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Fall 2015 Newsletter

In this issue:

President’s letter 2

Fall Conference to focus on spiritual pain 3

Fall 2015 Conference Schedule and Registration Link 4

Shay Greene named Chaplain of the Year 5

Your input needed for survey and Chaplain of Year 6

NCCA and technology updates 7

Pastoral Care Week—NCCA to honor members 8-9

Spring Conference Highlights—photo gallery 10-11

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Chaplains as specialists in “Connection Economy” By Beth Jackson-Jordan, NCCA President

Greetings NCCA Friends,

This summer the chaplain residents in our hospital have been reading the book ‘The Icarus Deception’ by Seth Godin. Godin makes the case that we are in a new era in which the ‘Industrial Economy’ (characterized by standardization and mass production) has been replaced by a ‘Connection Economy’ (characterized by originality, authenticity and humanity). Godin argues that what matters most in the Connection Economy are assets such as trust, remarkability, leadership, stories that spread, and humanity – including compassion and humility. He

notes that successful leaders will be those who can “dig deeper” rather than just doing more.

As I read Godin’s words, I felt like he was describing the work of chaplains!

In the past few months, we have been painfully reminded of the need for moral and spiritual leadership in the face of numerous events in our country fueled by hatred, violence, suffering, and mistrust. Many of us have stepped up to offer responses in our places of service and our communities. Thank you for the compassion and support you offer so many people. And thank you for advocating for those who may not have a voice and whose suffering is not always acknowledged. Addressing the suffering of others is a core part of what we all do as chaplains and spiritual care providers. Our NCCA fall education day will focus on the theme ‘Looking at Spiritual Pain’ and offer opportunities to ‘dig deeper’ in understanding spiritual suffering. It will also be a time for fun and fellowship with colleagues from around the state!

My prayer is that the North Carolina Chaplains’ Association gatherings will continue to nurture meaningful connections between our members and deepen the ability for each one of us to be the leaders our institutions need us to be. In order to do this, we have created a NCCA member survey to help us know what NCCA member benefits and activities are most important to you. I hope you will complete as soon as you receive it to help us better support you!

And finally, as the summer winds down, I hope you will remember to practice self-care and include some fun and playfulness in your schedule!

Grace and Peace, Beth Jackson-Jordan

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Board Certification workshop offered Wednesday

Education Day includes a pre-conference workshop focused on the APC Board Certification process. Join facilitators Dr. Teresa McIlwain and Rev. Greg Hathaway on Wednesday, Sept. 30th from 7-9 pm at Haw River. Participants will begin together and then split into one of two tracks: (1) CPE students or individuals interested in hearing more about the certification process; and (2) chaplains who have already begun the process and who would like to bring their materials, ask questions, request feedback or engage in dialogue. This workshop is free for NCCA Members and $25 for non-NCCA members.

We are pleased to welcome Larry Dawalt as our speaker for NCCA’s Fall Education Day. Larry serves as Senior Director of Spiritual and Grief Care Services for Hospice & Palliative Care--Charlotte Region (HPCCR). He has worked in hospice care since 1993. Larry serves his community in a variety of ways to include serving on the board of directors for Our Children’s Memorial Walkway, established in the heart of Uptown Charlotte to allow for families of all ages, denominations, and races from across the area to have a place to come together in memory of their children.

In addition to his work, study and specific training in Clinical Pastoral Education, Larry is a Certified Trauma Services Specialist and has earned his Certification in Thanatology from the Association of Death Educators and Counselors. As an invited speaker, Larry has addressed local, regional and national organizations on topics of spirituality, comparative religion, end of life care and grief.

We will gather at The Summit Center at Haw River State Park, 339 Conference Center Dr., Browns Summit, NC 27214; Click here to view the facility.

NCCA Fall Education Day Thursday, October 1, 2015

Haw River State Park

“Looking at Spiritual Pain” Presented by: Larry Dawalt

Session 1: Diagnosis and Treatment of Spiritual Pain

Session 2: Spiritual Care and the Noble Eightfold

Path—An Exploration of Suffering (and Joy) in the Chaplain/Patient Encounter

Click here to register. Larry Dawalt

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Shay Greene named NC Chaplain of the Year By Melanie Childers, Publicity Chair

Rev. Shay Greene, Director of Pastoral Care at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC, was named 2015 Chaplain of the Year by the North Carolina Chaplains' Association. Chaplain Greene was nominated by several colleagues at UNC Hospitals, who called attention to her compassion, leadership skills, and tireless efforts on behalf of patients, families, staff, and the pastoral care department at the hospital. Chaplain Greene was honored at a banquet during the Chaplain Association's spring conference April 23 at Camp Dogwood in Sherrill's Ford, NC. The award includes a plaque and a monetary gift.

