The Wayne E. Oates Institute is a Connected Learning Community exploring spirituality and health as a way to advance integrative care for the whole person. The Oates Institute is a non-profit educational organization made up of caregivers from the medical, spiritual and counseling communities providing a forum for joining together as an interdisciplinary dialogue toward understanding the relationship between spirituality and the healing process.

The Hope as a Dynamic for Healing seminar, offered January 11-29, engages participants in facilitated dialogue around three presentations that look at the role hope plays in a person's healing, health, and well-being. For those of us that give spiritual, physical, or mental care to others, how important is it that we nurture hope in our clients, parishioners, or patients?

The Hope and Wholeness seminar, offered February 8-26, continues the conversation by encouraging participants to explore how hope contributes to one's sense of wholeness and well-being.

Finding Hope When There Is No Cure, offered April 11-30, raises questions regarding how we might help patients, clients, parishioners, or family members find and sustain hope when they encounter challenges such as the diagnosis of terminal cancer, an accident resulting in major trauma, or a lifestyle altering chronic illness. How do we help discern genuine hope from what may be a shallow optimism? How do we help patients and family members experience healing that does not include curing? How might we use our personal narratives of hope to help others discover theirs?