Online Conference

Friday, October 3, 2025

10:00 AM – 4:00 PM ET

Join colleagues from across Canada for a day of learning, reflection, and skill-building as we focus on developing research competency in spiritual care and psychospiritual therapy. This one-day virtual conference offers practical insights and tools to strengthen your ability to engage with and apply research in your ministry context. Certificate of completion provided

Tickets
$75 per person | $25 student rate | $100 Small Group (one login) | $250 large groups (15+)

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Schedule & Details

This opening session sets the tone for Empowering Research on Spirituality, introducing participants to the purpose and shape of the day. Drawing from the CASC/ACSS research competencies, this session highlights why research matters in spiritual care and psychospiritual therapy, and how it supports ethical, credible, and meaningful practice. Participants will gain a framework for the day’s learning, including reflections on evidence-informed practice and the role of research literacy. This time also serves as an invitation to engage in community learning, connect with others across diverse contexts, and consider their own next steps in integrating research into their work.
Throughout the day, participants will gather in small, pre-assigned breakout groups to reflect on the presentations, explore emerging questions, and connect with colleagues from across Canada. These groups are designed to remain the same for each session, fostering deeper conversation and building relationships among spiritual care practitioners, psychospiritual therapists, students, and educators.
Dr. Angela Schmidt and Dr. Thomas O’Connor introduce a range of research methodologies—qualitative, quantitative, case study, hermeneutical, practice-based, and quality improvement—highlighting how each can support the work of spiritual care practitioners and psychospiritual therapists. Drawing from their own research and teaching, they explore how research emerges from practice and how clinicians can begin by asking meaningful questions within their context.
Throughout the day, participants will gather in small, pre-assigned breakout groups to reflect on the presentations, explore emerging questions, and connect with colleagues from across Canada. These groups are designed to remain the same for each session, fostering deeper conversation and building relationships among spiritual care practitioners, psychospiritual therapists, students, and educators.
In this presentation, Dr. Kelly Collins explores the lived experiences of Ontario CPE supervisors within the Interpersonal Relations (IPR) circle, drawing on her doctoral research. Through a trauma-informed and phenomenological lens, the study examines how supervisors learn to facilitate IPR, their experiences of creating “brave spaces,” and the often-unspoken vulnerability of supervision itself.
Zoe Chan speaks with Dr. Nazila Isgandarova about the principles and practices of community-based research. Grounded in her work on domestic violence and Muslim women, Dr. Isgandarova reflects on how research can be co-created with communities to ensure relevance, respect, and real-world impact. The session explores how research questions are formed, how students can get involved ethically and effectively, and how collaboration with communities enriches both spiritual care and research. Participants will come away with a deeper appreciation for research as relational, contextual, and rooted in shared values.
Vivian Stang presents a quality improvement (QI) initiative from The Ottawa Hospital focused on enhancing documentation practices in spiritual care. Using a chart audit framework aligned with CASC/ACSS and CRPO standards, the project led to significant improvements in consistency, clarity, and interprofessional communication. The presentation walks through the process of planning, implementing, and sustaining a QI initiative, offering a practical model that other departments might adapt. Participants will gain insight into how improved documentation not only meets professional standards but also strengthens patient care and team collaboration.
Throughout the day, participants will gather in small, pre-assigned breakout groups to reflect on the presentations, explore emerging questions, and connect with colleagues from across Canada. These groups are designed to remain the same for each session, fostering deeper conversation and building relationships among spiritual care practitioners, psychospiritual therapists, students, and educators.
This presentation shares findings from a multi-year, mixed-methods research project conducted through Alberta Health Services, exploring the clinical impact of spiritual health practitioners (SHPs) in home-based palliative and end-of-life care. Drawing on interviews, clinical documentation, and assessment tools, the study highlights how SHPs supported patients, families, and healthcare providers through spiritual reflection, emotional support, and values-based decision-making. Participants will gain insight into the measurable effects of SHP involvement on spiritual well-being, caregiver coping, and team dynamics. The session invites broader reflection on advocacy and access to spiritual care in integrated healthcare systems.
Desmond Buhagar explores forgiveness as both a spiritual practice and a psychological process, drawing from his interdisciplinary research and clinical experience. The session highlights two models he has developed to support psycho-spiritual care practitioners working with moral injury, trauma recovery, and post-traumatic growth. Participants will engage with a broadened understanding of forgiveness that attends to its moral, relational, and transcendent dimensions. This presentation invites reflection on how research-informed approaches to forgiveness can be integrated into clinical practice and spiritual care settings.
Recent graduates reflect on their journeys into research during Clinical Pastoral Education and graduate studies. Their projects span diverse areas—from spiritually integrated psychotherapy and long-term care assessment tools, to co-hosting academic symposia—and reveal how research can shape clinical practice and personal growth. Each student share insights on challenges, such as time constraints and role tensions, as well as the confidence and clarity gained through their research engagement.
Throughout the day, participants will gather in small, pre-assigned breakout groups to reflect on the presentations, explore emerging questions, and connect with colleagues from across Canada. These groups are designed to remain the same for each session, fostering deeper conversation and building relationships among spiritual care practitioners, psychospiritual therapists, students, and educators.
More details to follow

