Spiritual Care

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is dedicated to providing emotional and spiritual support for you and your families. We understand that when illness or injury strikes, it affects more than your physical well-being. It often affects all of who we are—our bodies, minds, emotions, relationships and spirituality. Faith and hope can have a tremendous influence on coping with an illness.

At Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, we believe that providing health care includes caring for your spiritual and emotional needs. Our Spiritual Care staff serves you and your family in your time of need, whether you are dealing with an illness or coping with grief or want to honor the life of your newborn. Our first priority is to comfort and provide spiritual and emotional support. To request a chaplain visit, speak with the bedside nurse or call the Spiritual Care office at your respective hospital.

Our professionally trained chaplains are available to provide culturally sensitive support, compassionate listening, crisis intervention, grief, and advocacy to patients, loved ones, and staff regardless of their spiritual preferences or beliefs. Contact the Department of Spiritual Care at your respective hospital.

Our chaplains visit patients and their loved ones upon request. To request a chaplain visit, speak with the bedside nurse or call the Spiritual Care office at your respective hospital.

Our chapels are dedicated spaces for quiet reflection and prayer for patients, visitors and staff of all faiths.

The Code Kindness: Care for Staff program helps support team members after an unanticipated clinical event, compassion fatigue, despair or other difficult events. Spiritual care staff will reach out to provide confidential support and empathy. Learn more (requires VMFH staff login to view).

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health sponsors a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at St. Joseph Medical Center for individuals who seek training in pastoral care.

We provide holistic care to meet the multi-layered needs of the people we serve. This includes care for the emotional and spiritual dimensions of each person.

Find resources that can support the emotional and spiritual aspects of your life, whether you are a patient, a loved one, or a health care worker. We hope you find them helpful.

• Meditation videos
  • Meditative practices from Catholic Health Association
     
• Wellbeing apps and web resources
  • CBT ThoughtDiary helps individuals modify their thinking to cope with difficulty.
  • Center for Somatic Grieving offers programs, training, and retreats to aid the healing process.
  • 3-Minute Retreats provides a brief inspirational moment every day.
  • Daily Muslim (iOS and Android) includes Prayer times, Quran, Qibla.
  • Hayom (iOS, Android) has various resources for Jewish-religious inspiration, information and more.
      
• Breathing exercises
  • Step-by-step guide to breathing to relax, reduce tension and relieve stress
  • The Mindfulness Teacher