This Week@ACPE is being distributed on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a day where many of us will take time from our daily work to serve in our local communities. Our service is in the spirit of Dr. King's powerful reminder that while not everyone can be great, everyone can serve. Here in Dr. King's hometown, it is a privilege to serve the members of ACPE, the individuals and institutions that make the transformational education possible for so many students every year. We are so grateful for all you do to make this work possible, especially on a day like today!

 

I have just come from a symposium hosted by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) in Florida. I was joined by our new Chair of our Board of Directors, Melissa Walker-Luckett, and our Chair-Elect, Shawn Mai. Over 100 association executives and board leaders gathered for two days of education about effective board leadership and strategic planning. One of the most delightful parts of the experience was a recognition of how hard our board has been working to adopt best practices. With deep gratitude to Amy Greene for her leadership as board chair and for the support of Donna Dunn from Tecker International, the ACPE Board of Directors has worked diligently to grow into the new organizational structure, working to provide the kind of leadership that can help us continue to grow and flourish as a distinctive and powerful educational community.

On November 20-21, 2019, representatives for the Strategic Partners for Spiritual Care gathered in Cleveland, OH to continue to explore ideas to formalize their relationships. The strategic partners began dialoguing in early 2018 and provided the Joint Statement conveying the early contours of the discussion. In July 2018 they signed a Memorandum of Understanding, in which they envisioned a formal relationship, such as a federation or trade group, to bolster collaboration and efficiency while maintaining their unique cultures and identities. Each association has a rich culture and history, often intertwined but also unique. While maintaining their distinctiveness, the partners want to align their operations to amplify their voice, increase efficiency, and strengthen their relationships in service of shaping the profession. The April 2019 Progress Report #1 established that "The envisioned entity is being designed to accomplish both outward purposes for common efforts in advocacy, research, and marketing; and inward purposes for collaboration on certification, ethics, and other concerns for mutual benefit." Over the past months, our leaders continued these discussions.

A series of hour-long webinars are sponsored by Transforming Chaplaincy and ACPE. These webinars are designed to help leaders and early-career professionals strategize on advancing chaplaincy, both within their own institutions and as a profession. 

It is well known that patients who experience significant medical illness often draw upon a variety of coping mechanisms, such as spirituality, to adjust to their new life. Laures-Gore et al., recently showed that patients with post-stroke aphasia (a language disorder affecting speaking, listening, reading, and writing) consider spirituality a positive coping mechanism and source of healing. Because spirituality plays a significant role in the aphasia recovery process, it is important to study whether spiritual healthcare providers both in and out of the healthcare system are trained to address spiritual needs in a way that patients with aphasia can comprehend and process. This study seeks to better understand whether spiritual healthcare providers are aware of and trained to communicate with patients who have aphasia.