Sojourn Chaplaincy at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

In hospitals, people carry more than physical exhaustion.

Healthcare workers witness trauma, loss, uncertainty, and moral distress every day. Patients and families are often navigating fear, grief, and isolation at the same time.

Spiritual care creates space for people to pause, breathe, process, grieve, and reconnect with what helps them keep going.

Sometimes care looks like a conversation.
Sometimes it looks like silence.
Sometimes it looks like a referral.
Sometimes it is simply knowing you do not have to carry something alone.

Mental health support is part of compassionate healthcare.
So is spiritual care.



What helps you manage your stress?

This week is Patient Experience Week.

At Sojourn Chaplaincy, we’re grateful to be part of the Patient Experience community at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

Patient experience is not separate from care. It’s how care is received - whether someone feels respected, heard, and treated as a whole person in the midst of illness or crisis.

Every interaction matters. The way a question is asked. The time someone takes to listen. The presence offered when there are no easy answers.

Spiritual care is part of that experience. Our chaplains sit with patients and families in moments of fear, grief, and uncertainty, and we support staff who carry this work every day.

We’re grateful to be woven into this work, and to stand alongside all those who make care more compassion-full.

Who are you celebrating this patient experience week??

We just wanna offer a deep bow of gratitude to everyone who has applied for our fall 2026 training program. We are sorting through the application and will be reaching out this week to setup interviews with applicants we will be moving forward with. We ask for your patience as we sort through applications and look forward to meeting many of you through the interview process.
It’s clear already that this Fall 2026 class is going to be something very special.

Have you ever applied for a chaplaincy training program?

Environmental justice is public health.

Health is shaped by the conditions people live in: air, water, housing, and climate.

Here in San Francisco, these realities are not abstract. Communities like Bayview–Hunters Point have long faced environmental burdens that directly impact health, from air quality to industrial exposure, as well as generationally rooted unequal access to resources.

In healthcare settings, we see these conditions manifest in people’s lives every day.

Health is never only individual. It is shaped by the environment, our community, and systems of equity or systems of injustice.

As we mark Earth Day, we’re reminded that caring for people requires caring for the world we live in and that this work is inseparable from justice.

Care does not happen in isolation.
In hospitals, in communities, in moments of crisis—care is something people carry together.

We see it every day.

In the ways staff support one another through long and difficult shifts.
In the quiet presence of someone sitting with a patient who is not alone.
In the many small, steady ways, people continue to show up for each other.

This is the heart of spiritual care.

It is not about having the right words.
It is about being willing to be present.

At Sojourn, spiritual care volunteers are trained through our Community Chaplaincy Training Program.
If you feel called to this kind of work, we invite you to learn more.

Applications for our Fall 2026 training program are open now and due at the end of April.

You can find the application at the link in our bio.

March is Women’s History Month, and we are honoring the women who care for our communities every day.

In hospitals and clinics across the country, women serve as physicians, nurses, chaplains, social workers, and support staff-showing up with skill, compassion, and courage.

Some forms of care require courage.

Supporting patients through pregnancy, illness, and loss.
Standing with people at the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
Advocating for those whose humanity is being denied.

We are grateful for the women who continue to show up-day after day -to care for others and to protect the dignity of every patient.

Thank you.

Spiritual Care is not neutral.

It calls us to be present with suffering and to confront the systems that cause it.

This fall Sojourn will relaunch our justice rooted chaplaincy training program.

Learn spiritual care in a public health context. We are forming spiritual care providers who hold steady in a crisis and stand strong against rising tides of injustice.

Applications open March 20, 2026.

Join Sojourn Chaplaincy as we welcome Intercultural Network Groups for a special presentation about Suporting Muslim Patients during Ramadan. Come learn more about the ways that Islamophobia impacts Muslim patients in healthcare settings, the upcoming month of Ramadan, and ways that we can all work towards providing equitable and culturally responsive care for Muslim patients here at ZSFG.
Registration link in bio.

As the month of Ramadan begins, we hold our Muslim patients, families, colleagues, and community members in prayer and deep respect.

Ramadan is a sacred time of fasting, reflection, generosity, and spiritual devotion observed by Muslims around the world. In healthcare settings, this month can shape meal timing, medication schedules, energy levels, and spiritual care needs.

At Sojourn Chaplaincy, we are committed to honoring these rhythms — supporting care that makes space for faith, dignity, and belonging.

Later this month, we’re grateful to partner again with Islamic Network Group for a workshop on supporting Muslim patients and colleagues during Ramadan.

Wishing a peaceful and blessed Ramadan to all who observe. 🌙

Alex Pretti was one of us.

Candlelight vigils happening tonight and all week to honor Alex Pretti RN as well as all those slain and harmed by ICE. Let’s transform our grief into community care and power.

Monday 1/26/26:

3:30pm - 4:15pm at San Jose Kaiser by the Parking structure and the ED.

5:15pm Kaiser Oakland in the breezeway between the hospital and garage.

5:30 PM at SF General Hospital, mother & baby statue

6 PM at Highland Hospital in Oakland The Highland vigil will be at the top of the hill on E 31st St, just past the ED entrance (or just before it if you’re coming from 14th Ave)

6 PM in front of Children’s Hospital in Oakland

6:30 PM at UCSF Mission Bay, 1975 4th St front plaza area

6:30 PM at Stanford hospital, 345 Campus Dr (corner of Roth and Stanford)

Tuesday 1/27/26:

6:30PM at SF VA Medical Center

The full except of the words in the slides above from Minnesota Timberwolves Chaplain Matt Moberg in comments.