Meet the Speakers

Heather Vanderstelt

RP, SCP
Heather Vanderstelt is a Certified Spiritual Care Practitioner and Supervisor-Educator in CPE (CASC/ACSS) and a Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO) employed at St. Joseph’s Health Care, London. Heather works in the outpatient context supporting a number of specialized outpatient clinics. She is Ordained within the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and has a passion for research related to clinical practice. Heather also presently serves as the Research Chair for CASC/ACSS’s Professional Practice Commission.
Contact: heather.vanderstelt@sjhc.london.on.ca
Thomas St. James O'Connor

ThD, CSE CASC/ACSS
Thomas St. James O'Connor, ThD, CSE CASC/ACSS is Professor Emeritus at Martin Luther University at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. He is semi-retired and continues to supervise students in their clinical placements. He teaches in the PhD program at Martin Luther and is the author and co-author of numerous books, chapters and articles in peer-reviewed publications. His current areas of study and publication are in spiritual and theological reflection, spiritually integrated psychotherapy and the evolution of spiritual care and psychotherapy in Canada.
Contact: toconnor11@gmail.com
Angela Schmidt

RP, CSE
Angela Schmidt, DMin, is the Associate Professor in Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy at Knox College located on the campus of the University of Toronto. She is the Director of the Master of Psychospiritual Studies degree and Director of Experiential Learning. Angela is a Registered Psychotherapist, RP, a Certified Supervisor-Educator with the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care/association Canadienne de soins spirituels (CASC/ACSS) and a Certified Spiritual Care Practitioner (CASC/ACSS). Her area of interest and research is in Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy and in facilitating partnerships for the expansion of spiritual care.
Contact: angela.schmidt@utoronto.ca
Kelly Collins

PhD, RP, CSE
Kelly Collins completed CPE training in 2012 and has practiced in hospice and hospital contexts. She has had roles as Practice Leader, Certified Spiritual Care Educator and Director, Spiritual Health, Mission, and Ethics in various health systems. Kelly recently completed her PhD in Human Relationships (Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy) at Martin Luther University College. She has had a small private psychotherapy practice, Brave Space Therapy and Supervision since 2020 and now works as a psychotherapist full-time, specializing in trauma, trauma-informed supervision, couples counselling, and EMDR. She is currently sessional faculty at Knox College in Toronto.
Contact: kelly@bravespacetherapy.ca
Nazila Isgandarova

PhD, RSW, RP, CSE
Nazila Isgandarova is the Spiritual and Pastoral Education (SPE) Program Director and an Associate Professor at Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, a Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Counselling, Marriage, and Family Studies from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a Master of Social Work from the University of Windsor. She is a Registered Psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and a Registered Social Worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. Her interdisciplinary expertise bridges theology, psychotherapy and social work, focusing on culturally and spiritually integrated care.
Professor Isgandarova has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Champion of Diversity Award and the Ontario Volunteer Service Award from the Government of Ontario, the Order of Vaughan, the Forum for Theological Exploration Research Award for her work on domestic violence against Muslim women, the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care Senior Research Award and the Society for Pastoral Counselling Research Award.
Contact: nazila.isgandarova@utoronto.ca
Zoe Chan

MTS, AEAP, CSD(Q)
Zoe Chan is a Spiritual Care Practitioner in the Waterloo Regional Health Network. She is passionate about accessibility and has held roles working as a live translator to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, and as a church planter of an online congregation during the pandemic. Her current practice in spiritual care is informed by her participation in spiritually-integrated psychotherapy research, and Masters level training in spiritual direction and expressive arts therapy. Zoe’s work unfolds in co-creation with the sacred other: to honour the ashes one might find all around and to unearth sustainable pathways forward.
Contact: zchan@smgh.ca
Vivian Stang

