IASC is an association with the aim to foster exchange in the fields of research and practice of Spiritual Care. Its members are researchers, practitioners, and other interested parties who are involved in Spiritual Care.

IASC Conference 2018, July 8 – 10 in New York City at Union Theological Seminary

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Schedule | Featured Speakers | Lecture Topics | Workshop Descriptions | Registration

Co-sponsored by the Theology/Spiritual Care, Psychology, and Medicine Faculties of the University of Bern, Switzerland and the Psychology & Religion Program at Union Theological Seminary, New York

CEU’s: Lectures and workshops are eligible as self-report CEU’s, Methodology #1, Association of Professional Chaplains/Board of Chaplaincy Certification, www.bcci.professionalchaplains.org.

Joining us from out of town? Contact the Landmark Guest Rooms for housing options on campus, or reserve a discounted hotel room at the Aloft Harlem (2296 Frederick Douglass Boulevard).

SCHEDULE

Sunday, July 8:

IASC Opening Public Event & Reception (FREE, RSVP required)

6:00 pm: Greetings from IASC, Bern University, Switzerland, and Union Theological Seminary

6:15-7:15 pm: Dr. Pamela Cooper-White, “Old and Dirty Gods: Religion, Antisemitism, and the Origins of Psychoanalysis”

7:20-8:20 pm: Dr. Isabelle Noth and Dr. Jessica Lampe, “Internal Religious and Spiritual Struggles”

8:30 pm: Wine & Cheese reception with entertainment with entertainment by Peace Industry Music Group

Monday, July 9

IASC Annual Conference (by registration only)

8:30 am: Registration/info table; coffee, juice & rolls

9:00 am: Welcome remarks from Union and IASC

9:15 am: Lecture I: Dr. Emmanuel Lartey, “Breathing Again: Confronting Toxic Spirituality within and across Religion,” with Q&A

10:45 am: Coffee break

11:15 am: Workshops (choose one):

Dr. Duane R. Bidwell, “Race, Culture, and Complex Religious Bonds: Resolving Legacies of Conflict”

Dr. Nobuo Okamoto & Dr. Toshiyuki Kubotera, “Spiritual Care of Social Welfare in a Multi-cultural Tradition, and the Care of Souls in the Multi-religious Society of Japan”

Dr. Daniel Schipani, “Fundamentalism as Toxic Spirituality: A Spiritual Health/Care View”

Rabbi Mychal B. Springer, “Living in Exile: A Life of Spiritual Conflict”

Dr. Brooke Petersen, “Religious Trauma in the Experience of Queer Persons”

12:30 pm: Lunch on your own (*IASC Board meets over lunch)

2:15 pm: Lecture II: Dr. John Thatamanil, “Does Multiple Religious Belonging Necessarily Entail Internal Conflict?” w/ Q&A

3:45 pm: Cookie & cold drink break

4:00 pm: Workshops (choose one):

Dr. Wim Smeets, “Spiritual Care and Spiritual Conflicts: Spiritual Autobiography, Flexible Spirituality, and Multiple Belonging”

Hana Levine, SCP-C, “All Faith Spiritual Care in the Face of Religious Conflicts”

Dr. Christine Tind Johannessen-Henry, “Secularity as a Challenge in Funeral Pastoral Care”

Chaplain Frank Stüfen, “A Repressed Cultural Conflict Leading to Murder: A Case Study”

Rabbi Jo Hirschmann, BCC, ACPE & Barbara E. Warren, PsyD, “Recognizing and Addressing the Religious/Spiritual Needs of Transgender Patients in the Hospital Setting”

Dr. Alfred Pach, “Relational Psychoanalysis and Dissociation in the Socio-Cultural Context of a Hindu Village in Nepal – Pathways of Illness and Healing”

5:15 pm: General Assembly of IASC membership

6:15 pm: Adjourn for dinner on your own

Tuesday morning, July 10

IASC Annual Conference (by registration only)

8:30 am: Registration/info table; coffee, juice & rolls

9:00 am: Lecture III: Dr. Jerusha Tanner Lamptey, “Muslim Women, Religious Identity, and Agency,” with Q&A

10:30 am: Coffee break

11:00 am: Lecture IV: Dr. Anthony Bossis, “Psilocybin-Generated Mystical Experience Research: Implications for End-of-Life Spiritual Distress,” w/ Q&A

12:30 pm: Wrap-up Panel with plenary speakers and general discussion

1:30 pm: Adjourn!

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Dr. Anthony P. Bossis

Anthony P. Bossis, Ph.D. is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, and was director of palliative care research, co-principal investigator, and a session guide for the 2016 psilocybin cancer-anxiety clinical trial. He is also lead investigator for a clinical trial evaluating the impact of psilocybin-generated mystical experience upon religious leaders. Dr. Bossis is a clinical supervisor of psychotherapy training and the co-founder and former co-director of the Palliative Care Service at Bellevue Hospital. He has a long-standing interest in comparative religion, consciousness research, contemporary psychoanalytic-existential psychotherapy, and the interface of psychology and spirituality. He maintains a private psychotherapy practice in NYC.

