Transforming Chaplaincy
Leadership In Action

The Lawrence & Nancy Golden Memorial Mind-Body Lecture | Buffalo, New York

Dr. George Fitchett, Senior Advisor, Transforming Chaplaincy (TC), delivered the Lawrence & Nancy Golden Memorial Mind-Body Lecture, Religion, Spirituality and Chronic Disease Outcomes: State of the Science.

Pictured with Dr. Fitchett are the following clinician researchers:
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Alan Lesse, MD, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Medical Curriculum, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.

Leonard Egede, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The International Neuropalliative Care Society (INPCS) | Indianapolis, Indiana

Melissa Ko, MD and Shelley Varner Perez, TC Research Fellow alumna, were featured with their plenary session at INPCS, The Next Ascent Beyond Achievement: Where Medicine, Meaning and the Second Mountain Meet.

Transforming Chaplaincy friends and supporting partners from Indiana University Health joined Shelley at INPCS.

Companions on the Way: Chaplaincy in
Interfaith Contexts | Elkhart, Indiana

Cate Beaulieu-Desjardins, TC's Assistant Director for Research Development, offered the keynote address, What Makes Good Spiritual Care? Research, Relationship, and the Practice of Shared Humanity at the conference, Companions on the Way: Chaplaincy in Interfaith Contexts at the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, IN. Both Christine Farah, Spiritual Care Practitioner for Nazareth Hospital, Israel, and Luis Rodruigez (not pictured), Director of CPE for Houston Methodist, one of TC’s Supporting Partners, joined Cate as keynote presenters. Luis is also a Board Member for Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. This seminary co-sponsored this event along with the Nazareth Project, Mennonite Mission Network, and Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship (with whom Cate also serves as the Executive Director).

Transforming Chaplaincy
Short Courses

Intro to Qualitative Research for
Evidence-Based Chaplaincy
Thursday, October 29, 12-5 PM (ET)

Qualitative Research for Evidence-Based Chaplaincy is a 5-hour interactive short course (with substantial breaks) designed for hospital chaplains who want to deepen and strengthen their qualitative research skills and apply evidence-informed insights to spiritual care. Participants will explore the foundations of evidence-based chaplaincy, with a focus on qualitative research methods, research rigor and trustworthiness, ethical considerations (including reflexivity, power dynamics, and IRB awareness), and the practical application of research findings.

The course introduces common qualitative methodologies such as phenomenology, grounded theory, and ethnography. Students will learn to critically read and appraise qualitative research literature relevant to chaplaincy by applying core questions of appraisal (e.g., appropriate sampling, data collection method, analysis rigor, ethical safeguards, researcher reflexivity). Through exercises and examples students will begin to shape their own qualitative spiritual care research question and explore which methodologies are appropriate to different qualitative objectives or approaches.

Beba Tata-Mbeng MS, MDiv, MPH, BCC, is an Assistant Professor of Nursing and Assistant Professor of Spiritual Care at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and serves as Manager of Spiritual Care at Mayo Clinic Florida. A Transforming Chaplaincy Fellow alumna, she brings over a decade of experience in clinical spiritual care, leadership, education, and research, supported by advanced training in Divinity, counseling, and Public Health. Her professional and research interests include integrating spiritual care into everyday clinical practice, staff well-being, community health promotion, and spiritual life review for patients with serious illness. She is particularly passionate about qualitative research as a means of exploring lived experience and amplifying diverse voices.

Cate Beaulieu-Desjardins, MDiv, MA, MPH, BCC is a leader in spiritual care research in pediatrics both nationally and internationally. Cate is the Assistant Director for Research Formation at Transforming Chaplaincy and an Assistant Professor within Rush University College of Health Sciences in Religion, Health, and Human Values. Cate completed the Transforming Chaplaincy Research Fellowship in 2019, earning her MPH in Epidemiology (University of Cincinnati), and later an MA in Advanced Research Methods in Theology (KU Leuven). She will complete an MsT in Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford in 2026. She is co-editor for the forthcoming book Case Studies in Pediatric Chaplaincy (Pickwick). Cate concurrently serves as the Director of the Anabaptist Center for Health Care Ethics and Mennonite Health Care Fellowship.

Masterclass for Chaplain Clinical Note Writing: An Evidence-Based Curriculum
Tuesday, December 1,
12-3 PM (CST) and pre-work

Clear clinical notes are essential to every healthcare chaplain’s practice. Grounded in current evidence, this short course offers strategies for writing engaging notes, communicating the scope of chaplaincy, and accurately describing clinical encounters.

Because chaplains share information with interprofessional teams through electronic health records, this course emphasizes writing concise clinical note summaries. It also helps chaplains add meaningful detail, including peer-reviewed spiritual assessments and other chaplaincy-relevant content. Practical exercises reinforce both goals.

