Comments about Positive Spirituality in Health Care

Positive Spirituality in Health Care makes a significant contribution to the field of integrative and whole-person medicine. Dr. Craigie artfully develops the “spirit” dimension of mind-body-spirit health care with helpful and clearly-described approaches to improve the well-being of providers and patients alike.

Andrew Weil, MD
Founder and Director, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine
Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health, University of Arizona Medical School

Positive Spirituality in Health Care integrates stories, science and experience to provide an engaging and practical approach to facilitate the integration of spirituality in our health care, in our communities, and in our lives. Dr. Craigie calls on his longstanding passion and considerable experience, weaving a compelling and beautiful vision of who we are and what we can become in the face of suffering and illness. It is a precious, transformative and important story.

Howard Silverman, MD, MS
Assistant Dean for Information Resources
Clinical Professor, Departments of Family and Community Medicine and Basic Medical Sciences, The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix in partnership with Arizona State University

In this wonderfully researched and written book, Dr. Fred Craigie leads by example, weaving together compelling stories that reveal to us how spirituality impacts health. He reviews decades of research and makes a compelling case for health care providers to delve into this part of their patients’ lives. He reminds us, with vivid cases, how these conversations enrich our lives as well as those of our patients. He reminds us that our patients want us to be present, to listen generously and with compassion, and to provide realistic hope. While we may all recognize these attributes of good medicine, he points out that when these elements are present, our patients feel spiritually cared for.

Ultimately, Dr. Craigie enriches us with his years of experience teaching spirituality to health providers. He gives use a frame to use and language we need to help us be more comfortable and focused in providing spiritual care. He reminds us of the value of simply sitting with another human being and witnessing their journey. And in the end, it is our patients who benefit by feeling seen and acknowledged for who they are and for what is important to them.

From the Foreword by Victoria Maizes, MD
Executive Director, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine, Family Medicine, and Public Health
University of Arizona

Dr. Craigie offers a fresh and broad perspective on spirituality and health care, inviting readers to think about approaches to their own spiritual well-being, to their patients’ spiritual resources, and to the culture of the teams with which they work. Building on a sound empirical base, he brings the voices of clinicians from many disciplines along with helpful stories and interview approaches from his own professional work. Positive Spirituality in Health Care is written with warmth and humor, and provides a large collection of practical strategies that will be useful to clinicians, leaders and staff interested in refining their incorporation of spirituality in the healing process.

Harold Koenig, MD, MHSc
Co-Director, Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health
Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Associate Professor of Medicine
Duke University

Dr. Craigie’s book provides practical ways to integrate spirituality into one’s health care. He brings the personal spirituality that health care professionals and others bring to work and weaves that with tools for supporting patients’ spiritual values as well as with recognizing that organizations need to honor and value the spiritual dimension of patients.

Christina M. Puchalski MD FACP
Executive Director
The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health
Professor of Medicine and Health Science
Departments of Medicine and Healthcare Sciences
The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Professor of Health Management and Leadership
The George Washington University School of Public Health

Positive Spirituality in Health Care is clinician-focused, practical, and evidence-based. And it really touches the heart. You couldn’t ask for more.

Priscilla Abercrombie, RN, NP, PhD, AHN-BC
Women's Health & Healing
San Anselmo, CA

Positive Spirituality in Health Care is a scholarly work, loaded with clinical application, but what strikes me is the manner in which Fred’s passion brings this book to life. I have the privilege of knowing Fred personally, and his interest in assisting folks in living meaningful, healthy and satisfying lives breathes life into this well-articulated work.

If I had my way, this would be a “must read” for every medical student, health care provider, or anyone interested in engaging people in a meaningful way. Whether one is interested in their own personal development, assisting patients/clients in their respective journeys or in building an organization that exudes “spirit,” it is hard to imagine a more stimulating resource. This is not necessarily a “how to” manual, but an effective, stimulating tool that allows the reader to think through their own positions as it relates to spirituality in the health care professions. I will heartily endorse this book to everyone I know who is truly interested in being an instrument of change in their relationship with others.

David Rychener, PhD
Director of Operations, PREVENT (Personal Responsibilities and Values: Education and
Training, US Navy)
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation

In this book, Fred Craigie provides a wise and compassionate examination of the place of spirituality within health care. Profoundly personal and impressively integrative, reading this book was an important step in my own spiritual journey. We should all be deeply grateful to Dr. Craigie for this soulful book.
 
Robert A. Emmons, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of Positive Psychology, author of Gratitude Works! and Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier.