Brandeis University’s Chaplaincy Innovation Lab is using a grant from the Theology Program to assist frontline spiritual care providers with funds and resources to support staff who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to expanding spiritual care at chaplains' respective institutions, the project will publish lessons learned from its response and produce free webinars on resilience and trauma-informed recovery in the hopes of making chaplains better prepared for future crises.
The Lab is now accepting applications for microgrants in support of chaplaincy work related to the pandemic. Deadline to apply is September 11, 2020.
The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab at Brandeis has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support frontline spiritual care providers through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lab will partner with trauma-informed counselors to offer small, somatic-focused groups where chaplains can process their experiences of serving those impacted by the pandemic and receive support that will renew them for their continued work.
“We’re excited to partner with the Luce Foundation on this important work,” said Wendy Cadge, Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, the Barbara Mandel Professor of the Humanistic Social Sciences, and founder of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab. “From day one of the pandemic, we’ve seen chaplains exhausted, worried, and traumatized by the work of providing spiritual care to those impacted by COVID. This project is a first step in addressing those issues in a systematic, collaborative way.”
