Spiritual Care at UCSF

Chaplains representing many faiths are available around the clock to be a caring presence, offer spiritual and emotional support, and listen with openness and understanding. Patients, families and staff are encouraged to call a chaplain when experiencing fear, anger, loneliness, helplessness, anxiety, grief or loss or when they just need someone to talk to. Chaplains also are available for times of celebration, prayer and rituals.

We are available to support all our patients, whatever their spiritual path may be. Patients do not need to be affiliated with a congregation or faith community to call a chaplain. However, if you do belong to a community, we can notify a faith community of your choice to arrange for a visit. Your minister, rabbi, imam, priest or other spiritual adviser may visit you or your family member at any time.

Our services

• Prayer
• Guided meditation and relaxation for relief from emotional and physical pain
• Support groups
• Support with grief, loss and bereavement for patients and family members
• Religious rituals or sacraments
• Spiritual and emotional support in times of stress
• Contact and coordination with your home congregation and clergy
• Individualized, brief concerts in your hospital room, through the Music Is Good Medicine program
• Life-cycle events, including memorial services, weddings and commitment ceremonies, baptisms, blessings and welcome rituals for new babies
• Spiritual literature or sacred texts

We also work with other staff to provide:

• Support with end-of-life issues
• Ethics consultations
• Spiritual assessment and interventions for healing
• Family support and participation at family-physician conferences
• Help with explaining patients' cultural and spiritual needs to staff, including treatment preferences and dietary restrictions
• Advance care planning

•We also have these materials available for patients and their families:

• Spiritual literature and sacred texts
• Ritual items for most faith traditions and spiritual practices
• Guided relaxation exercise CDs and audio files
• "Communicating With a Loved One at End of Life" pamphlets

How to reach us

If you wish to speak with a chaplain, ask your nurse to page the on-call chaplain.

Meditation rooms and gardens

• Mission Bay: There’s a meditation room and garden on the ground floor next to the children's hospital lobby at 1975 Fourth Street. The adult hospitals at 1855 Fourth Street have smaller meditation rooms near the lounges on the third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors.
• Parnassus: There’s a meditation room on the first floor of the hospital at 505 Parnassus Avenue.
• Mount Zion: There’s a meditation room in the main lobby of the medical center at 1600 Divisadero Street, behind the front desk.

Make a donation

Spiritual Care Services is supported in part by generous gifts and grants. If you wish to donate, please visit makeagift.ucsf.edu/spiritualcare.

Pastoral education

In addition to working with patients and their loved ones, Spiritual Care Services provides professional education in Clinical Pastoral Education. The program is accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. To learn more, visit Clinical Pastoral Education.