Dr. Pamela Cooper-White

Dr. Pamela Cooper-White is the Christiane Brooks Johnson Professor of Psychology and Religion at Union Theological Seminary, New York, and was the 2013-14 Fulbright-Freud Scholar of Psychoanalysis in Vienna. She is the author of 7 books including Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care & Counseling; The Cry of Tamar: Violence against Women and the Church’s Response; and most recently, Old & Dirty Gods: Religion, Antisemitism, and the Origins of Psychoanalysis. She has published over 70 articles and chapters and has lectured frequently across the U.S., Europe, and Israel. She serves on the Board of IASC, and the Steering Committee of the Psychology, Culture & Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion. Dr. Cooper-White holds Ph.D.s from Harvard (historical musicology), and the Institute for Clinical Social Work, Chicago (psychoanalytic practice and research). Dr. Cooper-White is an ordained Episcopal priest.

Dr. Jerusha T. Lamptey

Dr. Jerusha T. Lamptey is a Muslima theologian, scholar, and public educator. She is Assistant Professor of Islam and Interreligious Engagement and Director of the Islam, Social Justice and Interreligious Engagement Program (ISJIE) at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Her research and writing focus on Islamic feminism, interreligious engagement, religious pluralism, and social justice. She has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Theological and Religious Studies with a focus on Religious Pluralism from Georgetown University; an M.A. in Islamic Sciences at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences; and a B.A. in Anthropology and Religion from American University. She is the author of Never Wholly Other: A Muslima Theology of Religious Pluralism (Oxford University Press, 2014) which re-interprets the Qur’anic discourse on religious ‘otherness’ and diversity. Her most recent book (Divine Words, Female Voices: Muslima Explorations in Comparative Feminist Theology, 2018) explores the possibilities of comparative feminist theology.

Dr. Emmanuel Yartekwei Lartey

The Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Yartekwei Lartey is the L. Bevel Jones III Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care, and Counseling at Candler School of Theology. He teaches pastoral theology, care, and counseling at Candler, as well as in the Person, Community, and Religious Life program in Emory’s Graduate Division of Religion. Lartey came to Candler in 2004, and previously taught pastoral and practical theology at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, and at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. Lartey’s research examines pastoral and spiritual care theories and practices operating in African, European and American cultures. An internationally acclaimed scholar, Lartey is recognized as a pioneer in the development of an intercultural approach to pastoral care and counseling, which argues for and models respectful engagement across racial, gender, class, cultural and religious boundaries. His 1997 book, In Living Color: An Intercultural Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling (Jessica Kingsley, 2^nd ed., 2003), now in its second edition, is internationally used as a textbook in pastoral care.

Dr. Isabelle Noth

Dr. Isabelle Noth is Professor of Pastoral Care, Psychology of Religion, and Religious Education, and Director of the Institute for Practical Theology at the University of Bern/Switzerland. She serves as President of the Chaplaincy and Pastoral Counseling Training Programs in Switzerland, as President of Advanced Studies in Spiritual Care and Religious Care in Migration Contexts at the University of Bern. Publication relevant for the topic: Palliative and Spiritual Care (2014), co-edited with Claudia Kohli Reichenbach; Pastoral and Spiritual Care Across Religions and Cultures (2017), co-edited with Georg Wenz and Emmanuel Schweizer. She is the founding President of IASC.

Dr. John J. Thatamanil

Dr. John J. Thatamanil teaches a wide variety of courses in the areas of comparative theology, theologies of religious diversity, Hindu-Christian dialogue, the theology of Paul Tillich, theory of religion, and process theology. He is committed to the work of comparative theology— a theology that learns from and with a variety of traditions. He is the author of The Immanent Divine: God, Creation, and the Human Predicament, an exercise in constructive comparative theology; An East-West Conversation, providing the foundation for a nondualist Christian theology worked out through a conversation between Paul Tillich and Sankara (Hindu Advaita Vedanta tradition). Works in progress include 2 books: The Promise of Religious Diversity: Constructive Theology After Religion and Theology without Borders: Religious Diversity and Theological Method. He also co-edits the Fordham book series “Comparative Theology: Thinking across Traditions.” Dr. Thatamanil is a past-president of the North American Paul Tillich Society (NAPTS) and the founding Chair of the American Academy of Religion’s Theological Education Committee.

Dr. Jessica Lampe

Dr. Jessica Lampe is a post-doctoral researcher in the division of Pastoral Care, Psychology of Religion, and Religious Education at the Institute of Practical Theology, University of Bern in Switzerland. She has a BA in Psychology, a MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare, and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences on the topic of positive emotions and emotional contagion. Her habilitation project is within the University of Berne Interfaculty Research Cooperation on religious conflicts and coping strategies on the topic of “Religious coping styles among people dealing with internal religious and spiritual struggles”.

