Second Annual
Spiritual Care Summit
To better serve the spiritual care community, this event has been postponed till Spring of 2025!
〰️
Stay tuned for details!
〰️
To better serve the spiritual care community, this event has been postponed till Spring of 2025! 〰️ Stay tuned for details! 〰️
Expanding the Reach of Spiritual Care:
Meeting People Where They Are
As of October 8th, 2024 this year’s Summit has been postponed.
Stay tuned for information on the new date and time!
Keynote:
Chaplaincy and Meaning Making
Shelly Rambo
PhD., STM, MDiv, Boston University Professor of Theology and Author
Shelly Rambo has been teaching at Boston University School of Theology since 2004. Trained as both a systematic and constructive theologian, she is particularly attentive to the transmission of Christian theologies of suffering, from history to the present. She locates her work at the intersections of Christian theology, literature, and postmodern thought. Her book, Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining, forges a theology of the Spirit through engagements with postmodern biblical hermeneutics, a theology of Holy Saturday, and contemporary trauma theory. Her second book, Resurrecting Wounds: Living in the Afterlife of Trauma, explores the significance of resurrection wounds in the Christian tradition in relationship to contemporary discourses about wounding in popular culture and the study of trauma.
Her work at the intersection of trauma and religion has led to partnerships with chaplains and international educators in post-conflict areas. Inspired by the work of military chaplains, she was instrumental in designing Boston University School of Theology’s MDiv track in Chaplaincy. She also serves as a faculty leader in Boston University’s Religion and Conflict Transformation program. Her current projects focus on theologies of spiritual care that inform the work of chaplains. Through grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and the BTS center, she is partnering with sociologists to explore the changing demographics of religious life in the US and the education and training of chaplains.
She teaches courses in contemporary theology, feminist and womanist theologies, trauma and theology, postmodern theology, and theopoetics.
Panelists
-
Jake Fahey (he/him) is an interspiritual chaplain and community organizer living on Abenaki land (now known as South Portland, ME). He spends his time building local relational power and seeding systems of liberation. Jake works with Spiritual Care Services of Maine caring for the unhoused and those with mental health and substance use challenges in the greater Portland area. You will find Jake working with Community Change Inc, The Living Room Crisis Center, the Groundwater Institute, Greater Portland Showing Up for Racial Justice, the Maine Council of Churches, and the Hope Squad.
-
Jeff spent the first third of his life as a professional Shakespearean actor in New York City (BA in Theatre Arts from UC Berkeley); the second third practicing Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in Portland, Maine (Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine from Southwest Acupuncture College). In June of 2014, he was ordained as an interfaith minister by the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine.
-
At the heart of all the rest, Aram is a wilderness guide. He takes people to places where encounters with wildness and experiences of spiritual formation flow together.
He guides in the backcountry, in forests and canyons, along coasts and rivers. And he guides people to the metaphorical confluence of wildness and formation in boardrooms, houses of worship, classrooms, and living rooms.
He has worked for a number of nonprofit organizations in Maine, offering programs and courses that bolster spiritual leaders with the knowledge, skill, and practices that they need to minister for the long-haul.
He has a coaching practice that supports people to slow down and get clear, then take playful and purposeful steps toward living out their vision for a thriving life. He writes and teaches regularly about spiritual formation and wildness. And in the Fall of 2024 he will begin as the pastor of Edgecomb Community Church.
Aram is a Registered Maine Guide and Wilderness First Responder. He has a Masters degree in Religious Studies from Chicago Theological Seminary. And is a student of ontological coaching with the Academy for Coaching Excellence.
-
Roberta Whitney is Faith and Wellness manager for the Maine Department of Corrections, where she works closely with chaplains in service of meeting religious and spiritual growth needs and interests of residents and supporting staff well-being. Roberta has also worked as clinical chaplain in healthcare settings in hospital, hospice and long-term care facilities. She brings an interfaith perspective to chaplaincy and commitment to whole-person care.
-
Rev. Dr. Lori Whittemore is the founder of SCS Maine and is currently serving as the Executive Director. Lori received her doctorate of ministry from the George Fox, Portland Seminary, her master of divinity from Bangor Theological Seminary, and bachelor of art in psychology from George Washington University. Lori has served as executive director of the Abbey of Hope interfaith cooperation circle and previously created and organized the spiritual care programs for the Maine region of the American Red Cross, and State of Maine, Maine Responds teams. The vision for SCS Maine came to Lori after graduating with her Mdiv as a model for putting spiritual care out in the world outside of established institutions.
SCS Maine is proud partner with Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, who has generously given us a home to gather!
We are also grateful for the support of all those organizations whose sponsorships help to make the summit possible.
