More than religion
When people hear “spiritual care,” many picture a chaplain at the bedside with a prayer book. Sometimes that’s exactly what someone wants. More often, spiritual care is simply room to talk about what matters most.
A serious illness has a way of bringing the big questions forward. What has my life meant? Did I love people well? What happens now? Who will remember me? These aren’t medical questions, but they can weigh as heavily as any symptom. Good hospice care makes space for them.
What it looks like here
At Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard, spiritual care counselors are part of every care team, working alongside our nurses, physicians, social workers and aides. They meet patients and families wherever they are, whatever they believe or don’t believe.
A visit might look like:
- Sitting with someone who wants to tell the story of their life, start to finish
- Helping a family plan a blessing, a ritual or a goodbye that feels true to them
- Praying together, or reading a favorite poem, or sitting in silence by the window
- Talking through an old regret or a relationship that needs mending
- Listening to a fear no one has said out loud yet
There’s no script and no agenda. The patient leads. Some people want to talk about God. Some want to talk about the Red Sox, their garden or the boat they never finished. All of it counts.
In Rabbi Lori’s words
Rabbi Lori Shaller is one of our Spiritual Care Counselors. She’s spent years sitting with Islanders and their families at the end of life, and she describes the work this way:
“People sometimes expect me to come in with answers. Mostly I come in with questions, and then I listen. My job isn’t to tell anyone what to believe. It’s to help them find what they already know matters to them, and to make sure they don’t have to carry the hard parts alone. Some of the most sacred moments I’ve witnessed had nothing to do with religion. A husband holding his wife’s hand. A daughter finally saying ‘I forgive you.’ A grandfather laughing at a story he’d told a hundred times. That’s spiritual care too.”
Rabbi Lori Shaller, Spiritual Care Counselor
For families, too
Spiritual care isn’t only for the patient. Caregivers carry their own questions, exhaustion and grief, often long before a loss. Our counselors are there for spouses, children and close friends during care, and they stay connected after a death through our bereavement program.
Spiritual care is part of every hospice and palliative care plan we offer. There’s no extra cost, and no one is ever required to accept it. It’s simply there, if and when it helps.
Start the conversation early
You don’t have to wait for a crisis to reach out. If you or someone you love is living with a serious illness, call us at (508) 693-0189 to learn what support is available now, including spiritual care for the whole family.