LECTURE TOPICS

“Old and Dirty Gods: Religion, Antisemitism, and the Origins of Psychoanalysis” by Dr. Pamela Cooper-White

This lecture, based on the new book of the same title, will examine the historical roots of psychoanalysis in the margins of 20^th century Viennese society, in which religious conflict and oppression, particularly in the form of racial antisemitism, can be seen as underlying the insights of psychoanalysis at its origins – with its emphasis on uncovering what lies beneath the surface of the dominant culture, i.e., sex and aggression. The lecture will conclude with implications for the discipline of pastoral and spiritual care.

“Internal Religious and Spiritual Struggles” by Dr. Isabelle Noth & Dr. Jessica Lampe

In this lecture, we will present our new empirical research project on religious and spiritual struggles. This project will help to reveal the psychological mechanisms underlying religious conflicts manifested through internal religious/spiritual struggles. It will shed new light on recent findings on individual and social challenges in the realm of religion and can be applied to different societal discourses.

“Breathing Again: Confronting Toxic Spirituality within and across Religion” by Dr. Emmanuel Yartekwei Lartey

History attests to the fact that every religion has the potential to do good as well as harm. This lecture explores ways of being religious that may be harmful, and how healthy spirituality may be promoted across religious traditions.

“Does Multiple Religious Belonging Necessarily Entail Internal Conflict?” by Dr. John J. Thatamanil

This paper will seek to explore the contested question of multiple religious belonging and compare it with another kind of multiplicity that is left largely un-interrogated: one’s participation in one’s religious tradition and one’s all-encompassing participation in neoliberal modes of capitalist life. Why is it questionable to be Buddhist-Christian but not a capitalist-Christian?

“Muslim Women, Religious Identity, and Agency” by Dr. Jerusha Tanner Lamptey

This talk will explore the impact of patriarchy and anti-Muslim bias on expressions and negotiations of religious identity among Muslim women in the United States.

“Psilocybin-Generated Mystical Experience Research: Implications for End-of-Life Psycho-Spiritual Distress” by Dr. Anthony Bossis

This presentation will review findings and implications from FDA-approved research using psilocybin (the psychoactive compound found in specific mushrooms). The NYU School of Medicine clinical trial published in 2016 demonstrated the efficacy of a single psilocybin-generated mystical experience in helping individuals with cancer find meaning, existential and spiritual well-being, and a greater acceptance of the dying process, while markedly reducing anxiety, depression, and existential distress – landmark scientific findings never before demonstrated in medicine or psychiatry. Subjective features of a mystical experience include unity, sacredness, transcendence, ineffability, and a greater connection to deeply felt positive emotions including that of love. This research offers a novel therapeutic approach to promote meaning and openness to the mystery of death, and has implications for the enhanced study of religion and consciousness.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

Monday 11:15 am -12:30 pm

Race, Culture, and Complex Religious Bonds: Resolving Legacies of Conflict

Spiritually fluid people—those who maintain bonds to more than one religion at the same time—are more likely to inherit than choose multiplicity. Yet professionals tend to ignore or minimize the racial, ethnic, and cultural dimensions of complex religious bonds. This workshop engages the experiences of four spiritually people to explore complex religious bonds as a postcolonial strategy for resisting cultural oppression and resolving conflicted identities, relationships, and histories. It demonstrates that belonging and relationship are more important than belief and logic in understanding and assessing complex religious bonds. Therefore, effective care with spiritually fluid people requires that care providers (a) consider “spirituality” alongside race, ethnicity, culture, and socioeconomic status in assessment and intervention and (b) practice personal “intersectional religious reflexivity” to strengthen therapeutic relationships and compassionate engagement.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

Describe complex religious bonds as an inheritance from family and culture,
Articulate religious multiplicity’s role in reclaiming and/or maintaining racial-ethnic and cultural identities, relationships, and histories,
Consider religion in intersectional analysis for spiritual assessment and intervention, and
Identify at least one racial-ethnic or cultural influence on their own religious bonds as a step toward personal, intersectional religious reflexivity.

Duane R. Bidwell, Ph.D., is the professor of practical theology, spiritual care, and counseling at Claremont School of Theology in California and senior staff clinician and supervisor at The Clinebell Institute for Pastoral Counseling and Psychotherapy. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Duane also practices Theravada Buddhism. His book When One Religion Isn’t Enough: Hinjews, Buddhist-Christians, and Other Spiritually Fluid People will be published in November by Beacon Press. Duane promotes a comparative theological paradigm for pastoral theology, engaging religious traditions beyond Christianity as authoritative sources for the theory and practice of spiritual care. He serves on the board of the Taos Institute, an educational organization that promotes social constructionist theory and practice, where he coordinates the new Diploma in Social Construction and Professional Practice and serves on the Ph.D. faculty. Former editor of The Journal of Pastoral Theology, Duane authored Empowering Couples: A Narrative Approach to Spiritual Care (Fortress, 2013) and Short-term Spiritual Guidance (Fortress, 2004), edited Spirituality, Social Construction and Relational Practices: Essays and Reflections (WorldShare, 2016), and co-edited The Formation of Pastoral Counselors: Opportunities and Challenges (Routledge, 2006). Duane and his family live in Claremont, CA, where he volunteers as a fire lookout, makes pottery, enjoys improv, and watches his son play soccer.

