Diversity Makes Us Strong: Religion and Spirituality
When we commit to the care of our patients, we take responsibility for many aspects of their wellbeing: the physical, the mental and often, the religious and spiritual.
But what about the religious and spiritual health of our employees?
According to Richard Brown, director of Chaplaincy Services, his team of chaplains is seeing more and more diversity of religion among employees. “As Carilion grows and we’re attracting diverse employees from all over, we’re seeing a wider range of religions and religious perspectives.”
We each have individual feelings about religion and spirituality, and we spend a large portion of our lives at work, where we would like to continue to nurture our individual beliefs. Although our work is guided by Carilion's commitment to integrity, professional ethics and—at times—regulatory compliance, we rely on our beliefs to cope with the stresses of the job.
At work, religion and spirituality can’t always be front and center even though they’re always a part of us. But none of us leaves our beliefs at the door.
Think about what coping mechanisms you use when you’re at work. Maybe you’re struggling because you have to work a Sunday shift and miss your church service. Or maybe your coworker is fasting as part of a religious day in her faith. How much are your responses tied into your spiritual belief or nonbelief?
“Coping mechanisms are as diverse as actual religion among our employees,” said Andrew Tressler, one of seven chaplains at CRMH. “How each person applies their spirituality to get through their shift or workday can be anything from praying to journaling to meditating to singing.”
No matter where we work in the organization, we are united as a group in our mission to provide our patients with the best care possible—we’re all alike in that way.
We work together and collaborate, and we do everything we can to take care of our patients.
Just like us, our patients come from many different backgrounds and faith groups. Part of patient care involves helping them with their own religious and spiritual needs, and that requires an openness to patients with a wide variety of religions as well as those who have no religious preference.
Maybe a patient is a Jehovah’s Witness and isn’t comfortable accepting blood products, is a Buddhist and doesn’t eat meat or is a Muslim and requests treatment only by someone of the same gender.
Just as we do all we can to respect our patients’ beliefs, we are at our best as an organization when we also respect and honor our coworkers’ beliefs. Curiosity—one of our core values—is key to making diversity and inclusion part of our culture, not just our policy.
“You can learn so much just in talking with people from other faith groups,” said Richard. “Just having a conversation and asking about how someone thinks or asking them to teach you about their beliefs can be a very open and exciting way to expand your horizons.”
Each of us has a story, a belief system, experiences and opinions. There is strength in our diversity, and there is strength in our unity.
When did you have the opportunity to learn something from a person with different beliefs than you?
