Reflecting Back. Looking Ahead.

Dear Transforming Chaplaincy Community,

As 2025 comes to an end, we reflect with deep gratitude on another incredible year of advancing evidence-based spiritual care together. This past year, you—our community of chaplains, researchers, educators, and supporters—have been true partners in our work. We have created opportunities for exposure to and integration of research that transform approaches to care, including our in-person and virtual State of the Science events, publications, conference presentations, webinars, and short courses. The Chaplain Research Summer Institute (CRSI), Research Literacy 101, and Spiritual Care Management and Leadership (SCML) programs have deepened engagement, preparing practitioners and leaders to apply their skills where it matters most. The stories you've shared of applying evidence-based insights in your care settings continue to inspire and affirm Transforming Chaplaincy’s mission.

We especially appreciate the dedication of our supporting partners—Providence St. Joseph Health, Indiana University Health, Cedars-Sinai, and Houston Methodist—whose commitment makes this work possible. We are grateful to our colleagues who continue to lead the efforts in Transforming Chaplaincy’s research networks, CRSI, RL101, SCML programs, and other educational initiatives. Investment in chaplaincy research from you, partners, and funders expands outward, impacting the lives of patients, families, and healthcare colleagues.

As we enter 2026, we're energized by expanding opportunities in our strategic areas. We look forward to continuing our journey with you, whether as evidence-based practitioners, thought partners, research collaborators, educational participants, or supporting partners who share our commitment to compassionate, research-informed spiritual care.

With gratitude and hope for the new year,
The Transforming Chaplaincy Team.

Research Literacy 101
​Wednesdays, January 14 - February 11

One reason to take this course: it equips you with tools to find, evaluate, and present evidence for best practices. Another incentive is the 25 continuing education hours offered.

Since 2019, Transforming Chaplaincy’s Research Literacy 101 has focused on developing practical skills for sourcing, assessing, and summarizing relevant research. The course is taught by TC research fellow alumni Petra Sprik (PhD candidate) and Paul Galchutt, TC’s Assistant Director of Engagement. We hope you'll join us.

Early bird ($250) deadline extends through December 31.

Webinar Journal Club 15

Five-Part Series
Sacred Sparks: How Chaplains Ignite Healing in Patients, Clinicians and Themselves

Transforming Chaplaincy and the Association of Professional Chaplains are partnering together again for their 15th year of Webinar Journnal Club (WJC). WJC provides in-depth readings and discussion of research relevant to chaplains in clinical healthcare. Over five sessions, hosts, Dr. Beth Muehlhausen and John Betz, and guests from diverse demographics and viewpoints explore recent research that highlights how chaplains ignite sacred sparks of meaning and healing across diverse contexts—patients, adolescents, clinicians, and chaplains themselves. Each session focuses on one article, with guided discussion about how findings inform and strengthen chaplaincy practice.

By registering, you will receive a recording for each session.

February 10 | April 14 | June 23 | September 22 | November 10

Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Curriculum (ISPEC)

The ISPEC™ Training Course is gaining momentum among healthcare professionals worldwide. The next ISPEC™ Training Course is scheduled for January 29 and 30, 2026.

​For more information.

Are you passionate about justice, mental health equity, and culturally conscious spiritual care?

We’re building an Advocacy Council to advance systemic change in public psychiatric care — and we’re especially seeking chaplains committed to serving in public state hospitals. Our goal is to ensure every state hospital has access to trained chaplains, while developing national standards and legislation that protect spiritual care as a patient right.

Whether you're a chaplain, clinician, researcher, policy advocate, former patient, family member, or community leader, your voice matters. Together, we’ll shape policy, elevate public awareness, and expand access to spiritual care rooted in dignity, compassion, and cultural consciousness.

Interested in joining? Please contact Rev. Dr. Lauri Swann at lauri.swann@dc.gov.

The 6th Global Summit on Spirituality, Religion & Mental Health

This event will be a centralized opportunity for interdisciplinary and international engagement, discourse, collaboration, and strategy-building to chart the future of the psychology of religion and spirituality. The Summit- to be held at Harvard Medical School’s Conference Center in Boston, MA, USA - represents a landmark moment. It is the first collaborative initiative of its kind between the WPA's Section on Religion, Spirituality, & Psychiatry and the APA's Society for the Psychology of Religion & Spirituality, and seeks to meaningfully chart the future of this necessary field across disciplines and locations. We invite proposals from chaplains, psychologists, psychiatrists, faith leaders, and other clinicians and researchers to contribute to this program until December 31.

Supporting Partnership Opportunities

If you are interested in discussing supporting partnership opportunities 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

Thank you for engaging with Transforming Chaplaincy as we work together to advance spiritual care through research. We value your support, whether you are a part of one of our research networks, attend webinars, or are on a research team. Please also consider contributing financially by clicking the button below.

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 (1.7K) 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 115+ 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​
​
​Vision: We envision a future when chaplaincy is formed, informed, and transformed by evidence-based practice
​
​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