Spiritual Care of Social Welfare in a Multi-cultural Tradition, and the Care of Souls in the Multi-Religious Society of Japan

In this workshop, we will look at the historical circumstances of spiritual care in Japan, which characterize multiculturalism, and we will clarify the characteristics of spiritual care of social welfare in Japan, which is a multicultural tradition and multi-religious background. As a result, it is desirable to develop and utilize a practical model of spiritual care focusing on the spirituality experienced in daily life under culture and customs. We would like to discuss the diversity of spiritual care in multi-cultural-religious society.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

Understand the history of spiritual care in Japan.
Find spiritual care of “Daily life” in culture and custom
Know diversity of spiritual care in multi-religious society
Know difference of religious care and spiritual care in Japan

Dr. Nobuo Okamoto is Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan.

Dr. Toshiyuki Kubotera is Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Human Welfare, Seigakuin University, Ageo, Saitama, Japan, and Vice President of the Japan Society of Spiritual Care.

Fundamentalism as Toxic Spirituality: A Spiritual Health/Care View

This workshop focuses on religious fundamentalism within the larger category of “unhealthy spirituality”. It includes case studies, analysis of common features of religious fundamentalism in light of a proposed model of spirituality, and invites further insight on ways to assess and engage toxic spirituality in spiritual care settings.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

Identify key issues of fundamentalism present in three religious traditions
Test the claim that religious fundamentalism always fosters spiritual toxicity
Visualize further research on ways to assess and engage fundamentalist toxic spirituality in spiritual care settings

Daniel Schipani (Dr. Psy. Universidad Católica Argentina; PhD. Princeton Theological Seminary) is Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. His research and teaching interests include formation and transformation processes, and intercultural and interfaith pastoral care and counseling. He is the author or editor of over twenty-five books on pastoral counseling, education, and practical and pastoral theology, a visiting professor in various academic institutions, and lectures widely in North America, Latin America and Europe.

Living in Exile: A Life of Spiritual Conflict

This interactive workshop will explore themes of exile and spirituality through religious and personal narratives. IASC’s international gathering provides us with a unique opportunity to examine narratives of longing for a sacred center, with an awareness that the multiple narratives of those of us in the room are likely to overlap and conflict on certain levels even as they echo one another on other levels. We will create space for hearing one another as we discuss themes of exile – ancient, contemporary and existential.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

Demonstrate awareness of some core texts concerning exile in the Jewish tradition
Articulate an understanding of dynamics of exile in multi-faith spiritual care
Hold multiple narratives of exile in productive tension
Reflect on religions in conflict through the lens of exile

Rabbi Mychal B. Springer founded the Center for Pastoral Education at JTS in 2009, establishing relationships with hospices, Jewish social service agencies, and—most recently—prisons and reentry facilities, allowing students to learn the art of pastoral care as they serve marginalized populations. The first Conservative rabbi to be certified as a supervisor by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), Mychal received her BA in Judaic Studies and Religious Studies from Yale College magna cum laude. Mychal is a certified Jewish chaplain in Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains.

Religious Trauma in the Experience of Queer Persons

This workshop applies psychological trauma theory to understandings of the particular experience of queer persons in the church. Narratives of queer people –people who grew up in conservative religious environments, left those communities due to their sexuality and later returned to progressive religious communities — form the basis of this workshop. Our goal is to expand upon traditional views of trauma by exploring the psychological, spiritual and ritual dimensions of estrangement from and return to faith. Scholarship in religious abuse often focuses on an abusive individual in a religious community while scholarship in the area of religious trauma limits the recovery from religious trauma to the exit from religious communities. This workshop will offer a corrective to this overly limited view. This workshop will explore how accepting religious communities were integral for queer persons in the establishment of safety, the remembrance of their trauma, and the reconnection with their community. We will examine the potential for post-traumatic growth in the return to accepting faith communities and recommendations for congregations seeking to be places of welcome for those who have experienced religious trauma.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

Expand on traditional views of trauma to include religious trauma
Understand the conditions necessary for religious trauma to manifest in the experience of queer person
Recognize the potential for recovery from religious trauma within progressive communities

Rev. Dr. Brooke Petersen is a clinical pastoral theologian with research interests in trauma as well as the intersection of psychological theory, mental health and pastoral theology. She graduated with her MDiv from the Lutheran School of Theology in 2006, going on to serve Irving Park Lutheran Church in Chicago for 6 years. In 2017 she finished her Ph.D. in Pastoral Theology, Personality and Culture at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. Her dissertation, entitled “Religious Estrangement and Return in the Experience of Queer Persons,” made a case for religious trauma as a frame to understand the experience of many queer persons in the church, and for ways that progressive communities might draw on trauma theory in their ministry. She is a licensed professional counselor in Illinois and her clinical work included placements at Access Community Health and the Center for Religion and Psychotherapy where she worked with clients facing a variety of mental health issues. She teaches as an adjunct faculty person at both McCormick Theological Seminary and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, including classes focusing on Mental Illness and Pastoral Theology, Ritual through the Life Cycle, and advanced Pastoral Care. She currently also serves as the interim pastor at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square in Chicago.

