“What would you do if this were your family?”
A nurse hears this question dozens of times. For many, the natural inclination is to “fix” the problem by offering suggestions, but that approach is limited by our own experience and personal biases. There is a more effective way to provide spiritual care. It begins with a question, an invitation to connect.
In Amazon best-seller Heart to Heart: Spiritual Care through Deep Listening, Dr. Clare explores an ancient, proven, and effective model of listening, which she field-tested with critical care nurses. Through her work, she found that deep listening can lead to deep connection in healthcare. This spiritual connection doesn’t just improve patient outcomes, it also helps nurses reconnect with their call to service. And it all begins with a question.
About Dr. Clare
My passion is listening. With over twenty years of experience as an industrial chaplain, hospital chaplain, and a pastor, I have had plenty of opportunities to hone my skills.
A study I led with critical care nurses in the hospital setting supported the idea that both professionally and personally intentional listening leads to deep connection. My Amazon best-selling book, Heart to Heart: Following the Path to Deep Listening, is a practical guide to learning to listen better by experiencing it as both an art and a practice.
The book was based on a study with critical care nurses to test a question. Could use of a 400-year-old Quaker Listening Model positively impact patient care? The answer was “yes!” as we discovered that intentional listening improved communication and affected patient care through improved empathy for the patient.
My mission is to help nurses reset and reconnect to their call to service. Since Heart to Heart launched just as COVID dug in its heels and changed every facet of health care, two workbooks soon followed, including a special pandemic edition.
Judging from reviews on Amazon, this book is useful to nursing and also to anyone who sees the value in good listening.
To be perfectly honest, after college I did not pick up a book for over five years. When I did though, the floodgate opened. I reconnected with my love of learning. Some people go to the mall. I go to school. My mother went back to school in her 40s. Like her, I raised two very active sons, Jay and Robert, with one eye on a textbook and the other on the ballfield.
For me, learning is like poison ivy. The more you scratch, the more you itch. I first went back to school when my boys were in grade school. They were both married with children when I finally decided I had enough letters behind my name.
It is now time to share knowledge. As my son Robert said, “Gee, Mom. You’re always going to school. Isn’t it time you did something with what you learned? Like maybe you need to teach.” What a novel idea! Thank you, Robert.
Along much of my journey, I was joined by my husband of 41 years, James Biedenharn. The story of this Hoosier girl picking up a future husband over a cup of coffee in New Orleans, “At Camellia Grill,” won me a coveted spot at the Guideposts Writer’s Workshop.
It was his illness that brought us back home to Indiana where family could support us in his final days. I reluctantly joined the ‘Widows Club’ in 2018. James encouraged me to once again pick up my work with intentional listening and so I have.
James fulfilled every Southern writer’s dream shortly before his death with the publication of his book, River City Egg & Flow: Dr. Jas. O’Phelan’s Stories from the Wicker Basket under this Fragile Balloon. His series of short stories of growing up Southern is written in the most classic of traditions.
Speaking topics include:
- Deep Listening and Your Bottom Line
“During your hospital stay, how often did the nurse listen to you?” Response to that simple question that appears on the HCHAPS patient satisfaction survey can have serious repercussions as part of the Patient Value Care formula. Better listening is a skill that Clare teaches with heart.
- This Isn’t What I Signed Up For
The COVID care crisis has thrown health care workers into chaos as they wrestle with providing the quality of care they feel responsible for in a setting that struggles to provide even the basics. Positive outcomes are possible. Clare shows three ways to handle the tough stuff.
What readers say
“A nurse. Overwhelmed, feeling powerless to comfort her patient, to help her peers, to find motivation. Then Clare appears. With her calm, focused attentive listening she guides me to find my inner wisdom.” -Mary R, RN
“This work is a blessing to chaplains, nurses, any health professional, and indeed, any human in need of awakening to the mystery and gifts of touching another’s life.”
-Dr Jean Watson, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN and founder of Watson Caring Science Institute
“She is a true champion of the bio-psycho-social-SPIRITUAL aspect of nursing care.” -Layne M, RN
Amazon Links:
Heart to Heart: Spiritual Care through Deep Listening
Heart to Heart Companion Workbook for Nurses (Heart to Heart Spiritual Care™)
“At the Camellia Grill,” Miracles of Love, Mary Hollingsworth, ed.
James’ book:
River City Ebb & Flow: Dr. Jas. O’Phelan’s Stories from the Wicker Basket under this Fragile Balloon
Find Clare at:
YourListeningPartner.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-biedenharn-2b9909198/
https://www.facebook.com/clare.biedenharn.7
