Patient Partner Feature: Carol Anderson | Cultivating an Imagination for Transdisciplinary Partnerships for Patient Spiritual Support within Healthcare
- Krista Heide
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Written by Carol Anderson, an Art and Spirituality Research Team Patient Partner at the Providence Health Care research site in Vancouver, B.C., and Krista Heide, research coordinator with Arts for Equity. Photographs by Carol Anderson.
Spiritual Health within Holistic Healthcare
Within the biomedical Canadian healthcare system, the role of the multi-faith Spiritual Health Practitioners (SHPs) is often underappreciated and misunderstood. A broader understanding of the competencies, abilities, and equity-oriented, patient-centred approach of SHPs is
needed to encourage deeper transdisciplinary partnerships, and to provide more holistic health care to patients that supports body, mind, and soul.
Multi-faith Spiritual Health Practitioners (SHPs) are certified by the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care (CASC), after qualifying with a master’s degree and a hospital internship. SHPs are trained to walk alongside patients, treating symptoms of “Spiritual Distress” and counseling patients and families at all stages of living and dying. There are many benefits for patients and families in being accompanied on their care journey by attentive and competent multi-faith SHPs. Multidisciplinary team members are invited to join with SHPs in providing Culturally Safe, Person and Family Centred Care (PFCC) that prioritizes “caring for the soul,” alongside caring for the body.
Blog Purpose – Cultivating an Imagination
To better understand the scope of “spirituality” and “wholeness”, this blog post offers several adapted spiritual health case studies, representing many cultures, beliefs, and traditions. These spiritual health case studies were originally created for a medical setting and have been adapted here to extend the opportunity for learning. The case studies are interspersed with quotes to highlight the value of art and spirituality within holistic care for a range of patients.
Through these stories, our hope is to build an appreciation for the expertise and competencies of multi-faith SHPs, and to develop a wider imagination of what multidisciplinary partnerships could look like within health care settings.
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“Spirituality is the aspect of humanity of experiencing connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred.”
- Puchalski, MD, Restorative Medicine, p.199
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Case Study 1 - Ohwago was a 21-year-old Indigenous man recovering from endocarditis, a serious infection of heart valves requiring IV antibiotics and valve replacement. He was unable to attend his best friend’s funeral, a several-day journey away. The Spiritual Health Practitioner (SHP) offered cultural humility, fostered trust, and suggested a visit from an Indigenous Navigator. Ohwago welcomed the opportunity for ceremony that included being enveloped with sage smudging, songs and being brushed with cedar boughs. The SHP employed the visualization of an imaginary exchange of fishing rods at the graveside to honour his friend. Ohwago created a picture and words to remember this ritual. He asked to light a candle and requested a rosary. The one his grandmother had given him was waiting for him at home. He felt relieved of some of the burdens of loss and more prepared to return home and grieve at his friend’s grave.
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*"Spiritual distress can manifest as helplessness, guilt, mistrust,
isolation, grief, and a conflicted belief system."
-Puchalski MD, pgs. 198, 202, Restorative Medicine
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"Spirituality encompasses how individuals find resilience,
hope and healing during serious illness, stress, or loss."
- Puchalski, MD, Restorative Medicine, p.197
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Case Study 2 - Maya was a 54-year-old non-binary person who sustained significant burn injuries to their face and limbs when a space heater ignited their bedding. Their roommate was also in the Burn Unit with injuries to their lower limbs. One of the SHPs regularly attended weekly Burn Rounds and learned of their angst and refusal to have necessary treatment, including burn baths and skin grafting. On the first visit, they asked the SHP, “Does God still love me?” The SHP replied “Yes” and quoted the scripture “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” On the next visit, Maya asked to listen to music and be read aloud from a Hebrew Bible. Maya announced to a nurse, “When I asked the SHP if God still loves me…. they didn’t miss a beat. And I’m going to get that tattooed on my back.”
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"Spirituality refers to that dimension of the human person that fosters a sense of meaning. Going beyond religion and culture, though often connected to both, spirituality is linked to the way people find coherence and authenticity in life. It encompasses our relationships, our values, and our life purpose. It may or may not involve belief in, or an active relationship with a higher power."
- Puchalski MD, Restorative Medicine
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Case Study 3 - Colin was a 48 yr. old man, a returned citizen (previously incarcerated) with advanced bowel cancer on the palliative care ward, experiencing spiritual distress with uncertainty, grief, pain, and anxiety. He told the SHP that he is spiritual but not religious and that he feels a strong connection to nature. The SHP offered guided meditations and mindfulness, where he experienced the support of the earth beneath him. Additionally, working with clay gave him a renewed sense of control and helped him find calm during his long hospital stay, particularly while waiting for medical procedures and test results.
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"Spirituality may have deep relationships with the natural environment, justice issues, our families of origin, our physical and mental health, and our personal relationships. Spirituality profoundly guides our worldview; how we make sense of our own personal life and how we understand our role within the world in which we live.”
- Jennifer Roosma MD
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Case Study 4 -Neville was a 74 yr. old man, a former ICU/ER nurse, who lived in residential care after suffering 2 strokes 3 years ago, which left him with right hemiplegia, spasticity, and difficulty speaking. He was a devoted Catholic who struggled with treatment-resistant depression. He was grieving the loss of his role as a father to a 17-year-old son who lived with cognitive challenges. His son finished high school and was working in a grocery store, hoping to attend community college. His wife expressed frustration with being, for the most part, a single parent. He had occasionally denied them visits. Neville’s spiritual distress manifested as disillusionment and disappointment that God had not healed him despite having lived a pious life. He describes cognitive dissonance between his spiritual beliefs and his suffering, which he perceives as a punishment from God and abandonment. He denied an alleged suicide attempt. SHP visits included validation of ambivalence, meditations on the meaning of suffering, as well as guidance on mentoring his son through the creation of a “Written Spiritual Legacy.” Neville chose to write to his son, highlighting examples of his son’s goodness and the many reasons he was beloved. Neville offered blessings for the life his son will live without a father. Neville asked for his son to read the letter after he was gone. Neville composed a similar letter to his wife expressing gratitude, grief and hopes for her future. Neville suffered another stroke and passed in Palliative Care, supported by the SHP.
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*In Spiritual Care, we are confronted with the awesome truth that in speech God’s presence is known and that speech is also our own; in silence, God’s presence is known, and that silence is also our own."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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"But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a person had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.”
-Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
[1] CONFIDENTIALITY DISCLAIMER: The identities and circumstances of patients, families, staff, and settings in these educational cases have been changed to protect their privacy. Some cases are a composite of several stories, while others are fictional. Any resemblance to known cases is entirely coincidental.
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