Learning Library

Resources for Compassionate Spiritual Care

Read and download practical resources designed to strengthen bedside presence, meaningful conversation, and pastoral care.

Free Downloads

Tools You Can Use

These presentations and PDF guides are available to download and keep for personal learning and ministry development.

PowerPoint Presentation

Getting Through the Door

A presentation by Carl J. Logan focused on making a meaningful entrance and creating space for compassionate spiritual care.

Download Presentation
PowerPoint Presentation

Bedside Conversation Tips

Practical guidance for approaching bedside conversations with empathy, attentiveness, and a reassuring pastoral presence.

Download Presentation
PDF Guide

Bedside Manners for the Psychosocial Team

Practical bedside guidance to support thoughtful, compassionate interactions with patients and families across the psychosocial team.

Download PDF
PDF Resource

Ped2Care

A downloadable resource for continued learning, reflection, and development in compassionate care and ministry.

Download PDF
Resource Articles

Insights for Compassionate Care

Explore practical lessons adapted from Dr. Carl J. Logan's downloadable presentations and guides.

Family Engagement & Visit Participation

Getting Through the Door

A declined visit is not always a rejection of care. It may reflect fear, fatigue, misunderstanding, or a family's need for control in an already overwhelming season.

Understanding What May Be Behind “No”

Dr. Logan's staff survey examined psychosocial visit declines across multiple disciplines. Families often reported that too many people were already visiting, that they preferred their own clergy or support network, or that they misunderstood the chaplain as someone who would pressure them toward a particular religion. A chaplain visit can also be associated with death, while a social work visit may raise fears of judgment or agency involvement.

These concerns show why the first explanation matters. Patients and families need to hear that chaplains offer emotional and spiritual support shaped by the patient's own values. Social workers and chaplains are resources for the family, not strangers arriving to take control.

Ways to Encourage Connection

  • Let the chaplain respond personally when a visit is declined.
  • Explain the supportive role before emphasizing religious care.
  • Consider a joint visit with a trusted member of the care team.
  • Use occasional check-ins to build familiarity without pressure.
  • Offer concrete examples of emotional and spiritual support.

Purposeful Persistence

The goal is a careful balance: respect the family's decision while leaving the door open. Creative, patient engagement can reduce misconceptions and strengthen support throughout admission. Sometimes the most meaningful care begins with a small act of presence—a greeting, a listening ear, or even a simple bottle of water at the bedside.

Download the original presentation
Goals of Care

Bedside Conversations That Center the Patient

A goals-of-care conversation helps patients, loved ones, and the care team connect treatment and spiritual care with what matters most to the patient.

Begin With Listening

Do not rush. Listen for facts, emotions, fears, and values. Good timing matters, but difficult questions should not be avoided indefinitely. It is also acceptable to say that you do not know an answer and will help find it. Avoid assuming that a patient understands a diagnosis, treatment choice, or the difference between palliative and hospice care.

Rapid decline, grief, fear, uncontrolled symptoms, repeated hospital visits, a death in the home, or uncertainty about code status can all signal the need for a thoughtful bedside conversation.

The SPIKES Framework

  1. Setting: create privacy and reduce distractions.
  2. Perception: learn what the patient understands.
  3. Invitation: ask how much they want to know.
  4. Knowledge: share information clearly and gently.
  5. Emotion: respond with empathy.
  6. Strategy: summarize and agree on next steps.

Use ACACT When a Concern Surfaces

Acknowledge the concern, Clarify it with open-ended questions, Answer with relevant information, Confirm the patient's understanding, and Transition only after the concern has been addressed. If the patient is not ready, remain with the concern instead of forcing the conversation forward.

Download the original presentation
Psychosocial Care

Bedside Manners Begin With Humility

There is no universal opening line for a bedside visit. Meaningful connection begins by respecting the patient's history, culture, beliefs, fears, and immediate medical concerns.

Prepare, Observe, and Introduce Yourself

Before entering, review the chart for pain and changes in activities of daily living such as eating, walking, or talking. These details can provide a compassionate starting point. Introduce yourself plainly, ask how the patient prefers to be addressed, and explain that you are there to support the patient and family.

Faith can be acknowledged when it is relevant and welcomed, but it should not eclipse the reason the patient is receiving care. For many people, pain, breathing, treatment, and family concerns will be more immediate than spirituality. Good pastoral presence meets the person where they are.

Simple Conversation Openers

  • “I wanted to come by and check on you today.”
  • “What is your preferred way of being addressed?”
  • “I am here to support you and your family.”

Genuine warmth and integrity matter more than a perfectly scripted line.

Compassion and Professional Integrity

Dr. Logan's cross-faith bedside story illustrates how humility can create a comforting bond between a patient, family, and chaplain. It also reminds caregivers that kindness and professional boundaries must coexist. Reflect on difficult moments, follow organizational guidance, and let integrity shape the care that follows.

Download the original PDF guide
Children & Families

Spiritual Care in Pediatric and Perinatal Hospice

When a child has a serious or life-limiting illness, care must support the whole family while honoring the child's age, development, comfort, and voice.

Pediatric and Perinatal Support

Pediatric hospice emphasizes comfort, quality of life, and family togetherness when curative treatment is no longer the central goal. Pediatric palliative care can begin earlier and may accompany treatment. Perinatal hospice supports families from the diagnosis of a baby's life-limiting condition through birth and beyond with dignity and care.

The chaplain's role extends beyond a hospital or hospice room. It includes sustained spiritual and emotional support, help navigating uncertainty, and a family-centered presence from early childhood through young adulthood.

Four Pillars of Pediatric Care

  • Concurrent care: comfort support may accompany life-prolonging treatment.
  • Symptom relief: pain and breathing distress require age-appropriate expertise.
  • Holistic support: play, music, expressive therapies, counseling, and spiritual care support the family.
  • Location flexibility: home-based care can reduce hospital stays and preserve familiar routines.

Let the Child Help Define Comfort

Comfort may include symptom relief, play, music, memory-making, a favorite stuffed animal, soft clothing, familiar scents, or simply a calm and loving presence. There is no single right environment for every child. Listen to the child and family, collaborate with the interdisciplinary team, and help create a space that feels safe, recognizable, and filled with care.

Download the original PDF resource

Ready to Continue Your CPE Journey?

Put these resources into practice through guided clinical pastoral education.

Apply as Student Apply as Educator