Greene earned a B.A. in Religion from Converse College and a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Clinical areas of expertise include Pediatric Intensive Care and Pediatric Oncology. Greene is an ordained Baptist minister and is endorsed for chaplaincy by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. She is a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains. In support of Rev. Greene's nomination as chaplain of the year, Melvin S. Hurston, Sr. Vice President for Operations at UNC Hospitals, noted Greene's "diligent and indefatigable efforts" to advocate for patients, families, and staff persons through creative and meaningful ministries provided of the Department of Pastoral Care. Hurston painted a portrait of an energetic and passionate leader who advocates for her department, pursues funding from a variety of sources, willingly volunteers to take on new tasks, keeps personally connected through direct patient care, and starts creative programs to keep the pastoral care department on the cutting edge of UNC Hospitals' services. Hurston highlighted Greene's work as chair of the patient experience team, which is credited with helping increase patient satisfaction from the 48th percentile to above the 80th percentile. Carl Clark, a colleague of Greene's in the UNC Pastoral Care Department, said Greene's heart for personal chaplaincy remains central: "Though she carries demanding administrative responsibilities,... she often steps away from all these demands to focus all of her attention, in a blink of an eye, on a patient or hospital staff person who has spontaneously appeared needing assistance." Congratulations, Shay! Your colleagues appreciate your service in your own hospital system as well as the field of pastoral care.

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DISTINGUISHED CHAPLAINS Past Chaplain of the Year recipients attending the Spring 2015 NCCA meeting celebrate with current recipient Shay Green (left): Karen Moore, Marcia McQueen, Patricia Caudill, Shirley Massey, Melanie Childers, and Nancy Osborn.

Submit nominations now for 2016 Chaplain of the Year By Cynthia Vaughan, NCCA Vice President

Each year the North Carolina Chaplains Association selects a member to receive the organizations’ esteemed designation of Chaplain of the Year. It is time for NCCA members to consider whom to recognize and honor for this designation in 2016.

You are invited to scan the membership list for persons who exemplify traits of professional chaplaincy that you deem worthy of recognition. Consider ways in which the chaplain contributes and honors the field of Pastoral Care/Chaplaincy; supports colleagues and advocates for professional chaplaincy and pastoral care; educates the care-community in helpful ways; and actively participates in the North Carolina Chaplains’ Association. Do you think

others see what you see? If so, log into your membership account on the NCCA website and complete the nomination form. It only takes a few

minutes. Then invite persons who also recognize the professionalism displayed by your colleague and have them write letters supporting the nomination. Other than the acknowledgment of their giftedness and talents, the Chaplain of the Year receives a nice monetary award along with professional and hometown publicity of his/her accomplishment. Help us raise the bar of professional chaplaincy by shining the spotlight on a deserving pastoral care giver.

NCCA requests members’ feedback through survey

The NCCA Executive Committee wants to learn more from each of you about your experiences with the NCCA. In the next few weeks, you will receive an email from NCCA containing a link to a survey. The survey is intended to help the Executive Committee learn more about your needs, the resources your organization provides you, your communication preferences, and other key information that allows the committee to make NCCA more of what you need it to be. Please dedicate a few moments of your time to the survey. It will allow your Executive Committee to serve you better. Paper copies of the survey will also be provided to CPE students and others attending Fall Education Day that may not be in the NCCA database to ensure the Executive Committee gets a comprehensive look at the breadth of our organizational contacts. Thank you in advance for participating!

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NCCA members should find Website faster, smoother By Jeanell Cox, Administrative Coordinator

The NCCA Executive Committee has been listening to you. The website has undergone several upgrades in the past month. Primarily, the website hosting service has changed. As a result, the load time for the website has been cut in half, allowing you to more quickly access what you need. In addition, the registration options for conferences have been restructured to make them more user-friendly.

These changes should make your online experience with NCCA more streamlined. Please bear with us, as with these changes we will have a brief period (probably just a couple of weeks) when it will be more difficult to find the NCCA website when you use a search engine such as Google.

In the upcoming survey, the Executive Committee will be asking you about your electronic communication needs and website, so you can anticipate more improvements in the future. In the meantime, you can contact Jeanell Cox, Administrative Coordinator, by emailing admincoordinator@ncchaplains.com with any needs you might have regarding our web presence and function. Thank you for your patience as the Executive Committee works diligently to serve you!

