Eight Truths about Spiritual Care – Inspired by the Octopus

Our Spiritual Care Team is fortunate to receive frequent donations of handmade prayer shawls, but one donation last summer featured a fun surprise: a bag full of crocheted octopi!

Since the Spiritual Care Department specializes in making meaning out of the surprises life throws at us, we decided to use them as inspiration to shed light on the world of spiritual care. 

Since that donation, we’ve learned quite a bit about the mysterious octopus, how they’ve been seen as a spiritual symbol by different cultures, and also just how cool they are as animals that survive in places deeper than most humans will ever venture.

In the spirit of this eight-armed wonder, we’d like to offer you eight truths about spiritual care. 

Spiritual Caregivers Are Adaptable

Did you know that octopi can change both their color and their texture to camouflage themselves into their surroundings? 

As spiritual caregivers, we do something similar!

Each chaplain has their own faith background that played a role in their choice to get into the spiritual care profession.

However, when it comes to working with patients and colleagues, we adapt to what is meaningful specifically to them, including their unique faith traditions. 

We are here for everyone, and we support many different faith traditions, including people making meaning outside of organized religion.

While our team is religiously informed, we are not religiously fixated—instead, we adapt to meet the needs of each individual.

Spiritual Caregivers Are Inclusive

Did you know that the Banded String-Arm Octopus has arms that are ten times the length of its body?

As spiritual caregivers, we try to embody that reach every day to help as many people as possible.

Our care extends across the entirety of South Shore Hospital, including colleagues, patients, and their families.

We provide spiritual care and guidance in any area of the Hospital, from the Emergency Department to our inpatient floors to our Birthing Unit.

Spiritual Caregivers Are Not Afraid of Emotional Depth

Did you know that the Dumbo octopus has been found as deep as 13,000 feet below the surface?

As spiritual caregivers, we appreciate those depths.

Much of our work involves acknowledging the emotional depths of peoples’ experiences in the hospital and doing our best to help them learn how to navigate the deep emotional waters that may come along with a hospital experience.

Grief, joy, horror, shock, rage, despair—we’ve seen them all and we know how to honor each without overwhelm overwhelming the individual.

Spiritual Caregivers Are Familiar with Transitions

Did you know that octopi change skin patterns in their sleep?

As spiritual caregivers, we sometimes wish change was that easy, but we know it’s not.

Across religious traditions, there are many rituals and practices that help people transition from one way of life to another.

We use our skills and experience to make transitions as smooth and as meaningful as possible.

Our work involves supporting people through all kinds of transitions, whether exciting or devastating.

These transitions include:

• Births
• Deaths
• New diagnoses
• Adjusting to new limitations
• Embarking on new health and recovery journeys
• Adjusting to family changes

…and many more.

Spiritual Caregivers Appreciate Complexity

Did you know that octopi can solve complex puzzles, like navigating through mazes?

As spiritual caregivers, we work on complex problems too.

Sometimes families, patients, and colleagues struggle with ethics related to medical choices and honoring a family member’s wishes.

We know that there are myriad ways to get information and make medical decisions, and we hold space for people as they process through it.

Our goal is to help people honor their many ways of “knowing” while moving through decision-making processes among patients, their families, and colleagues at the hospital.

Spiritual Caregivers Honor Cultural Nuance

Did you know that octopi are seen differently across cultures? 

For example, in Japan, Panama, Oceania, and the Americas, octopi have been viewed positively as symbols of healing, intelligence, protection, and even as creators of the universe.

Yet in Celtic, Greek, and Norse mythology, octopi are seen as evil.

As spiritual caregivers, this nuance tracks: we know from experience that things that bring comfort and strength to some people may get in the way of other people’s spiritual resources. 

Sometimes families have a variety of different faith traditions represented among them, or none at all. 

Those different traditions can conflict with each other in important moments.

Our team strives to help patients and their families express their spirituality and make meaning in ways that honor each individual’s experience of the world.

Spiritual Caregivers Make the Intangible Tangible

Did you know that octopi can regenerate lost arms?

As spiritual caregivers, we’re familiar with turning abstract ideas into things we can touch.

Mostly, we do this through ritual. As chaplains, we offer:

• Baptisms
• Blessings
• Prayers
• Sacraments
• Meditations
• New rituals designed specifically for unique situations, like the yearly “Blessing of the Hands” for nurses

We know it’s important to mark beginnings, middles, and endings in ways that reach our five senses and make a meaningful impact.

We’re here to do that with patients, their families, and our colleagues in whatever way means the most to them.

Spiritual Caregivers Offer Many Resources

Did you know that octopi sometimes use coconut shells for shelter?

As spiritual caregivers, we’re all about finding and offering physical resources for spiritual practice.

Examples of physical resources we offer at South Shore Hospital include:

• Access to sacred texts
• Prayer shawls
• Rosaries
• Holy water
• Hospital-safe candles

…and many more.

South Shore Hospital is also home to the Conren Prayer Room, a physical space for quiet reflection and spiritual practice located on the second floor of the Center Building.

In addition, while not quite the same as the physical resources mentioned above, we also offer connection to peoples’ local religious communities and leaders.

Much like the octopus, our Spiritual Care Team is adaptable, resourceful, and unafraid of depth.

Most of all, our team is committed to doing whatever we can to support patients, their families, and our colleagues during times of need.

Emily Hedrick, MDiv authored this blog post. Emily is a chaplain at South Shore Hospital.