Spiritual Care Management & Leadership Program​
September 2026 - May 2027

The Transforming Chaplaincy Certificate Program in Spiritual Care Management and Leadership (SCML), a distinctive educational offering at Rush University College of Health Sciences, is an exceptional resource for those aspiring to lead spiritual care programs in healthcare.

Led by experts, it integrates classroom learning, real-world case studies, and experiential activities to equip participants with the skills needed for effective leadership amidst the complexities of healthcare spiritual care. Emphasizing a comprehensive curriculum that covers everything from emotional intelligence to strategic thinking and innovation, this program is designed for current and aspiring spiritual care leaders seeking to enhance their capabilities and impact.

Participants will join a supportive community, engage in reflective practices, and apply what they learn to real-world challenges, preparing them to lead with agility and compassion in the evolving healthcare landscape.

Upcoming Courses

Introduction to Clinical Ethics for Chaplains: Cases and Consultation Skills

Mondays, Aug 10, Sept 14, Oct 19, & Nov 9 12-4 pm CT

Professional Healthcare Chaplains are frequently tapped to serve as clinical ethics consultants, as members of institutional ethics committees, and even to oversee the work of ethics programs, yet many report lacking the knowledge and skills they need to do this work successfully. This course will use both didactic and case-based methods to promote learners’ competency in navigating frequently encountered ethical dilemmas such as requests for potentially non-beneficial care, patient refusals of basic nursing and medical care, the allocation of scarce resources, and duty to care for the patient vs. duty to protect staff from harm. Specific attention will be given to cases where religious beliefs are a driving feature of ethical conflict and to ensuring chaplains appreciate the critical role they play on ethics committees.

Research Literacy 101
​September 2-30

Research Literacy (RL) 101 will be offered again, September 2-30. Offered since 2019, RL 101 is a five-week online, asynchronous course that concludes with a two-hour synchronous session on September 30, featuring participant presentations. Each week, the course helps colleagues build skills in accessing, evaluating, and summarizing evidence-based content relevant to chaplaincy practice. 25 continuing education hours are available through course completion.

Our Next Webinar

Beyond Silos - Generative Role Blurring and Outcome-Driven Collaboration in Palliative Care: Lessons from Chaplain and Social Work Practice
​Thursday, July 23, 1-2 PM (CDT)

Palliative care teams are uniquely positioned to deliver whole-person care, yet the greatest opportunity for impact may lie not only in defining roles, but in how clinicians actually work within—and across—their areas of overlap. This session introduces a practice-informed Venn diagram framework that maps where chaplain and social work expertise diverges and overlaps, and how that space can be used more intentionally to improve outcomes—offering insights that resonate across professions. Rather than a prescriptive model, the tool is meant to spark real conversation, helping teams reflect on and strengthen how collaboration shows up in everyday practice.

New Publications

Congratulations to these authors connected with Transforming Chaplaincy (TC): Sarah Byrne-Martelli, course instructor; Kim Palmer, research fellow alumna; Dirk Labushagne, research fellow alum; Dr. George Fitchett, Senior Advisor; Paul Galchutt, Assistant Director of Engagement. Additional congrats to the many co-author TC collaborators connected with this PC-6 publication below.

Describing the Prevalence and Correlates of Spiritual Concerns Using the PC-6 Spiritual Assessment with Palliative Care Patients Near the End of Life (open access)

This is a multisite, cross-sectional study characterizing spiritual distress in PC patients, using a validated assessment, done by chaplains. In our sample of 172 PC patients, fifty percent were assessed to have moderate or severe spiritual concerns in at least one of six spiritual domains, and 17% had concerns in two or more domains. Spiritual distress was not associated with demographic factors or diagnosis. This underscores the importance of screening all PC patients - not only religious patients or certain demographics - for spiritual distress.
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Byrne-Martelli, S., Palmer, P. K., Cole, B., Cullen, I., Drennan, S. B., Harry, M. L., Labuschagne, D., Peñate, E., Ulrich, K. A., & Fitchett, G. (2026). Describing the Prevalence and Correlates of Spiritual Concerns Using the PC-6 Spiritual Assessment with Palliative Care Patients Near the End of Life. Journal of palliative medicine, 10966218261467136. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10966218261467136

Existential suffering: Intensive caring and existential therapy informed communication for serious illness care. (open access)

Existential concerns are common in serious illness and often involve questions of meaning, purpose, and mortality. These concerns may shift over time, ranging from suffering and demoralization to reflection and growth, and recognizing their cues can broaden compassionate serious illness care. Drawing on existential principles, Intensive Caring, and Dignity in Care, this article offers practical communication strategies to ease distress, strengthen connection, and help patients live meaningfully through the end of life.