NCCA to honor members during Pastoral Care Week NCCA to honor members during Pastoral Care Week

NCCA members becoming more reliant on electronic communication By Sara Stubbs, Marketing Chair

At the NCCA 2015 spring conference, attendees received a marketing survey to regarding the ways NCCA communicates with members and others. There were 47 people who completed a survey that day, 40 of them members of NCCA and 7 of them non-members. In this short survey, here is some information that was learned:

64% of respondents use Facebook

19% of respondents use Twitter

60% of respondents use social media frequently (at least once a day) or very frequently (multiple times a day)

23% of respondents never use Social Media

72% of respondents learned about the Spring Conference from NCCA by way of e-mail, website, or other communication

26% of respondents learned about it from work or CPE supervisor

So, we are celebrating that 72% of survey respondents knew about the conference through some form of communication from NCCA. We still have work to do in reaching more people with our information and in finding ways to reach out to new people about NCCA. The Marketing Committee will soon have a meeting, and one of the things we will discuss is how to increase our presence through the internet and social media. We doubled the number of people following us on Facebook just by asking you to like our page the day of the conference.

Word of mouth is also an important tool for getting the word out about this organization, since several attendees knew about the conference because someone at work told them about it. So, don’t hesitate to say a good word to other chaplains about the North Carolina Chaplains’ Association.

You can do several things to help NCCA keep you informed. Please check your profile on the website to make sure your contact information is current. Some of you work in places that have many technology safeguards, which sometimes block NCCA communication. Consider sharing a home e-mail address so that NCCA can better communicate with you. Also take our more comprehensive online survey when you get the invitation. Thanks for helping us keep you updated, and thanks for spreading the word about our organization.

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NCCA to honor members during Pastoral Care Week Every year during Pastoral Care Week, many chaplains expend significant energy promoting their field, usually by providing acts of service and support to their colleagues in other disciplines. Many chaplains offer rituals such as Blessing of the Hands during this week. But NCCA leadership wants to make sure someone is reaching out to care for the chaplains during this time of recognition. In honor of the hard work and dedication of chaplains across the state, the NCCA Executive Committee has prepared a letter that it would like to send to members’ administrators. A copy of the letter is printed below. It is a simple act, but one that will allow your work to be recognized and praised by someone other than yourself. The letter is also intended to remind administrators that spiritual care and chaplaincy departments make a positive difference, even when they do not bring in direct revenue. In order to take advantage of this service, NCCA will need you to send some key contact information to Saundra Casey, NCCA Advocacy Chair, at sandra2114@aol.com. By sending the following information to Saundra, you will be granting permission for NCCA to send the recognition letter from our president, Beth Jackson-Jordan. Remember, your professionalism is a tribute to the field of chaplaincy and spiritual care, and it helps lend credibility to this occupation. By allowing NCCA to highlight your work, you are helping strengthen the roles of professional chaplains across the state. Thank you for participating in this way! Your name: ______________ _____________________________________ Your institution’s name: _________________________________________ Your administrator’s name: ______________________________________ Your administrator’s title: ________________________________________ Your administrator’s address: _____________________________________

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October 20, 2015 Dear Administrator: The fourth week of October marks the annual celebration of Pastoral Care Week, and the North Carolina Chaplains’ Association wants to thank you for your support of pastoral care professionals in your institution. Professional chaplains provide sensitive, thoughtful support to patients, families, and staff during times of crisis and uncertainty. They are trained to work with persons of any faith tradition as well as those who do not profess any faith. They offer spiritual assessment that can augment the physical, emotional, and mental health assessments routinely performed in health care facilities. They also serve as representatives of that which is beyond the physical realm, offering a transcendent connection that is much needed in times of trauma and unexpected crisis. The North Carolina Chaplains’ Association encourages and supports our chaplains’ achievement of the highest level of professional standards. Well-trained chaplains—who are comfortable working in stressful environments--daily bring a calming presence and a consistent, nonjudgmental spiritual dimension to the care provided in institutions like yours—often without ever calling attention to themselves. Please consider a special note of encouragement to your professional spiritual caregivers during Pastoral Care Week 2015. The dates for this year are Oct. 25-31. And thank you again for recognizing the importance of hiring trained, skilled, and compassionate spiritual care professionals to serve in your institution. Sincerely, Rev. Beth Jackson-Jordan, MDiv, BCC President, North Carolina Chaplains’ Association

SAVE THE DATE!

NCCA Spring Conference 2016

April 27-29, 2016

A great opportunity for collegial fellowship, continuing education, networking, and retreat

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LAKESIDE LEARNING (clockwise from top left:) Lake Norman’s Camp Dogwood offers a new venue for NCCA. Dr. Ken Walden addresses multicultural issues in pastoral care. Administrative Coordinator Jeanell Cox assists NCCA member to navigate the Web site. Members network and support each other during breaks. Marcia McQueen leads the group in a mini-retreat. The NCCA Executive Committee poses with Dr. Walden.

Chaplains learn, relax at lakeside conference

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Spring conference features boating & theology

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS From quiet meditation to short river cruises to live music to rocking chair chats to honoring exceptional leadership to discussing serious theology, NCCA’s spring conference 2015 offered a little something for everyone. All NCCA members and friends are invited to join us for future gatherings Oct. 1, 2015 and April 27-29, 2016.