15. SPIRITUAL CARE: A Hospital Chaplain on Grief and Loss....and Joy!

How often are you drawn into your most ridiculous, joyful, vibrant, SINGING self?

Do you include Taylor Swift music and the Barbie movie as part of your spiritual practice? This Methodist chaplain does! Meet Melissa Bortnick, mother of three, clinical spiritual expert, and pastor in training. Currently a chaplain fellow with the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Melissa just finished a year of chaplaincy at Harborview Medical Center. (fun fact: this is the hospital in downtown Seattle that inspired the fictional Grey's Anatomy medical center.)

Melissa also happens to be a girlhood friend of mine, who I haven't seen in decades! It's funny how some things (and people) never change. We're the same girls as always :-)

Join us for a fun and meaningful conversation about how to take special care of your own spirit.

Book Recommendations: Here are Melissa's top five!

• Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing Paperback February 12, 2016 by Andy Crouch 

 

• The Back Side of the Cross: An Atonement Theology for the Abused and Abandoned by Diane Leclerc , Brent Peterson, et al. | Jun 29, 2022
• Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor  | Mar 24, 2020
•  Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Hardcover – October 9, 2018by Brené Brown
• Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others Paperback – May 4, 2009by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky (Author), Connie Burk

 

OUTLINE of this Episode

Introduction

Melissa Bortnick is a Clinical Spiritual Chaplain. She works with patients, families, and medical staff to provide spiritual care.

Spiritual care is not limited to religious beliefs, but rather focuses on the whole person's well-being.

Melissa believes that everyone has a spirit that needs to be cared for, regardless of their religious beliefs.

 

The Work of a Clinical Spiritual Resident

Melissa's work as a chaplain is very diverse.

She may be called to the bedside of a patient who is dying, to provide comfort and support to a family member who has just lost a loved one, or to simply sit with a patient who is feeling scared or alone.

She also works with staff members who are dealing with the emotional and psychological stress of working in a hospital setting.

Where Melissa works, spiritual care is integrated into the clinical support of each patient. They take a holistic view of  the patient's health and well-being.

She says that it can help patients to feel more connected to themselves, to their loved ones, and to something larger than themselves.

Spiritual care can help patients to cope with difficult emotions such as fear, anger, and grief.

 

Grief, Loss, Death...and the Importance of Finding Joy

Melissa's work is challenging but also very rewarding.

She is grateful for the opportunity to help people in their darkest moments.

She also says that she is constantly learning and growing in her role as a chaplain.

The episode ends with Melissa talking about the importance of finding joy in life, even after experiencing loss, and we talk a little bit about Internal Family Systems, a kind of therapy that acknowledges all of the different inner selves of each individual.

She says that she finds joy in spending time with her family and friends, in doing things that she loves, in music (Taylor Swift concerts!) and in helping others.

"That is the entire purpose of why we are here on Earth in the first place-- to constantly be moving towards being the fullest, most joyful, most exuberant and lively version of ourselves we can be." -Chaplain Melissa Bortnick

 

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Music Credit: William Claeson, "Song for a New Beginning"