By Megan Pike

Recently, I celebrated a year in a new role working with rural hospitals in our health system to focus on staff support. Growing up in a rural Arkansas, I never would have imagined that I would be serving in healthcare chaplaincy.

My work serving and partnering with my colleagues in care in rural contexts have been a privilege. But it has also brought an awareness of the challenges that face these communities, particularly when it comes to access to healthcare. Thankfully our system has seen the value in keeping what we call Critical Access Hospitals operating in these rural areas to keep healthcare close to the homes of many in our agricultural area.

One component in healthcare that remains somewhat mysterious in these rural settings is mental healthcare. As a seminarian I was taught to know when to refer, refer, refer those I encounter in ministry. This exhortation to refer is making the reference to colleagues, congregation members, patients or family members of patients to seek out mental healthcare support. As a minister and chaplain, I seek to normalize the need for and benefits of mental healthcare support. I was delighted to see that the theme for 2023 Spiritual Care Week is “Chaplaincy and Mental Health: It’s Healthy to Get Help.” 

In these rural settings, I often support staff through incredibly difficult encounters. I also co-teach a crisis prevention course to staff from all areas of the hospital to teach that it is not okay for healthcare staff to endure abuse, physical or verbal, from patients and their families. I offer a listening ear and time to teach important de-escalation skills to staff because this work is hard.

Healthcare staff struggle physically, emotionally and mentally with the breadth of care they provide and the intense hours they work. My hope is to know when it is time to refer my colleagues to seek out mental healthcare support. I prioritize collaborating with therapists, licensed clinical social workers and counselors in my healthcare system because I view my role as a part of the staff retention and resiliency team. 

Serving as a chaplain allows me that sacred space in one’s life to listen, learn and lead towards healing and wholeness. Working with my mental healthcare colleagues only benefits these rural communities to seek out the mental and emotional support so desperately needed alongside the spiritual support they are seeking. All of this is to advocate for holistic care for each member of the community. The healthcare professionals in our communities are over being called a hero. Instead they are hoping for help, support and respect. Many of our caregivers are suffering from moral injury and PTSD from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

I want to use this platform to celebrate the mantra of “It’s Healthy to Get Help.” As a chaplain, parent, partner, family member and CBF Baptist I strongly support the decision for an individual, a family or a community of faith to seek out the vast resources available through mental healthcare services. Let’s normalize that it is indeed healthy to get help.

Megan J. Pike has served in a variety of settings from Morocco to college campuses to post-disaster relief sites to the bedside of patients in the healthcare setting. She is a Board Certified, CBF-endorsed Lead Chaplain at Gundersen Health System in the beautiful Driftless Region of Wisconsin. 

Learn more about Spiritual Care Week here: https://www.spiritualcareweek.org/

Additional Reading: 

Spiritual Care Week 2023: Chaplaincy & Mental Health (Renee Owen)
Spiritual Care Week 2023: Welcome to Spiritual Healing (Angel Lee)
Spiritual Care Week 2023: Learn to grieve well (Cari Willis)