Public Lecture on Spiritual Care and the Arts
Please join us at 1:00pm on Monday, April 25, at St. Stephen’s College for a public presentation by Simon Lasair (PhD, CASC/ACSS Certified SCP).
The title of Dr. Lasair’s presentation will be: Strangers in (Un)Familiar Territory: Negotiating Spiritual Care and Fine Arts Based Concerns in Secular Caregiving Environments.
Presentation Abstract:
In his early philosophical masterpiece, Tractatus Logicus Philosophicus, Austrian-English philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein argued that to understand the nature of something, a person also needs to understand the logic that makes that thing possible. In health care, for example, this means health care practitioners must have good understandings of cellular biology, anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology so they can provide good medical care for their patients. For spiritual care and fine arts based practitioners, however, the logic of their practices in such environments as health care is less well-established. In part this is due to the emerging nature of both professions. Yet, in this presentation, Simon Lasair will also argue this lack of clarity is largely due to both professions needing better understandings of the secular and the demands it places on all people who work in predominantly secular caregiving environments, like health care. The presentation will therefore outline some of the defining characteristics of the secular, in particular instrumentality and purely immanent approaches to reality. This initial discussion will then make it possible to identify a number of interconnected challenges and opportunities for spiritual care and fine arts based practitioners who work in settings that are dominated by secular concerns. The presentation will thus conclude with several practical suggestions regarding how such practitioners can productively engage the secular concerns of their workplaces while also working to transform them in the process.
Simon Lasair (PhD, CASC/ACSS Certified Spiritual Care Practitioner) is the Robert Steane Holistic Research Chair at St. Paul’s Hospital, Saskatoon, SK. He is also a casual Spiritual Care Practitioner at the same site. In his career as a Spiritual Care Practitioner, Simon has offered care in both faith-based and secular health care environments. In his published research he has developed a theoretical model of spirituality, spiritual health, and spiritual care, in part to provide spiritual care practitioners with language and concepts to help them navigate secular caregiving environments. In his current role as research chair, Simon has been given a five year mandate to investigate how best to integrate spiritual care and fine arts based practitioners onto the frontlines of hospital and hospice health care environments. When not working, Simon enjoys spending time with his family, going for long walks, watching superhero movies, and reading far too many superhero comic books.
This presentation is co-sponsored by St. Stephen’s College, Ambrose University and Seminary, and the Alberta Consortium for Supervised Pastoral Education.
DETAILS:
Monday, April 25, 2022
1:00–2:30pm (in-person and online via Zoom)
Cost: Free
Registration: Registration is required
Register here
Location:
St. Stephen’s College, at the University of Alberta
Library / Art Studio
8810 112 Street