Symposium for Research and Reflection on the Evolution of Spiritual Accompaniment in Health Care in New Brunswick

September 26 and 27, 2024

10 years on, what progress have we made in integrating spiritual care?

For the past decade, Vitalité Health Network has formally integrated spiritual care as a service component to meet patients' needs. As a result, it joins an international support practice that is developing and increasingly taking root on a national scale.

In the midst of suffering and illness, following a diagnosis or prognosis, how do you respond to the calls of patients, families and doctors? Humbly, this is the question that the Network has been trying to answer with the integration of an interdisciplinary team over the last ten years.

The symposium is intended for health care professionals from various care settings, such as managers and bedside staff, as well as staff and patients from outpatient clinics (oncology, dialysis, Extra Mural Program, community mental health) and anyone with an interest in the subject.

 

Thursday, September 26, 2024

9:00 to 9:05 a.m.: Introduction – Jocelyne Barriault
9:05 to 9:20 a.m.: Opening remarks – to be confirmed
9:20 to 10:05 a.m.: First talk – Historical overview of the development of spiritual care at Vitalité Health Network in New Brunswick
Presented by Louise Boissonnault and Denis Belliveau, spiritual care practitioners at Vitalité Health Network
10:05 to 10:20 a.m.: Break
10:20 to 11:15 a.m.: Spiritual care in health care: the perspectives of four doctors
11:15 a.m. to noon: Questions and discussions
Noon to 1:00 p.m.: Lunch
1:00 to 1:45 p.m.: Advancing spiritual care practices in health care: A work of conversion?
Presented par Elaine Champagne, Chairholder of the Chair in Religion, Spirituality and Health – Université Laval
1:45 to 2:15 p.m.: Discussion period
2:15 to 2:30 p.m.: Break
2:30 to 3:15 p.m.: Paying attention to the “spiritual” aspect in the context of end-of-life and palliative care
Presented by Dominique Jacquemin, professor of ethics in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Université catholique de Louvain, and Director of the RESSPIR network (Belgium)
3:15 to 3:45 p.m.: Discussion period

Friday, September 27, 2024

8:30 a.m.: Opening greeting – Jocelyne Barriault
8:35 to 9:10 a.m.: Reflections on mental health and spirituality
Presented by Dr. Marc Vautour, psychiatrist, Dr. Georges L. Dumont University Hospital Centre, Moncton, and clinical professor, Université de Sherbrooke, while also supporting the Shepody Healing Centre, where he helps the prison population
9:10 to 9:35 a.m.: Discussion period
9:35 to 10:20 a.m.: Spiritual care: My story… (Patient Experience Partnersi – names t o be confirmed)
10:20 to 10:35 a.m.: Break
10:35 to 10:55 a.m.: Discussion period
10:55 to 11:30 a.m..: The role of discernment in spiritual accompaniment in health care settings
Presented by Mario Drouin, head of training and teaching spirituality at the Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV) and active member of the RESSPIR network (Switzerland)
11:30 to Noon: Discussion period
Noon to 1:15 p.m.: Lunch
1:15 to 1:40 p.m.: How do young professionals integrate spiritual care? To be confirmed
1:40 to 2:00 p.m.: Discussion period
2:00 to 2:40 p.m.: Spiritual Care in New Brunswick: Challenges and outlook
Presented by Denise Wilson-Sonderegger, certified spiritual care practitioner, Manager of Spiritual Care, Miramichi Regional Hospital, New Brunswick
2:40 to 2:55 p.m.: Break
2:55 to 3:55 p.m.: Plenary session (psychiatrist, nurse, First Nations Vitalité, spiritual care practitioner, and others to be confirmed)
3:55 p.m.: Acknowledgements – Nadine Lewis