Monday 4:00-5:15 pm

Spiritual Care and Spiritual Conflicts: Spiritual Autobiography, Flexible Spirituality, and Multiple Belonging

The theoretical background of our contribution consists of three elements: the development in spiritual care, a narrative approach in care and counselling and the social and personal dimension of conflict. The sociocultural processes of secularisation, deinstitutionalization and individualization have also become visible in healthcare institutions, affecting both clients, staff and chaplains themselves. We need ‘models of praxis’ to develop the spiritual competence. In this workshop, we will focus on spiritual biography. In social constructionism, for example in psychology, the distinction between inward and outside is ‘dismantled.’ The person nowadays is seen as a ‘dialogical self’ that incorporates different voices. Dealing with religious conflicts we combine a social and personal scope. In the biography, the client conducts an internal dialog, where social and personal elements go together. Contemplative listening from the spiritual caregiver gives a non-evaluative space for dealing with personal and social spiritual dynamics, moral issues and conflicts. During the workshop, we will invite the participants to tell each other elements of the own biography and to practice counselling with spiritual dynamics and conflicts.

Dr. W. Smeets is head of the Spiritual Care Department, senior CPE supervisor, and researcher in the Centre of Expertise on Spiritual Care of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre of Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Relational Psychoanalysis and Dissociation in the Socio-Cultural Context of a Hindu Village in Nepal – Pathways of Illness and Healing

This workshop will explore narrative descriptions of the distressful interpersonal and affective experiences of a dissociative disorder that largely affects women in a Hindu village in Nepal, known as chhopuwa (i.e. “to be covered”). The disorder is expressed as spirit possession or conversion symptoms of fainting. Narratives of cases of chhopuwa describe how human experience is structured and situated within social and inter-subjective connections with others. The breakdown in the communicative recognition and affirmation of oneself in key self-other relations are shown to lead to threatening experiences and disruptions in one’s social connections and sense of self. The goal of this study is to gain insights into the experiences, situations and socio-cultural contexts that can lead to dissociative experiences, as an adaptive response to painful, incompatible psychosocial experience. Restoring the mutuality of relational and communicative dynamics is also explored as the key to repairing one’s social relations, and subsequent emotional stability and psychic functioning.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

Identify self-other communicative forms as the building blocks of social connection, feeling states and social identity;
Appreciate the influence of cultural concepts and social relations, especially related to gender and power, on the development of subject positions and affective experience;
Consider how ‘deep listening’ and mutual responsiveness can create a ‘third’ locus of inter-subjectivity that can be understood as a symbolic connection of I-Thou relations, the presence of the third “seat” of the Spirit in spiritual direction and as a confirmation of human agency and dignity;
Reflect on how mutual confirmation and recognition of vulnerability and distress in communicative relations and ritual articulations can be a pathway to healing.

Alfred Pach, Ph.D., MPH, is a graduate (MDiv) of Union Theological Seminary and medical anthropologist. He is a spiritual director and works in pastoral care with RENEW International. He was a senior scientist at the International Vaccine Institute, where he conducted research on community perceptions and communication related to infectious diseases and vaccines in countries throughout Asia and Africa. He has also conducted research on network and relational aspects of HIV/AIDS risk and transmission at the University of Chicago and internationally with UNAIDS, Save the Children and Family Health International/USAID. He is currently studying relationships between culture, psychological experience, and ritual transformation and healing in Nepal.

Recognizing and Addressing the Religious/Spiritual Needs of Transgender Patients in the Hospital Setting

In 2016, the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City launched the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery (CTMS), an interdisciplinary service that provides comprehensive transition-related care to transgender (TG) and gender-nonconforming (GNC) patients. This workshop presents best practices and lessons learned from the spiritual care aspects of this work. We will also present a series of interactive training videos we developed to train chaplains to recognize, assess, and meet the needs of transgender patients in the general hospital population. This work is particularly important because some religious communities and leaders regard TG and GNC people as sinful, pathological, and/or criminal. For many TG and GNC people, this is a painful form of exclusion and mistreatment. Despite this, our work within the Mount Sinai Health System demonstrates that TG and GNC patients frequently welcome chaplain visits and benefit from spiritual care oriented towards renewing religious connections, seeking new forms of meaning, and describing and fostering resilience.

Learning outcomes:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

Describe how religious and spiritual beliefs, practices, and communities can be both damaging and supportive to TG and GNC patients.
Describe the legal, regulatory, and ethical requirements/ practices that foster healthcare environments that meet the needs of TG and GNC patients.
Become familiar with chaplaincy interventions that can appropriately meet the religious, spiritual, emotional, and existential needs of TG and GNC patients.

