Hospital Internship Progress

So far I've completed two weeks of actual visiting hospital patients. It's been pretty intense stuff. I've been learning being chaplain means getting down to the heart of the subject. It means getting down to the roots of peoples' grief, pain, loss, and sadness rather than avoiding those topics. It's been a real challenge for me to go straight for the source of pain in complete strangers but I guess that's my job as a chaplain because the people I talk to could very well be discharged from the hospital that same afternoon. But at the same time, it's great because we do just that and that's getting down to the roots. I've found it so satisfying to engage with people on such a deep level with them. There's a surge of energy that shoots through me whenever I'm in a conversation with someone and I know they are accessing a broken part of their lives because I believe they're being healed by sharing their pain.

I've met many different people. I've met a patient who just found out they've been diagnosed with HIV, comforted a grieving family who had just lost their father and husband, talked to families whose children were in the hospital, and much more. The variations in stories amazes me. Each person has such a unique experience in their life. It's just astounding.

I'm going to try and visit with the psych patients in the coming weeks. I'm a little apprehensive about that because of the stereotypes attached to those with mental illnesses. My supervisor keeps telling us they are people who are hurting badly and really need love and someone to listen to them. I pray that I will one of those people.