Spiritual & Religious Care Week: An Afternoon with Heather Renee Morgan:

For Health Care Professionals Spiritual Care Providers, Chaplaincy Students, Parents, Caregivers and Peers:

Navigating adverse diagnoses - especially prenatal and neonatal - is exceptionally difficult for parents and caregivers alike. While parents have the right to request extreme measures on both end of the intervention spectrum, caregivers carry the weight of enacting these decisions, regardless of their personal or professional views. Over time, this work can place a heavy emotional and spiritual burden on care profressional.

Religious and spiritual beliefs around when life begins, the meaning of disability, and what constitutes ethical end-of-life care can both enhance and complicate the decisions required of parents in these moments. While spiritual care providers are uniquely placed to support parents and caregivers through these decisions, little training is offered around the unique needs of parents of unborn, newborn, or paediatric patients. Often the most impactful spiritual care that can be offered in such a time as this is “witness as withness.”

These three 90 minute sessions offer an opportunity to share experiences between medical professionals , spiritual care providers and families in a supported space, as part of a collaborative workshop on coaching-based approaches for supporting parental decision-making from a health care perspective.

Everyone is Welcome!

Rev. Heather Renée Morgan an emerging theologian, an ordained Christian minister and a PhD candidate at Emmanuel College, at the University of Toronto, where she works at the intersection of disability, health care, and theology. Since her own experience with an adverse prenatal diagnosis in 2002, she has worked as a peer support worker, support director, high risk doula, disability coach and pastor with thousands of families across the spectrum of adverse (prenatal) diagnoses and the decisions that have followed. Her chapter on supporting parents and caregivers through adverse prenatal diagnosis - “Groaning Withness: A Theological Response to Adverse Prenatal Diagnosis” was published in Karen O’Donnell and Claire Williams, Eds., Pregnancy and Birth: Critical Theological Conceptions, (London: SCM Press, 2024).

Link to her Research Pages: https://heatherreneemorgan.ca

Info: Navigating adverse diagnoses - especially prenatal and neonatal - is exceptionally difficult for parents and caregivers alike. While parents have the right to request extreme measures on both end of the intervention spectrum, caregivers carry the weight of enacting these decisions, regardless of their personal or professional views. Over time, this work can place a heavy emotional and spiritual burden on care professional. This 90 minute session offers an opportunity to share experiences between medical professionals in a supported space, as part of a collaborative workshop on coaching-based approaches for supporting parental decision-making from a health care perspective.

Info: Navigating adverse diagnoses - especially prenatal and neonatal - is exceptionally difficult for parents and caregivers alike. Religious & spiritual beliefs around when life begins, the meaning of disability, & what constitutes ethical end-of-life care can both enhance and complicate the decisions required of parents in these moments. While spiritual care providers are uniquely placed to support parents and caregivers through these decisions, little training is offered around the unique needs of parents of unborn, newborn, or paediatric patients. Often the most impactful spiritual care that can be offered in such a time as this is “witness as withness.” This session offers an opportunity of sharing between spiritual care providers in a supported space. As part of a collaborative workshop on coaching-based approaches for supporting parental decision-making from a spiritual care perspective this workshop will explore the concept of witness as withness as a core spiritual care posture.

Info: Spiritual Care Panel on Navigating Adverse Prenatal Decision-Making:
Each religious and spiritual tradition approaches questions of life, death, and disability from different perspectives, but each offers valuable insights and supports to caregivers and parents alike who are navigating adverse diagnoses. This open panel welcomes anyone interested in this topic to hear from professionals in the field ofr Spiritual Care on the wisdom their traditions bring to this difficult topic.

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Peter Gilgan Centre for Research & Learning, 686 Bay Street, Toronto, Canada

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