Rabbi Jo Hirschmann, BCC, ACPE is a board-certified chaplain with Neshama: the Association of Jewish Chaplains and an ACPE Certified Educator. A chaplain who has worked in hospice and psychiatric settings, she currently works within the Mount Sinai Health System, where she serves as the Director of Spiritual Care and Education at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and as a pastoral educator for the Center for Spirituality and Health. Under the auspices of Mount Sinai Health System’s Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, she coordinates the delivery of spiritual care to gender affirmation patients. She is a co-author of Maps and Meaning: Levitical Models of Contemporary Care, published by Fortress Press, as well as articles about chaplaincy practice.

Barbara E. Warren, PsyD, is Director for LGBT Programs and Policies in the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, Mount Sinai Health System, where she leads Mount Sinai’s implementation of LGBT culturally and clinically competent health care across the Health System. She holds an appointment as Assistant Professor of Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she is teaching and developing curricula to address best practices in serving diverse patient populations. Dr. Warren previously served as Distinguished Lecturer and Director for the Center for LGBT Social Science and Public Policy at Hunter College, City University of New York. For 21 years, she was senior management at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of New York City, led the Center’s behavioral health programs, co-founded the Center’s then-groundbreaking Gender Identity Project and was responsible for the Center’s health policy and government relations initiatives. Dr. Warren has served as an advisor to local, state and national government and policy organizations including chairing the Multi-Cultural Advisory Council to the NYS Commissioner of Mental Health, on the LGBT Task Force at Health Care for All New Yorkers, a Board Member for the NYS Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Advisory Board and a Board Member of the National Coalition for LGBT Health. She holds a doctorate in counseling psychology and has 40 years of experience in the development of substance use, mental health and public health programs in healthcare and community settings.

Repressed Cultural Conflict Leading to Murder: A Case Study

After a man killed his wife he was charged for murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He came to Switzerland as a refugee and became later a Swiss citizen. He was a well-respected member of Swiss society and one of the leading persons for the group of people from his former home country, living in Switzerland at this time. His story seemed to be an example of successful assimilation. Then, with only very few hints, he killed his wife. He couldn’t understand why he did this. In pastoral counseling meeting with me as chaplain, a deeply repressed cultural conflict was identified.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

Understand one way how cultural conflict can emerge
See that inner pressure of assimilation can lead to repression of the culture one was born in
Understand how in maximum security prisons chaplaincy has specific tools to help people change
Learn how long-term relationships in prison chaplaincy can affect inmates’ core values (trust; various kind of relationships; shame; unconditional acceptance…)

Frank Stüfen (1963) is a Pastor of Swiss Reformed Church and worked 17 years in parishes and since 2001 he works mainly as Prison Chaplain in different Swiss Prisons. For the last nine years he worked in the largest maximum security prison in Switzerland. He was for seven-year Managing Chaplain for all Prison Chaplains in Canton of Zürich. Since 2015 he acts as Director of Prison Chaplaincy Studies at the University of Berne. His Ph.D. thesis is about „Freedom in Prisons: Sanctification as Liberation in Prison Chaplaincy.” He is also involved in developing an intercultural understanding of prison chaplaincy. The International Prison Chaplains Association worldwide named him in 2015 as one of four NGO Representatives at the UN in Geneva, Vienna and New York. He is married to a German Pastor and very proud of his three (step-) daughters.

Secularity as a Challenge in Funeral Pastoral Care

The Danish society is known as highly secular with a very low church attendance. However, 84 percent of the population choose to bury their dead in the Danish Lutheran National Church. As such Christianity is not absent, but in its individualized forms, it often shows in quite unorthodox and ‘lopsided’ ways. Experiences of death and loss involve multiple ideas, feelings, fantasies, dreams, different cosmologies, social and material relations, which are entangled in various small parts of religious and Christian beliefs. This condition raises the question how two such different ’repertoires’ of confessional and everyday religion may interact in pastoral care. On the basis of findings from ethnographical fieldwork, the paper will explore, how funeral pastoral care conversations may benefit from theories of mentalization, multiplicity and metaphors unfolding both verbal and bodily expressions of faith, hope and community within secular convictions and settings.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

Gain knowledge about how secularity may be met in funeral pastoral care.
Gain knowledge about mentalization may be used as a tool in pastoral care.
Gain knowledge about how everyday metaphors, bodily actions and use of objects within secular views of life may unfold as doctrinal images in funeral pastoral care.

Dr. Christine Tind Johannessen-Henry is Associate Professor, Centre for Education and Research, Church of Denmark, & Dept. of Theology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. Her primary fields of research and methods are Empirical theology (lived religion): religion and health, science and theology, psycho-social research (coping), pastoral care, health anthropology, theological image theory; Constructivist theory (theoretical and analytical methods): reconstructive and process theology, social constructivist and postmodern structuralistic theories; and Empirical methods (qualitative and quantitative): in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, participant observation, questionnaire and questionnaire development, epidemiology. Previous positions include a postdoctoral position in the Department of Systematic Theology at the University of Copenhagen, and a research fellowship with the Unit of Survivorship, Danish Cancer Society Research Center.

