Finding a chaplain who is the answer to your prayers
Experience in death issues a key qualificationA terminally ill man wants to know why he is being punished by God. It is a question that causes the patient a lot of anguish, yet it is not the type of pain the nurse can ease with medication or a problem that can be resolved by the social worker.
Instead, a member of the clergy is needed.
Chaplains are a key member of the health care team in hospice, one reason why hospice is unique in the health care industry, says Jan Jones, RN, BSN, CEO for Catholic Hospice of Miami.
Because of their important role, standards for hiring chaplains must be as high as any other member of the team.
Professional training and experience are important, agrees Arleigh Champ-Gibson, MDiv, director of spiritual care at Pikes Peak Hospice in Colorado Springs, CO. "We feel it is important for a person who is going to be doing spiritual care, just like any other discipline within hospice, to be professionally trained. You wouldn’t hire a person with a BA to do social work at a hospice, and you wouldn’t hire a CNA to do an RN’s work in nursing.
It is theological training that gives a chaplain the ability to recognize different spiritual issues, put them in a theological context, and help a patient or caregiver work through them, he explains. For example, people without the education often don’t have the knowledge of religious history and religious differences to address such issues as the belief that the terminal illness the patient is experiencing is God’s punishment. At Pikes Peak, a chaplain must have a masters or higher degree, in either theology or comparative religion. Yet a degree isn’t the only qualification.
What qualifications should you look for when hiring a hospice chaplain? Following are a few suggestions from some of your colleagues:
• Work experience.
"Their credentials are what opens the door and qualifies them for an interview. However, from that point what they have done in their ministry is critical," says Paul Brenner, MDiv, executive director of Jacob Perlow Hospice in New York City, a division of Beth Israel Healthcare System. The experience they have had in counseling, death and dying issues, and interfaith work is important."As a policy, we don’t hire graduates right out of seminary. The reason is that in the training of most people in seminaries there is not a lot about death and dying, grief and bereavement, or family conflict. The kinds of things that are the bread and butter of hospice," says Brenner.
If a person has always worked in a parish, congregation, or synagogue find out if the job entailed family or marital counseling, recommends Ann Connor, MSW, chaplain at Catholic Hospice of Miami. Hospice chaplains are working with many people who have limited or no religious tradition or one that is different from their own. "You want someone who doesn’t just preach but is used to listening. A hospice chaplain must listen to people, help them work through the spiritual issues they raise, and find their own answers. The chaplain must never force his or her views on a patient," says Connor.
• Clinical pastoral education.
At Pikes Peak Hospice, two units of clinical pastoral education (CPE) in addition to a master’s degree are required. This training gives pastors hands-on experience. They visit hospital patients and participate in reading, writing, and group exercises all under supervision. For example, students are asked repeatedly to write verbatim a conversation they had with a patient. A group of students and a clinical supervisor analyze the conversations to see what the student did well and where improvements are needed. "CPE is experiential learning vs. book learning. That is why it is so valuable," says Champ-Gibson.• Certain personality traits.
Warmth is an important quality in a hospice chaplain. "Hospice chaplains must exude warmth and have the ability to put people at ease and make them feel comfortable talking with them," says Jones.Also, a pastor in a hospice setting must be nonjudgmental, a good listener, and able to communicate without preaching, says Champ-Gibson. To make sure a perspective employee has such qualities, he outlines scenarios during the interview process and asks how the applicant would minister to the family in the situation.
For example, Champ-Gibson might set up a scenario where the patient’s family has a number of religious backgrounds and each has their own desires for the patient’s spirituality and rituals they want to have done. He would then ask the interviewee how he or she might help the family members work through the different agendas. "Now and then I will get a prospective employee who says that he or she would tell them this or tell them to do this. That right there is a red flag. It shows that he or she is not a presence oriented person. I want someone to say, first I would listen to their needs,’" says Champ-Gibson.
• Interfaith experience.
In New York City where there is a lot of diversity, it is important for chaplains to have experience working with people from diverse religious backgrounds, says Brenner. "A chaplain can’t have hang-ups about who is right and who is wrong but be able to support each person in their own religious or spiritual system," says Brenner.While religious and cultural diversity may not be as prevalent in other communities, a hospice chaplain must accept all views, says Connor. "A person must be open to all spiritual and religious tasks that people may have and their way of confronting life and death. A hospice chaplain must have the kind of personality that allows them to work with people without imposing or confusing their beliefs and convictions with others," says Connor.
• Appropriate credentials.
"We look for someone who has been trained as a chaplain, usually an ordained minister or someone trained in some other way that qualifies them to be a chaplain," says Jones. Catholic Hospice of Miami has two levels of chaplain positions. Chaplain one category requires clinical pastoral education training while category two does not. "A priest might not come to us with clinical pastoral education, but he has the ability to perform sacraments that other chaplains don’t have," says Jones. A chaplain at the number two level would not be allowed to counsel patients and family members. Currently, the hospice has a full-time Roman Catholic deacon, a rabbi, and a Methodist minister. They also have two chaplains that work part-time: One is a lay Catholic chaplain and the other a Methodist minister."We require someone who is certified by the institution which credentials them to be a rabbi or a clergy," says Brenner. As part of the Beth Israel Health Care System, a Jewish institution, Jacob Purlow Hospice has a rabbi as its senior chaplain. They also have a Christian pastor on staff.
• Team player.
In hospice, a chaplain does not work alone, and he or she must be able to participate on an interdisciplinary team where there may be differences of opinion on the needs of the patient, says Connor. "Chaplains in a congregation and parish are used to being in charge," she explains.
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