New Experience, New Learning

Since my last post I have had taken a week vacation, started my new placement, and participated in a Palliative Care Conference at McMaster University. It has been quite the three weeks.

For our vacation Josh and I picked up and ran away to North Carolina for a week. On the way there we stopped at Gettysburg, Harper's Ferry, and Washington DC (all in 2 days) and had a whirlwind tour of the American Civil War history... then it was down to Wilmington NC where we fast tracked to WWII as we toured a US battleship (impressive, but the tour of Hamilton's Haida was much more thorough), and finally off to Ashville area and the mountains before coming home. Although our trip was busy we saw a lot of beautiful scenery, enjoyed many beautiful State Parks, learned a whole lot about American History, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. (Pictures to come .... if I ever get around to it)

As for my new placement at the mental health facility... it's different. I found it very lonely up there as there are far fewer Spiritual Care staff up there (in fact I was the only one there cause the other 2 were away on vacation). I find myself remembering how difficult it can be to integrate into a new environment and into a new team. So far it's been my interactions with patients that gives me hope that I will survive this transition. I really can't wait until I'm finished and will be able to get a job and have a unit that will be mine where I can establish myself and really become part of the team rather than this floating in and out of units at someone Else's command. Staff are fare less interested in including someone they know is going to be leaving in 4 months.

Finally, the Palliative Care Conference I've been attending this week has been awesome. It's an interdisciplinary conference which encourages the interdisciplinary team work in the context of palliative (or end-of-life) care. Each day we participate in four sessions lead by professionals from one of the various disciplines (medicine, nursing, physio, occupational therapy, pharmacology, and spiritual care), we engage in a lot of case studies where we are all able to work together towards patient care. One of the coolest parts of the conference for me is learning about what exactly all these other disciplines really do as well as being able to share what it is Spiritual Care offer to the team, and actually being recognized more and more frequently throughout the week by other disciplines as being relevant to the team. At the beginning of the week it seemed that absolutely no one had any idea what a chaplain did and now I hear many of the participants speak about referring to chaplaincy and actually seeking spiritual care's input. It's really cool and really encouraging! Maybe there is hope for me finding a place on a unit and being a relevant and respected member of the team!!!