All Faith Spiritual Care in the Face of Religious Conflicts

In this workshop, we will examine various effects of religious conflict on the efficacy of our All Faith Spiritual Care provision. Heightening our awareness of religious conflict may serve us in our work: to this end participants will enjoy exercises of movement, music and text study.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

Increase awareness of personal boundaries and internal conflicts
Assess how these boundaries serve in all faith spiritual care work
Increase their “toolbox” of spiritual care exercises

Hana Levine, SCP-C, holds an MA from the Schechter Institute, Jerusalem (Jewish Studies, Talmud and Spiritual Accompaniment). She serves on the staff of the Schwartz Center for Health and Spirit Spiritual Care Provider; at Elah – Center for Coping with Loss as a Freelance associate SCP-C; and with Kids Kicking Cancer Israel as a Martial Arts Therapist. She is a member of Livui Ruchani Israel, and NAJC Neshama: the Association of Jewish Chaplains Worldwide.

Co-Sponsors

Fall 2017: Letter from the IASC President

Warmest greetings to each of you.

For those who were able to attend the conference in Jerusalem this past July, we hope the insights and transformative conversations have continued to fortify and inspire your work. Without a doubt, it seems the matters with which we grappled could hardly be more timely: the research and practice of spiritual care in volatile times.

I hope you might take a moment to read the conference report below, and glance through a few photos from our time together. Please note, if you were not able to attend the conference, scroll to the bottom for links to videorecorded sessions available online now.

Looking ahead, please stay tuned for forthcoming details about the IASC 2018 Conference, to be held in New York City!

Yours in a spirit of hope,

Prof. Dr. Isabelle Noth

IASC Conference Report – Fall 2017

by Lorne Anderson

Spiritual Challenges in Context of Political Conflict. This was the theme for the IASC’s second annual conference which took place in Jerusalem this July. Reconsidering the nature of spiritual care in a cross disciplinary context was especially important considering the challenges of working in changing environments brought about by increasing migration in Europe, unexpected politics in the United States, and increasing sentiments of nationalism and conservative religiosity that are emerging in many global contexts. The IASC’s conference provided the perfect opportunity to bring academics and professionals together from around the globe to share knowledge while learning from local Israeli and Palestinian organizations who have been navigating a politically challenging context for decades. This year’s conference was an especially necessary event which displayed why conferences, and the opportunity to share knowledge at a global level, are so important.

Animated conversations, new connections, challenging topics, and transformative dialogues happened took place throughout the IASC 2017 Conference.

Pre-learning and the AdaSha Multi-Narrative tour

Spiritual care in Israel and Palestine is itself a profound challenge and to ensure international attendees had a handle on the political context in which spiritual care occurs, the organized a comprehensive pre-conference study tour. Over five days, participants were taking on a multi-narrative tour of new Jerusalem, the religious sites of the Old City, Bethlehem, the Tent of Nations, a refugee camp in Bethlehem and a geo-political tour of east and west Jerusalem. Participants learned about how different religious and geographical situations affect outreach, care and everyday life. This gave them a far broader platform by which to interpret both the political reality of Israel and Palestine as well as the discussions that were a part of the conference itself. This pre-event received some very positive feedback and was an important component of the annual conference.

Image courtesy of Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue

Is Forgiveness Necessary?

The first keynote of the conference was delivered by Dr. Pamela Cooper-White who shared a theological exposition relating to whether victims of violence are required to forgive perpetrators. Drawing on years of experience counseling and supporting women who have been victims of domestic violence, she witnessed first-hand the destructive impacts when forgiveness is expected and demanded from a self-help paradigm. Her sharing encouraged spiritual care providers to consider how they conceptualize forgiveness and how they incorporated it into their practice. Through an in-depth theological exploration of how forgiveness is spoken about from a Christian Biblical perspective, Dr. Cooper-White encouraged spiritual care providers to be careful with the kinds of expectations that practitioners give about the necessity and impact of forgiveness so as not add extra pressure to those already struggling with trauma.

Dr. Pamela Cooper-White (Union Theol. Seminary, NYC) led the first conference keynote address.

What do you do when there are no Safe Spaces?

The Rossing Center and the Holy Land Trust were able to arrange for Dr. Ahmed Tawahini, a psychotherapist from Gaza, to attend and make a presentation to the conference. It is important to note the efforts of both of these organizations in their commitment to ensuring that there was a true commitment to multiple narratives at the conference. Dr. Tawahini brought some sobering reminders that spiritual care is not always an easy or pre-prescribed discipline. He shared a particular example of when he sought to implement a new therapy technique which encouraged the individual to create a safe space within their memory. From this safe space, the individual then has a cognitive reference point to be able to center her/himself, affirm her/himself as person and then re-emerge to face her/his present trauma. Complications arose in Dr. Tawahini’s work when patients with whom he was working were unable to identify any safe spaces in their memories. This humbling realization that politically conflicted contexts can have such immeasurable impacts on the individuals within was a call for compassion for those in the field of spiritual care. How do those associated with spiritual care help such traumatized individuals create spaces for healing and do we need to be more aware of the potential limitations of the intervention methods that we use to assist those who have experienced ongoing trauma?

