Heather Brubaker Discovers the Power of Music in Spiritual Care

Soon-to-be alum Heather Brubaker has been a singer and performer most of her life, but at HIU, she explored the role singing played in her spirituality and practice of Judaism. 

In Dr. Lisa Dahill's Contemplative Prayer Practice class, she studied embodied prayer practices, including chanting. Reflecting on her experience, she said, "I had a strong sense that music was going to be an important tool for me as an interfaith chaplain."

 Later, through her field work at Brattleboro Area Hospice, a community-based, non-medical hospice that supports the ill, dying, and bereaved, she discovered Hallowell, a choir dedicated to singing for the sick and dying.

 This year, she had her first unit of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA, where she integrated singing into her ministry to patients in the MICU and their relatives.

 “I had to learn early on how to accompany patients who weren't able to talk or sometimes even acknowledge me,” she said. "Music speaks to such deep places in us; it reaches part of us beyond language, moves through our bodies." 

At the hospital, she hopes the music offers a moment of beauty and respite to anyone nearby, whether it's medical staff, someone cleaning rooms, or the patient next door.