Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy Services
Facing illness can be tough. Hospital chaplains are here to help you and your loved ones through this challenging time. They offer emotional and spiritual support, regardless of your religious beliefs. Chaplains can listen, provide comfort and connect you with resources to help you cope.
Patient Care Support Activities:
- Available to visit patients 24/7.
- Copies of scriptures and holy writings from diverse religious traditions.
- Offers or arranges for spiritual or religious support for all faith traditions and beliefs.
- Provides or arranges for the practice or experience of religious sacraments and rituals, such as baptism, blessing, communion, sacrament of sick, confessions, chanting, etc.
- Provides patients with supportive, reflective time to talk about how their spiritual or religious experiences and beliefs can support them in the hospital and healing process.
- Support to patients’ families and loved ones.
- Interfaith chapels located on the first floor of the Alta Bates, Herrick and Summit campuses.
Staff Care Support Events and Activities:
- Staff debriefing sessions
- Individual one-on-one support
- Renew Your Spirit care carts
- Blessing of the Hands — an annual celebration and time of reflection
- Guidance in clarifying spiritual concerns, religious beliefs and ethical issues related to patient care
- Help in facilitating patient care, family conferences and palliative care consultations
Education and Outreach:
- Assistance with referrals to local religious leaders and faith communities
- Education through our Celebrating Religious Diversity program, including our monthly interfaith calendar activities
- Our Clinical Pastoral Education program includes students from a wide range of faith traditions, culture, lifestyle and identity orientations
Chaplains are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To contact a chaplain at the Summit Campus (Oakland), please call 510-869-6784. To contact a chaplain at the Alta Bates or Herrick Campuses (Berkeley), please call 510-204-6730.
Please provide us with the following information: name and extension number of the person making the referral, the patient or family name, patient’s room number, unit, location and nature of the request.
Please page the on-call chaplain at 510-801-5050 and enter your full telephone number.
For more information, please contact:
Chaplain Services Department
2450 Ashby Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705
510-204-6730
510-848-6119 fax
Our goal is to provide exceptional professional spiritual care to patients, families and staff inclusive of all religious traditions, cultural backgrounds and spiritual expression. We aim to provide excellent educational opportunities for people preparing for professional chaplaincy and all levels of Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) training. We participate as partners and integrate our services into the mission of the campuses of CPMC.
- Inclusiveness: Our mission is carried out through the values of inclusiveness, as the department and its ACPE program will be multicultural, multiethnic, interdenominational, interfaith and holistically oriented.
- Equity: The department and its ACPE Certified Clinical Pastoral Education Program will foster fairness and access in all its affairs, specifically but not limited to persons and issues of race, culture, faith, gender, sexual orientation and able-bodiedness.
- Community Service: We see our ministry extending beyond CPMC, maintaining networks and relationships with community clergy and faith communities to provide educational resources and outreach.
- Research and Publication: We encourage scholarship related to Spiritual and Pastoral Care, and will promote research and publications as valuable ministries.
Patient Care Support Activities:
- Available to visit patients 24/7 on all campuses
- Offers or arranges for spiritual or religious support for all faith traditions and beliefs
- Provides or arranges for the practice or experience of religious sacraments and rituals, such as baptism, blessing, communion, sacrament of sick, confessions, chanting, etc
- Provides patients with supportive, reflective time to talk about how their spiritual or religious experiences and beliefs can support them in the hospital and healing process
- Support to patients’ families and loved ones so they can continue to offer their best care to the patient
Interdisciplinary Team Engagement:
- Communicates how this hospitalization experience is impacting the patient’s healing process
- Educates the team on how patients' religious or spiritual experiences and beliefs impact their healing process
- Provides Spiritual Assessments outlining areas of patient needs and resources, and plans of care
- Shares information about how the patient understands their illness or disease
Staff Care Support Events and Activities:
- Blessing of Hands — for celebrations and times of reflection
- Individual one-on-one support
- Religious observance support such as Ash Wednesday, Ramadan, etc
- Tea for the Soul — a time to check in, offered to teams when they are particularly stressed or after stressful incidents
- Staff memorial and remembrance services
Education and Outreach:
- Our Clinical Pastoral Education program includes students from a wide range of faith traditions, culture, lifestyle and identity orientations.
- Our graduates often return back into their communities where they continue to offer ministry and social engagement advocacy.
- The program’s Professional Advisory Committee is comprised of community faith leaders and spiritual care professionals who offer guidance to our program.
- Our team engages with San Francisco interfaith community organizations.
Chaplains are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Chaplains can be reached at 415-600-3741. Please provide us with the following information: name and extension number of the person making the referral, the patient or family name, patient’s room number, unit, location and nature of the request.
Staff can also request non-urgent chaplain visits for patients by entering a consult request in EPIC.
Please call the hospital operator at 415-600-6000. Staff can dial “10” for the paging operator.
Healing Harp at the Bedside
The harp has been used as a therapeutic instrument for thousands of years, helping patients create an opening for healing in the body, mind, emotions and spirit. Specific harp playing techniques tailored for each patient may:
- Reduce feelings of anxiety and distress
- Increase ability to relax and rest
- Increase self-healing process through positive memories
- Rhythmic pace aids breathing process
- Support transition process of birth and death
- Provide spiritual support
Our Healing Harp program is focused on the well-being of our patients, their families and visitors, and our staff.
Healing Harp Certification
Healing Harp Certification is a transformational, year-long program designed to train harpists to become harp therapists. This 240-hour training program combines education (90 hours) with a supervised hospital internship (150 hours). This innovative program looks for students with a passion for integrating a philosophy of caring for the whole person within the practice of mainstream medicine.
