Over a year ago, in August 2019, Katherine Henderson began her chaplain internship at the Duke Outpatient Clinic (DOC) to help the patients cope with the challenges they were facing. This was a new idea that started with the vision of DOC Medical Director, Lynn Bowlby, MD.
"My role, as I see it, is to hear the full story of [the patient's] despair," says Henderson. "I let them get it all the way out, and then explore their sources of strength to help them get through it."
Katherine works in partnership with social work to help give patients and staff at DOC a support system to lean on by providing general, emotional, and spiritual support. Though she provides many services at the clinic, one of the most popular has been the grief support group, which focuses on peer support and skills for coping with loss.
Grief Support Group
The group met once a week in-person until COVID started and then was moved to virtual. Though Henderson wasn't sure of the outcome of the virtual sessions at first, she was pleasantly surprised to find just as powerful connections forming between group members in the virtual session as the in-person ones.
"We are focused on creating a place where people can share their stories and find validation and connection with other people who are suffering in similar ways," explains Henderson.
Henderson's original internship with the DOC ended in April of 2020, but the team was able to secure funding so she could return this fall to continue her services and start on a new research project looking at the model of outpatient chaplaincy and how it can support Advance Care Planning.
"The culture of the clinic is one that really allows this kind of experiment to go well. Collegiality, gratitude, and interdisciplinary collaboration are all key ingredients that really make a difference between a pilot project working or not working."
Henderson wants to give a special shout-out to the project team for making this opportunity possible: Dr. Lynn Bowlby, Dr. Patrick Hemming, Dr. Alex Cho, Jan Dillard (social worker at the DOC), and John Oliver (Chaplain Department)
"I have always been interested in providing spiritual care for people living at the margins, that is why this clinic population is so important to me."
Henderson is completing her Clinical Pastoral Education training and will graduate with her Masters of Divinity in May.