Moments of dialogue and insight at the IASC 2017 conference.

Healing the Hatred of Collective Community Trauma

“What is the impact of trauma at the community level, and how do we address it?” This was the question posed by Fr. Michael Lapsley from the Healing Memories Institute in South Africa. The Healing Memories Institute in South Africa works to assist victims of apartheid inspired violence to heal the traumatic memories of their experiences. From Fr. Lapsley’s work he became aware of the deep and lingering impact of trauma at the community level. He encouraged participants to consider how the experience of trauma could affect victimhood and then consider the impact on future generations if pain is passed on. The potential for human beings to be both victims and perpetrators was an important part of his message and within the community experience of trauma there is the potential for older generations to hand on their pain to younger generations in ways that reinforce dualistic narratives which becomes the basis of future violence in society.

Building the Language of Spiritual Care

Political conflict can have wide ranging effects from collective community trauma through to individual physical violence and each environment brings about a unique set of challenges for spiritual carers. At this year’s Healing Hatred conference over 200 speakers and participants gathered to share professional and personal experiences, theological expositions, and historical critiques to help build a more comprehensive language for spiritual care. In particular, themes of forgiveness, competitive victimhood and historical trauma were explored with keynote speakers from the United States (Dr. Pamela Cooper-White), South Africa (Fr. Michael Lapsley) and Gaza (Dr. Ahmed Abu Tawahina) who shared some of the ways in which their work has challenged and redefined their approaches to spiritual care.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Yitzhak Mendelsohn leading a conference session.

Harnessing a Holistic Approach to Spiritual Care

A true wealth of knowledge was shared at the conference: in addition to the other keynote speakers, discussion panels featured dialogues about the abuse of religions for political means as well as important conversations asking what makes people change. The conversations truly embodied the multi-disciplinary and holistic nature of the IASC organization and displayed why it is so critical to have such an organization. There were rabbis and pastors, therapists and nurses, hospice workers, chaplains, interfaith leaders and academics from around the globe sharing with, learning from, and encouraging one another’s experiences. With the conference being organized to have events in both Jerusalem and Bethlehem the experience was made available to Israeli, Palestinian and international guests who were all able to richly affect the conversations at the conference. While it is important to recognize that each political conflict has its own set of unique challenges and interventions will not be universally applicable, there is a profound encouragement when those working in the spiritual care field share about their work. Spiritual care is a difficult, and at times thankless discipline where resolutions are not a guarantee. By coming together and harnessing the vastness of the experiences of professionals from around the globe we affirm the work that has already been done and encourage creative thinking for future projects. One of the most profound learnings of the conference was the fact that spiritual care has tremendous variety and thus immense potential to reach communities who are affected by political conflict.

Save the Date: IASC Conference 2017, July 9 – 11 in Palestine / Israel

The Second Annual Conference of the IASC on “Healing Hatred: Spiritual Challenges in a Context of Political Conflict” will take place on July 9 – 11, 2017. The first day will be in Jerusalem, the second in Bethlehem and the third day in Beit Jala (Palestine / Israel).

The conference is organized by the International Association for Spiritual Care in collaboration with the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue and the Holy Land Trust.

Confirmed Speakers:

Fr. Michael Lapsley SSM Cape Town, South Africa) A South African Anglican priest and social justice activist. Director of the Institute for Healing Memory.

Sami Awad (Bethlehem, Palestine) Executive Director of Holy Land Trust

Dr. Sarah Bernstein (Jerusalem, Israel) Director of the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue.

Dr. Ruhama Weiss (Jerusalem, Israel) Director of the Blaustein Center for Pastoral Counseling in the Hebrew Union College.

Prof. Dr. Pamela Cooper-White (New York, USA) Christiane Brooks Johnson Professor of Psychology and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

Sarah Snyder (Cumbria, United Kingdom) Advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury on Reconciliation.

Dr. Michael Marmur (Jerusalem, Israel) Rabbi, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Last Conference

Speakers:

Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Y. Lartey, Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care, and Counseling, Emory University, Atlanta, USA

Prof. Dr. med. Christina Puchalski, Founder and Director of the GW Institute for Spirituality & Health, Washington, USA

Prof. Dr. theol. et med. Doris Nauer (Vallendar, Germany)
Prof. Dr. Duane R. Bidwell (Claremont, USA)
Prof. Dr. Alexander Bischoff (Fribourg, Switzerland)
Prof. Dr. Pamela Cooper-White (New York, USA)
Dr. iur. Sarah Bernstein and Prof. Dr. Ruhama Weiss (Jerusalem, Israel)
Lic. phil. Sarah El Bulbeisi (Munich, Germany)
Prof. Dr. Isabelle Noth (Bern, Switzerland)
Prof. Dr. Daniel Schipani (Indiana, USA)
Prof. Dr. phil. Hansjörg Znoj (Bern, Switzerland)

The conference was organized by the International Association for Spiritual Care in collaboration with the University of Bern and took place in the House of Religions in Bern, Switzerland.