Tarbi, E., Sofronas, M., Chammas, D., Brenner, K., Galchutt, P., & Chochinov, H. M. (2026). Existential Suffering: Intensive Caring and Existential Therapy Informed Communication for Serious Illness Care. Journal of palliative medicine, 10966218261457801. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10966218261457801

ISPEC Training Course
​September 24-25

The ISPEC™ (Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Curriculum) training course provides a unique opportunity for clinicians and chaplain pairs from the same health setting to learn how to integrate spiritual care into patient care throughout their organization. Consider joining the next course, September 24 and 25. Application deadline is September 10.

Transforming Chaplaincy is proud to be affiliated with the George Washington Institute for Spirituality & Health (GWish) and its Founder, Dr. Christina Puchalski.

INPCS Annual Meeting
Chaplain Scholarships
​Indianapolis, IN
September 29 - October 1

The goals of the International Neuropalliative Care Society (INPCS) include improving “clinical care for persons living with neurological disorders by championing palliative models of care and offering resources to facilitate these models in practice.” The 6^th annual meeting of INPCS will be held September 29-October 1, 2026 in Indianapolis, IN (www.inpcs.org). INPCS values spiritual care as an important part of neuropalliative care and welcomes chaplains to participate in its Annual Meeting.

For the 2026 INPCS Annual Meeting three scholarships are available to encourage chaplains to participate in the Meeting and INPCS. For chaplains who receive the scholarships registration for the Annual Meeting will be free.

Applicants for the scholarships must meet the following qualifications: 1) have completed chaplaincy education (e.g. CPE residency), 2) be employed full-time as healthcare chaplains, and 3) work at least 50% time in palliative care. Preference will be given to those who provide care for neuropalliative care patients/families or care for patients with advanced neurological illness and their families. Early application is encouraged. Scholarships will be awarded as applications are received.

To apply for a scholarship, send a current CV and 1 page statement about your interest in attending the INPCS Annual Meeting to info@inpcs.org. Please submit these documents formatted in one pdf file. Address questions to George Fitchett, Professor, Department of Religion, Health & Human Values, Rush University Medical Center and member of INPCS Board of Directors, george_fitchett@rush.edu.

When Faith Gets Sticky: Chaplaincy, Spiritual Community, and OCD Recovery in the Digital Age
​Friday, July 31, 12-1 PM (ET)

For centuries, individuals with OCD have navigated spaces where faith gets sticky, when OCD latches onto aspects of religion and spirituality in challenging ways. For much of that time, individuals navigating this form of OCD, known as scrupulosity, felt alone in their struggles and isolated within faith communities, believing they were the only ones wrestling with particular fears, doubts, or spiritual questions. Today, technology allows us to bring together people from around the world and across faith traditions into spiritual community, helping them discover that they are not alone and that there is hope.

This presentation will focus on the development of Stick with the Ick (SWTI), a large virtual community and app that offers spiritual support, community, and education to individuals with OCD, clergy, and mental health professionals worldwide and across faith traditions. Through the lens of chaplaincy, participants will explore how digital spaces can promote belonging, meaning making, and recovery while supporting people navigating faith, uncertainty, and OCD. The presentation will also consider applications to other spiritual care settings.

Drawing on the growth of SWTI, this presentation will highlight the steps forward and back, lessons learned, and beautiful opportunities to offer spiritual care through chaplaincy in the digital age. Participants will gain practical tools for cultivating spiritually safe online communities and adapting chaplaincy practices to virtual spaces.

To join, sign up to the Telechaplaincy Community of Practice

ACPE National Conference
Poster Presentation Submissions
​Phoenix, AZ | October 11-14

Consider submitting the results from your department's quality improvement project or maybe the preliminary findings from your latest study with a poster presentation proposal at ACPE's national conference. The deadline for submission is August 15.

Become a Supporting Partner

If you are interested in becoming a Supporting Partner with Transforming Chaplaincy, please contact Cate Beaulieu-Desjardins, TC's Assistant Director of Research Development, at caitlin_m_desjardins@rush.edu.

To Support Transforming Chaplaincy

Please consider supporting our mission so that every patient has access to high-quality, evidence-based spiritual care.

Missed a Webinar?

If you were not available to tune into a Transforming Chaplaincy (TC) live broadcast or perhaps you want to see a specific webinar again, check out TC's YouTube channel. Many of you (1.99K) are already TC YouTube channel subscribers and know how this works. When you subscribe, you receive a notification that a new recording is ready for your viewing along with 120+ of our videos. Thank you for whenever you engage TC's content to advance spiritual care through research. Transforming Chaplaincy’s YouTube channel.

​Transforming Chaplaincy: Advancing Spiritual Care Through Research​
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​Vision: We envision a future when chaplaincy is formed, informed, and transformed by evidence-based practice
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​Mission: The mission of Transforming Chaplaincy is to promote evidence-based spiritual care and integrate research into professional practice and education by fostering a culture of inquiry

Our mailing address is:​
Transforming Chaplaincy
Rush University Medical Center
Department of Religion, Health, and Human Values
1653 West Congress Parkway
Chicago, IL 60612