Vivian Stang is a Spiritual Care Practitioner at The Ottawa Hospital and Clinician Investigator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. She is a Supervisor-Educator with CASC/ACSS and Clinical Supervisor with the CRPO. She has a Master of Arts degree in Pastoral Studies from Saint Paul University, Ottawa.
Contact: vstang@toh.ca
Desmond Buhagar

RP, RMFT, PhD, CSE
Desmond Buhagar, SJ, is a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus in Canada. He holds registrations in Psychotherapy and Marriage and Family Therapy (RMFT) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). He is a Certified Psychospiritual Therapist (PT) and Psychospiritual Therapy Educator-Supervisor (PTE) with the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care (CASC/ACSS). He is an Associate Professor of Psychotherapy and Spiritual Care Education at Regis St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, and operates a private practice in psychotherapy alongside his teaching and research activities.
Contact: desmond.buhagar@utoronto.ca
Dr. Zinia Pritchard

D. Min
Dr. Zinia Pritchard is a contemplative practical theologian and Dark Night scholar and is an instructor at St. Stephen’s College at the University of Alberta and the Margret Beaufort Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom. She is a certified spiritual care practitioner through the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care and registered as a counselling therapist with the Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta. Zinia has a clinical background in palliative spiritual care and medical education and has served as a research associate within the Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta. She is committed to the clinically appropriate provision of spiritual health care to Albertans, currently leading the practice of AHS Spiritual Health Practitioners as Practice Director, Provincial Spiritual Care.
Contact: zinia.pritchard@albertahealthservices.ca
Jaeun Joanne Macen

BSc., PhD, CSCP
Jaeun is a CASC certified spiritual care practitioner and registered counselling therapist with Association of Counselling Therapists of Alberta. Jaeun has a doctorate in biochemistry, followed by more than a decade of study and practice as a Buddhist nun in East Asia. Jaeun has worked in health care for 14 years, in both acute care and palliative home care contexts. Jaeun has a passion for contemplative, compassion-focussed approaches to health and wellness and enjoys finding creative ways to weave both mystical and scientific perspectives into her work.
Contact: Joanne.Macen@albertahealthservices.ca
Simon Lasair

PhD, SCP
Simon Lasair is the CASC/ACSS Director, Educational Development. In addition to possessing extensive frontline spiritual care experience, he has also functioned in leadership and research roles throughout his career. His new book, Spirituality and Holistic Spiritual Health: Expanding Chaplaincy’s Theoretical Frame articulates a comprehensive and clinically efficacious understanding of spirituality and spiritual health, linking clinical practice to measurable client outcomes.
Contact: slasair@spiritualcare.ca
Rev. Maryka Potgieter

MDiv, MPS, RP (Qualifying)
Maryka Potgieter is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Canada (PCC) and Spiritual Care Practitioner at Scarborough Health Network. She was ordained in the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa in 2008, serving congregations in South Africa and London, UK. In 2022–2023, she served at St. Mark’s Toronto Presbyterian Church in Canada, and was received as an ordained minister in the PCC in 2023.
She holds a BTh, MDiv, and MTh from the University of Pretoria and completed a Master of Psychospiritual Studies at Knox College, University of Toronto, in 2025. She has also completed the 1st and 2nd Basic Units and the 2nd Advanced Unit of Clinical Psychospiritual Education with the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC), where she is a member.
Maryka is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). She is dedicated to providing compassionate, multifaith support to patients, families, and staff, and is passionate about integrating spirituality in psychotherapy.
Contact: potmaryks@gmail.com
Ema Rado

MPS, MTh (Cand.)
Ema graduated earlier this year with a Master of Pastoral Studies and now serves as a Spiritual Care Practitioner at Lakeridge Health Oshawa and Pinewood Addiction Centre. She is currently pursuing a Master of Theology at Emmanuel College, continuing to deepen her scholarship and expand her impact. Passionate about interfaith work, she has led numerous spiritual gatherings and is actively involved withSharing the Sacred, supporting individuals within, beyond, and in-between spiritual traditions while collaborating with Christian allies. Her interests are both diverse and profound — she is an avid traveler, a photographer captivated by natural light, a lover of poetry, and a dedicated advocate for interreligious dialogue and spiritually integrated psychotherapy.
Mathew Mahood

M. Div.
Mathew is a Spiritual Care practitioner employed at London Health Science Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care, and a graduate of Western University and St. Peter's Seminary in London. He is an advocate for spiritually integrated psychotherapy, interreligious dialogue, and a trauma-informed approach to care.
Contact: Mathew.Mahood@sjhc.london.on.ca