
what's weighing on them is something that's going on, um,
00:24:45
you know, in their um, in their families, right, and and and
00:24:50
they're worried about their families or others.
00:24:52
I'm hearing stories of, um, you know, religious toxicity that
00:24:56
they grew up with and stories of , uh, religious abuse or trauma
00:25:01
that they've not had the opportunity to tell anyone about
00:25:04
.
00:25:04
But because I am, you know, this religious authority, if, if
00:25:09
, if you're listening to this, I'm using air quotes.
00:25:12
You know I don't consider myself that big of an authority, but
00:25:14
for other people they see me, I'm a, you know, I am a clergy
00:25:17
person, and so the fact that they can share what they went
00:25:22
through and and have me be able to say to them you know, that is
00:25:25
not right and that can be a step toward healing, especially,
00:25:29
um, for a lot of the people that I talked to.
00:25:31
Um, you know they have sworn off uh, religion as an
00:25:35
institution because of, you know , the uh, as I said before, it
00:25:40
can be, um, you know there's so many failures of it as an
00:25:45
institution and it has caused a lot of harm to people, and so
00:25:47
being able to unpack that and say, okay, absolutely, that is a
00:25:53
place of harm for you, but that also doesn't mean that you
00:25:55
don't have a right to have any spirituality whatsoever, and so
00:25:58
really getting to claim some of that for themselves, as we close
00:26:02
, I just have one question for you because, as counselors, I
00:26:07
have several friends who are licensed counselors, who are
00:26:13
actual practitioners.
00:26:15
Speaker 2: There's self-care practices that go along with
00:26:17
this, and we talk about self-care practices for people
00:26:19
who work in the health industry, and I'm sure you have to go
00:26:22
through your own self-care practices.
00:26:24
What are some self-care practices that you find most
00:26:28
effective so that you continue to remain strong within your
00:26:32
spiritual and emotional wellbeing?
00:26:35
Speaker 1: It's a great question and I think the first and I
00:26:39
think the first I have my own team of professionals that I'm
00:26:45
relying on, so I have my own therapist.
00:26:48
I have my own spiritual director who I meet with.
00:26:52
I have my own massage therapist Used to have a chiropractor he
00:26:56
just retired.
00:26:57
I make sure that I'm seeing my physician for my yearly checkups
00:27:04
and, like I said, my neurologist, and so I have a lot
00:27:06
of people in my corner professionally and then I have a
00:27:09
lot of people in my corner personally as well.
00:27:11
So I meet regularly In fact, I just had my meeting this morning
00:27:15
.
00:27:15
I meet regularly with other chaplains or people who are
00:27:21
teaching chaplains, the CPE educators, so that we can
00:27:25
process things together.
00:27:27
I meet with other spiritual directors so that we can consult
00:27:31
with one another and also have that space.
00:27:33
I have friends that are in the church world and clergy world,
00:27:38
and then I have friends that are not, and so being able to, you
00:27:43
know, rely on others, to know that I can't do this alone, is
00:27:48
huge for me.
00:27:49
So I encourage your listeners if they're thinking about
00:27:52
self-care.
00:27:52
Sometimes self-care is making sure that you have people around
00:27:55
you who can support you in this , in whatever work you're doing.
00:28:01
And then, specific to me, I really enjoy any sort of
00:28:04
embodiment practice.
00:28:06
So I don't like to run but I do it.
00:28:09
But biking or swimming or, you know, even just walking or yoga
00:28:14
for me is helpful to have that, that physical way of working
00:28:18
things out.
00:28:19
And there's been an increase in research recently, especially
00:28:23
within trauma right, that talks about you know, processing
00:28:27
verbally is helpful, but sometimes we really need that
00:28:30
physical manifestation of you know how are you working out
00:28:35
your stresses.
00:28:36
And then the last piece I'll share what we hinted at before
00:28:39
is living on a farm.
00:28:40
You know I used to live in New York City Now I live about.
00:28:43
Eight years ago I moved to this farm and I have you know, you
00:28:46
read about I have chickens and bees my son's trying to talk me
00:28:49
into goats right now, but you know I can sit on my porch and
00:28:53
hear you know, seven different types of birds and it's just
00:28:57
coming home to a place.
00:28:58
That is because I work in a city, in the hospital, but
00:29:01
coming home to a place that is just, you know, beautiful and
00:29:04
different and remote and, like I said, there's always, you know,
00:29:10
a ditch to be dug or, you know, our power was out this morning.
00:29:12
There's always those types of things as well.
00:29:14
It's not always idyllic, but it helps me to be connected and
00:29:18
grounded in nature and find God in that way.
00:29:22
Speaker 2: Oh, I love it.
00:29:23
Well, christine, I really want to say thank you so much for
00:29:27
just being on Cold Press Conversations.
00:29:28
We did take a spin on looking at chaplaincy from a health side
00:29:35
, and I am very grateful that you were able to do this,
00:29:39
because I want people to know that there are people out there
00:29:43
to help you while you're in the hospital, even though we have
00:29:46
the physicians, the nurses, the radiologists, the laboratory,
00:29:50
the phlebotomists, but we also have chaplains, social workers,
00:29:53
case managers that are there to help.
00:29:55
It is a team that's there to help and I just want to say
00:29:59
thank you so, so much for joining me.
00:30:02
Speaker 1: Oh, it was a pleasure to be here.
00:30:03
Thanks for having me.
00:30:04
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.
00:30:05
Is there any one little thing you want to leave with our
00:30:09
listeners today?
00:30:10
Speaker 1: Oh well, I hope that they can get in touch with their
00:30:13
sense of spirituality and allow themselves to have that and
00:30:17
maybe do a quick check-in with themselves.
00:30:19
Where are they feeling connected to themselves, when
00:30:22
are they feeling connected to others and where are they
00:30:25
feeling connected to the divine, However they may phrase that
00:30:29
for themselves?
00:30:30
Speaker 2: Well, that was a beautiful way to end this.
00:30:32
It really was and I just want to say I thank you very, very
00:30:35
much for everyone who's listening to Cold Press
00:30:39
Conversations.
00:30:39
I appreciate you, christine, for shedding the light on
00:30:47
something that is definitely needing to be heard by others.
00:30:49
As you know, I have medical professionals who listen.
00:30:51
I have our everyday people who listen.
00:30:52
The audience is very broad, regardless and I really thank
00:30:55
you very much, until next time.
00:30:56
This is Dr Jewel, and I just want to say take care of
00:30:59
yourself.
00:30:59
Remember the knowledge is power and when it comes to health,
00:31:02
you need to say thank you to my health and thank you for my
00:31:05
cognitive happiness.
00:31:06
This is Dr Jewel Take care.
00:31:08
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Cold Press Conversations.
00:31:13
If you love this episode as much as I did, I need you to
00:31:17
head on over and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
00:31:20
This is Dr Jewel signing off to health and cognitive happiness.
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