For more information, contact Portia Diwa at 415-600-2890 or email portia.diwa@sutterhealth.org.
Teaching Testimonials
Ms. Diwa sets a mood within the class that feels non-judgmental and safe.
The class allowed me, as a beginning harpist, to feel successful playing for another person.
Listen to Portia Diwa playing her composition "Ocean Song” | MP3 (6 minutes) from her CD "Ocean Song: Gentle Harp Music for Healing." (Used with permission, copyright Portia Diwa 2011.)
The care you offer to members of your faith community is irreplaceable. As your partners in ministry, we want to support you in every way we can. We hope the information here will be helpful to you as you visit your hospitalized members.
About Our Spiritual Care Providers
Our multifaith core team of spiritual care providers are trained as specialists in healthcare ministry, caring for people in the unique environment of the hospital. Our team consists of staff chaplains (board certified chaplains) and students in our CPE Program (accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education). We care for patients, loved ones and staff of any faith tradition or no faith tradition.
Please let us know how we can partner with you in supporting your members. We may be able to:
- Visit a patient when you aren’t available.
- Collaborate with you to create the best possible spiritual care plan for a patient.
- Help you convey information to the medical staff about issues relevant to the patient’s spiritual condition.
- Pray or reflect with you for your own support.
Please be aware that while you may share your members’ needs with us, we may not be able to share information with you because of confidentiality rules mandated by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Similarly, please respect your members’ wishes and ask them before you share information about their hospitalization with others in your congregation.
Visiting Your Members in the Hospital
Solicitation: CPMC doesn’t permit proselytizing or solicitation of any kind. Visiting room-to-room or visiting patients who aren’t members of your faith community isn’t permitted. Similarly, distributing literature or leaving materials in waiting rooms, restrooms or other public areas of the hospital is not permitted. Of course, your’e always welcome to use appropriate religious literature when caring for members of your congregation. The spiritual care office also has a selection of sacred and devotional materials available.
During the Visit: The information desk in the lobby on each campus can help you find a patient’s room number. Before going to the patient’s room, please check in at the nursing station on the unit. Staff there can help ensure that the patient is ready for your visit. Please wash your hands (or use hand sanitizer) before and after each visit and observe any other precautions posted.
Meditation Rooms or Chapels: Each campus has a meditation room or chapel. The hospital operator or information desk can direct you there. After hours, our Public Safety (Security) team can help you access this sacred space.
Cafeterias and Snack Vending Machines: Each campus hospital has a cafeteria. There are also vending machines located near each cafeteria.
Other Opportunities: If you are willing to serve as a resource for patients of your faith tradition, please contact us at 415-600-3741.
Non-Urgent Requests
Chaplains can be reached at 415-600-3741. Please provide us with the following information: name and extension number of the person making the referral, the patient or family name, patient’s room number, unit, location and nature of the request.
Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento
We know that being hospitalized is not just a physical experience. Illness affects your life and your family, and may cause you to reflect on your values, beliefs, and goals.
At Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, our Spiritual Care department has professionally trained chaplains who are able to provide emotional and spiritual support to you, regardless of your faith, culture, or spiritual tradition. We are available to simply listen, or can offer a prayer or blessing, if requested.
For family members and friends, we offer a beautiful Chapel and Spiritual Center located on the second floor of the Anderson Lucchetti Hospital. This space is designed to welcome persons of all spiritual traditions. Additionally, as part of our Spiritual Care Service, we have created a downloadable Bereavement Brochure to help you cope with the pain of loss.
Chaplains provide initial spiritual screening and assessment, education concerning religious/cultural beliefs and other services. Chaplains may be called for:
- Encouragement and hope
- Help in finding meaning and purpose
- Presence in times of loneliness
- Desire for reconciliation
- Feelings of helplessness
- Help with creating a connection with the divine
- The comfort of prayer or blessing
- Talking about the struggles of life
- Solace through sacred writings
- Exploration and examination when making important decisions
- Help in facing ethical dilemmas
- Performing rituals
- Times of rejoicing and thanksgiving for life
Losing someone or something you love or care deeply about is very painful. A person may experience a variety of difficult emotions and it may feel like the pain and sadness from the loss will never let up. These are normal reactions. While there is no right or wrong way to grieve, there are healthy ways to cope with the pain that, in time, can renew you and permit you to move on.
For bereavement resources in the community, visit Grief Help Sacramento.
To contact the Director of Chaplain Services, call 916-781-1147 or email at jonesg@sutterhealth.org.
Sutter Roseville Medical Center offers two extended clinical pastoral education opportunities. Find out more or apply.
Associate Chaplains are volunteers who have completed their CPE training and make routine visits with our patients. We also have between six and 12 chaplain students at any given time who provide spiritual care to patients, families and staff while completing their study programs.
Our on-call volunteers are members of the community, both laity and clergy, with a desire to provide spiritual care to individuals in times of crisis. Our volunteers primarily respond to emergency calls after hours.
Our Introduction to Healthcare Chaplaincy/On-Call Volunteer 20 hour training includes a basic introduction to healthcare chaplaincy, skills training and case studies This training is offered several times each year. If you are interested in participating in the training, please contact Sharon Henry at 916-781-1146 or by email at HenryS4@sutterhealth.org.
Sutter Roseville Medical Center and the Department of Chaplain Services provides numerous spaces on our campus for quiet reflection, meditation and prayer. Patients, visitors and staff are welcome to use these spaces throughout the day.
