What sustains you when you encounter waves of pain, loss and grief? Caregivers and patients alike know that hospitals are places where breathing is often labored and rest is elusive. The distance between wellness and brokenness is razor thin and sharp. For patients and their families, an illness is a scalpel splitting the veil between what has been and what might be. During such times, thoughts and emotions do not ask permission; they come unbidden, stirring a yearning for insight into meaning and purpose, and a desire that there be more to life than another blood draw, another tasteless intravenous "meal", or another choice between a snake and a serpent. At such times how do you cope? How do you manage the grinding shackles of grief? A Bamboo Grove for the Soul addresses these issues. This book is both storybook and handbook. Every portion is part of a tapestry that comes from life. All vignettes are drawn from real situations, but details have been altered to protect confidentiality. The book presents a picture of people stretched and framed by life's circumstances. Spread out or wrapped up tightly, the fabric breathes. In and out, every thread dances in community whether colorful, tight, loose, somber or happy. With its focus on self-care, this book helps keep the passion in caregiving.
About the Author: Tom Becraft is an award-winning author in the healthcare field. His booklet, "Crossing the Bridge: A Guide to End of Life Issues," received the coveted 2011 Award for Spirituality and Diversity from Planetree, a patient-centered consortium of 600 hospitals in North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Australia. Becraft is Lead Chaplain at Kadlec Regional Medical Center, a 270-bed Level II Trauma hospital in Richland, WA. Concurrent with the award for "Crossing the Bridge," KRMC became one of just 16 Designated Planetree Patient-Centered Hospitals around the world, distinguishing itself for its advanced work in attending to the whole person. Prior to transitioning into healthcare chaplaincy in 2005, Becraft served as a bilingual campus chaplain, college and high school educator and ordained minister at schools and churches in Japan, Hawaii and America's Northwest. He became a Board Certified Chaplain in the Association of Professional Chaplains in 2008. Each day he translates over three decades of cross-cultural ministry into attentiveness toward the needs, wishes, and choices of patients, families and hospital staff, companioning with them on a quest for release from the shackles of emotional and spiritual pain. Becraft has a master's degree (1980) in religion from Andrews University with a concentration in inter-religious, cross-cultural studies, and additional graduate work in education and counseling. His undergraduate degree was in theology with a minor in journalism (1974). While living in Japan he wrote two books in Japanese, one of which became a continuing education text for Japanese clergy. "A Bamboo Grove for the Soul" is Tom's first full-length book in English.