Living with Illness and Psycho-Spiritual Care

ChatGPT Is your physical health impaired? Is stress and sadness being experienced? Are worries about the future and your potential abilities causing concern? Are priorities being reconsidered, new realities being adjusted to, and personal changes being reflected upon? Is peace difficult to find, and is making sense of past and present events a struggle? These feelings and uncertainties can be overwhelming. In times of illness and injury, spiritual, religious, and existential questioning often arise. Spiritual concerns such as beliefs, values, and identity can be addressed through psychotherapy, while spirituality itself focuses on meaning-making and how connections with the self, others, nature, and, for some, the transcendent are formed. The way spirituality is integrated into psychotherapy depends on the client’s goals and the therapist’s comfort with incorporating it into sessions. With over 15 years of clinical experience in diverse healthcare settings as a Psycho-Spiritual practitioner and chaplain, clients are supported in accessing their own resources for healing. This includes those living with or caring for someone with health challenges, chronic or acute illness, injury, trauma, and terminal illness. Emotional, spiritual, and relational concerns related to adjusting to illness are identified and treated. The approach taken is based on the premise that psychotherapy is a collaborative relational process. Self-awareness is promoted, meaning-making is enhanced, relationships are strengthened, and resilience is built to live as fully as possible. By addressing emotional, spiritual, and psychosocial issues that hinder our ability to thrive, psychotherapy and spiritual care improve quality of life and complement physical or medical treatments.