This ninth offering reflects both current evidence and feedback from nearly 200 previous participants. Thank you—your insights continue to shape the course.

Upcoming Webinars

Spiritual Assessment in Hospice Care, Introduction to the H-5
​Tuesday, October 20, 12-1 PM (CDT)

Hospice teams are required to assess and respond to the spiritual concerns of patients and families, yet standardized tools for spiritual assessment in hospice care remain limited. This webinar introduces the H-5 spiritual assessment model, adapted from the PC-7 (now PC-6) framework, to better identify spiritual concerns, relational resources, and severity of spiritual distress among hospice patients and their families. Drawing on feedback from interdisciplinary colleagues and hospice chaplains, the webinar will explore how using the H-5 model can support more consistent documentation, improve interdisciplinary communication, and strengthen the quality of spiritual care at the end of life.

This webinar is based on the recent publication: Developing the H-5, a Quantifiable Spiritual Assessment for Hospice Care.

Presenters: Stacey Morgan, MDiv, BCC, Spiritual Care Supervisor at Providence Portland Medical Center, and Brie Kruger, PhD student, MA, BCC
​Respondent: Travis Greene, Director of Spiritual Care, MDiv, BCC

Spiritual Care and Medical Aid in Dying
​Thursday, November 5, 1-2 PM (CST)

Medical aid in dying (MAiD) is legal in Canada and several European nations. It is legal in 14 US states and DC and more states will follow. The presenters in this webinar are chaplains from the US and Canada with experience providing spiritual care in the context of MAiD. They will describe key spiritual care themes associated with requests for MAiD.

Presenters: Kristy Sibley, Marta Simpson-Tirone, Marshall White

The GERO-6: A Quantifiable Assessment of Spiritual Concerns of Older Adults Living in Long-Term Care
​Tuesday, November 17, 12-1 PM (CST)

The GERO-6 joins a suite of quantifiable spiritual assessments (PC-6, ONC-5, H-5) developed from within Transforming Chaplaincy.

This webinar is based on the recent publication: Development of the GERO-6, a Quantifiable Assessment of Spiritual Concerns of Older Adults Living in Long-Term Care​

Presenters: Sarah McEvoy, MDiv, JD, Clinical chaplain at York Hospital in York, Maine & Jacqueline Cook, BCC, NCCDP, Clinical Chaplain at Messiah Lifeways (CCRC) in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
​Respondent: Fatima Ali Naqvi, MD, Assistant Professor at George Washington University, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine.

New Publications

Congratulations to these Transforming Chaplaincy affiliated authors with their publications.
-Alex Schapiro (not pictured), Research Network Co-Convener
-Dr. Csaba Szilagyi, Director
-Nina Redl, Program Coordinator & Research Network Co-Convener
-Paul Galchutt, Assistant Director of Engagement
-Dr. Judy Connolly, Co-Instructor
-Dr. Beth Muehlhausen, Research Partner and Co-Host of Webinar Journal Club.
-Dr. Sarah Byrne-Martelli, Co-Instructor

A Digital Spiritual Health Collaborative Care Model Within Accountable Care Organizations: A Community Case Study

A New Jersey healthcare system implemented a digital spiritual health collaborative care model, embedding a board-certified chaplain in two Accountable Care Organizations and providing telehealth visits to patients with chronic and serious illnesses. Ambulatory care teams used a brief two-item spiritual screen (65% screened positive, and 60% of those enrolled); the chaplain developed spiritual care plans and shared spiritual health insights with care teams through consult notes. The findings suggest that Patient-Centered Medical Home structures offer a practical foundation for integrating spiritual care into value-based population health.

Schapiro, A. B., Barr, J. E., & Szilagyi, C. (2026). A digital spiritual health collaborative care model within accountable care organizations: A community case study. Frontiers in Health Services, 6(1944486), 1944486. https://doi.org/10.3389/frhs.2026.1944486

Chaplains' Reports of Integration in Adult Level 1 Trauma Centers in the United States: Scope of Involvement, Services, and Coverage

Professional healthcare chaplains play a vital role in U.S. Adult Level I trauma centers by supporting patients and families, facilitating communication, and assisting during death notifications and other critical moments. However, wide variation in staffing, protocols, team integration, and aftercare leaves many centers without consistent 24/7 coverage or sustained spiritual support, underscoring the need for more formalized chaplaincy approaches.

