TEXAS / AGILITYPR.NEWS / October 02, 2025 / MEDIA ALERT

Media Contact:   

Laura Pennino, Senior PR Consultant for The Institute for Spirituality and Health

281-286-9398 office, 713-419-1776 mobile, lp@penninoandpartners.com

The Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center

to Co-host 32nd Annual Spirituality in Nursing Conference Oct. 24, 2025

 WHO:      The Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center (The Institute)                  presents the 32nd Annual Spirituality in Nursing Conference (SiNC). Our conference                committee is composed of representatives from the following institutions:

Faith Community Nursing

Houston City College - Coleman College for Health Sciences

Houston Methodist Hospital

Lone Star College Montgomery

Memorial Hermann Health System

Texas Children's Hospital

Texas Woman’s University Nelda C. Stark College of Nursing

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

UTHealth Cizik School of Nursing

UTMB Health School of Nursing

Opening and closing remarks will be delivered by Spirituality in Nursing Conference Planning Committee Chair Brent Peery, D.Min. Peery serves as the vice president of Chaplaincy Services at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston. Presenters include Michelle Calhoun, LPC, PSC; Marianne Parrish Florian, PhD, MTS, MA; and Azariah Terrell, MDiv, BCC. Calhoun is a mental health therapist, climate and culture specialist, and educator with the Harris County Department of Education in Houston. Florian holds a post-doctoral fellowship in religion and medicine that is shared between the UTHealth McGovern Medical School and the Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. Terrell serves as the chaplain and manager of the Code Lilac peer-to-peer support network at Memorial Hermann Health Systems in Houston.

WHEN:           7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2025.

WHERE:          St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Fondren Hall

                 5501 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77004

WHAT:      After a year of strategic planning, Houston's premier spirituality and nursing conference             will return in October 2025 with a new name and expanded mission. The 32-year-old               gathering, previously known as the Institute’s Annual Nursing Conference, has re-                 launched this year as The Spirituality in Nursing Conference (SiNC).

Designed with the theme “Skills at the Intersection of Spiritual and Mental Wellbeing,” this conference is designed to support nursing professionals and nursing students who prioritize spirituality as a key aspect of patient health. The conference also serves to help attendees to lay a foundation for their individual sense of meaning and professional service.

Guest presenters will provide a practical introduction to Mental Health First Aid and share the story of developing one of the largest peer support networks in the United States. Conference participants will also experience group activities to help them access compassionate feelings and motivations, even when they are facing inner mental or emotional distress.

Upon completion of this conference, participants will be better able to:

1. Identify mental health problems that may be rooted in disorders of mood or thinking, in trauma, and in substance abuse;
2. Intervene early in mental health and substance abuse issues to promote well-being;
3. Describe the steps undertaken to develop and grow a sophisticated peer support network in a modern hospital system;
4. Practice offering nonjudgmental peer support to colleagues experiencing deficits in their sense of professional purpose and well-being;
5. Identify patterns in our own minds and lives that can interrupt or prevent the progress of compassionate emotions and motivations; and,
6. Practice thought exercises for overcoming obstacles to compassion in order to allow it to arise more naturally and spontaneously in response to suffering. The purpose of this is to enhance personal well-being by aligning our emotions and motivations with our highly trained professional behaviors that are designed to prevent and relieve suffering.

Continuing Education Units are available for participants who attend the conference.

HOW:            

Regular Registration Opened Oct. 1, 2025

Working Professionals(including those needing CEUs):      $150 per person

Nursing Students:                                   $50 per person

          Please register via this link.

About the Institute

The Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center is an independent, interfaith organization that has championed whole-person care since its founding in 1955. A founding member of the Texas Medical Center, the Institute has become a global leader at the intersection of spirituality, health, and community well-being. For seven decades, it has trained and empowered healthcare professionals, faith leaders, and community members to integrate spiritual care into health settings.

The Institute for Spirituality and Health's mission is to enhance well-being by exploring the relationship between spirituality and health. It advances this mission through education, research, and direct service programs, guided by its four centers of excellence: the Rabbi Samuel E. Karff Center for Healthcare Professionals, the Center for Body, Spirit, and Mind, the Center for End-of-Life and Aging, and the Center for Faith and Public Health. 

For more information about the Institute, visit https://www.spiritualityandhealth.org/.