Lessons of self-care, while caring for others
This semester at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), Cheryl Giles, M.Div ’79, is teaching “Spiritual Care and Counseling” — a title that easily could be applied to her entire professional life. Care for others has always marked her work, from college chaplaincy to clinical psychology to her current role teaching ministry to students, along with increasing awareness of the need for caregivers to take care of themselves, too. It was her desire to minister to others that first brought Giles to HDS as an M.Div. candidate in the late 1970s, when she hoped to become a Catholic priest. “There were all sorts of things going on around women’s ordination in the Catholic Church at the time,” she explained. Giles considered entering a convent, but found that the vow of obedience required of nuns was an obstacle for her. “One time I had a long conversation with a mentor whom I loved, and I asked her...