Redl, N., Chreiman, K., & Szilagyi, C. (2026). Chaplains’ reports of integration in Adult Level I trauma centers in the United States: Scope of involvement, services, and coverage. JEM Reports, 5(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemrpt.2026.100283​

Supplement, Not Substitute: What Is Known, Unknown, and Worth Studying about Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Chaplaincy (Preprint)

AI is already reshaping healthcare chaplaincy, from documentation and case-finding tools to prayer chatbots and proposed avatars, prompting urgent questions about where technology should supplement human care—and where it risks substituting for it. Drawing on a July 2026 AI and Faith symposium, published research, and an international Delphi study, this paper highlights broad support for administrative uses, persistent concerns about relational care and chaplain formation, and a ten-item research agenda for institutions, educators, and developers.

Arnold, T., Compson, J., Erisman, R.D., Fleenor, D.W., Graves, M., McKell, D., Ryan, Y., Smith, C.E., Szilagyi, C., Trothen, T.J., & Weiner, J. (2026). Supplement, not substitute: What is known, unknown, and worth studying about artificial intelligence in healthcare chaplaincy. SSRN. https://ssrn.com/abstract=7607822​

Factors Influencing Inpatient Palliative Care Chaplain Clinical Notes: A Focus Group Study

This study involving 30 U.S. palliative care chaplains identified key influencing factors when writing clinical notes in electronic health records. The analysis suggest that palliative chapains are isolated and need stronger intraprofessional networks as well as active and closer collaboration with care teams to help chaplains improve documentation and support evidence-based integration.

Galchutt, P., & Connolly, J. (2026). Factors influencing inpatient palliative care chaplain clinical notes: A focus group study. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/08854726.2026.2732438​

CPE Cultural Immersion Through Pairing CPE Residents with Local Religiously Diverse Families

This qualitative interpretative phenomenological study evaluated a religiously diverse cultural immersion program for 20 clinical pastoral education residents in Houston Methodist Hospital System’s 2024 and 2025 cohorts, focusing on their experiences with host families from faith traditions other than their own. Fifteen themes indicated that the program fostered cultural and religious humility and supported several Association of Clinical Pastoral Educators Level IIA Outcome Indicators, while also revealing implementation challenges and opportunities for improvement.

Muehlhausen, B. L., Soga, S., Abuyeka, C., Amaya-Villa, J., & Nieves Aviles, E. (2026). CPE cultural immersion through pairing CPE residents with local religiously diverse families. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/08854726.2026.2732450​

Finding Meaning in Critical Illness: Integrating Spiritual and Existential Care into Intensive Care

Critical illness creates an existential as well as medical crisis, confronting patients, families, and clinicians with mortality, disrupted identity, grief, consequential decisions, and the cumulative burden of witnessing suffering; emerging evidence shows that spiritual and existential distress is common, linked to adverse psychological outcomes such as post-intensive care syndrome, and responsive to interventions including chaplaincy and dignity- and meaning-centered therapies. Meaning-making should therefore be treated as a shared clinical goal within whole-person critical care through routine spiritual screening, integrated professional chaplaincy, and an explicit “Finding meaning” domain in family-centered ICU frameworks for patients, families, and staff.

Byrne-Martelli, S. E., Miller, M., Majumdar, J. R., Puchalski, C., Rosa, W. E., & D'Andria Ursoleo, J. (2026). Finding meaning in critical illness: Integrating spiritual and existential care into intensive care. Palliative & supportive care, 24, e237. https://doi.org/10.1017/S147895152610371X​

Upcoming Education

GriefBots and Spiritual Wellness:
Some Theo-ethical Reflections
Friday, October 23, 11 AM-Noon (CDT)

Large language models are pushing into the space of grief and spiritual care through the development of griefbots — AI systems trained on a deceased person's digital footprint to simulate conversation with the dead. While griefbots may offer comfort and a sense of connection, they raise significant ethical and theological concerns for spiritual health care providers. This presentation examines some of the spiritual implications of griefbots, including the risk of theological disruption, complicated grief, distorted memory, and the erosion of embodied community. At the same time, griefbots may offer some individuals a sense of comfort, reduced loneliness, and a space for self-disclosure that supports grief processing. Drawing on the Spiritual AIM framework and the Model of the Special (Reed & Trothen 2026), the presentation invites participants to reflect on how individuals interpret griefbots through their own spiritual and cultural lenses, and what this means for spiritual care. The presentation concludes with practical suggestions for navigating conversations with those who are engaging — or considering engaging — with griefbots, holding the tension between potential benefits and harms.

To receive a ZOOM link for the presentation, please sign up on telechaplaincy.io

Online Mental Health Chaplaincy Training
at McLean Hospital
November 2026 - March 2027

A new education opportunity through Angelika Zollfrank, BCC, ACPE, Transforming Chaplaincy, Research Network Co-Convener. For more information: azollfrank@mclean.harvard.edu

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

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​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