The God Who Sees: Embodying the Narrative of a Wounded Healer to Preserve Tenderheartedness in Medical Trainees
Madeline Erwich, BS, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC
Six weeks into my third year of medical school, I was introduced to the emotional gravity of medicine. A particularly difficult surgical obstetrics case suffered a tragic ending, and I was wholly unprepared to deal with the emotional fallout. As the patient was wheeled to the recovery area, the resident involved in the case pulled me aside and said, “We should talk about this before you leave today.” Later, the resident shared with me her own story of personal struggle with difficult patient outcomes. Her vulnerability was unexpected and countercultural. My classmates and I had been taught to file our emotions away in clinical settings and rely on mantras of resilience to protect our professional personas. Showing emotion was considered unbecoming of a medical trainee, especially in front of our superiors. Yet the resident's recognition of and engagement with my emotional struggle gave me the space to feel seen and the strength to walk into the hospital the next day. Her small revelation of mutual suffering enabled my flourishing as a trainee and inspired me to do the same for others.
The book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible includes the story of a woman named Hagar who likewise experienced flourishing after being seen in her moment of deep distress (Genesis 16, NIV). God saw Hagar amidst her confusion, anger, and pain and spoke words of direction and blessing to her, to which Hagar responded, “You are the God who sees me” (Gen. 16:13). God’s deliberate attention toward Hagar’s plight led her out of the wilderness and into renewed purpose. Like a gardener who carefully identifies and prunes dead and diseased branches, we enable the flourishing of fellow humans when we have eyes to see another’s pain and the capacity to engage with it. To preserve a sense of tenderheartedness among medical trainees, we need to be taught how to see each other. I propose Henri Nouwen’s pastoral persona of the wounded healer as a framework for instructing healthcare trainees in the work of seeing and engaging with one another’s suffering. Such a framework not only encourages emotional flourishing among trainees, but also nurtures students’ ability to thoughtfully engage with the emotional distress of their patients.
According to Nouwen’s theological treatise “The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society,” embodying the wounded healer involves three steps: recognizing and naming emotional wounds; engaging in personal reflection upon and acceptance of those wounds; and creating a community in which common wounds are named in the pursuit of hope and healing. The first step involves acknowledging one’s inner emotional brokenness as a shared experience among all humankind (Nouwen 94-95). Following this awareness, Nouwen employs the concept of hospitality in two parts: inner reflection meant to more deeply own one’s suffering followed by cultivation of an inviting space for the suffering other (Nouwen 95-96). Out of a shared experience of pain comes collective hope which engenders mutual flourishing. By attending to the emotional distress of colleagues, medical practitioners model for trainees what it means to remain tenderhearted. Instead of dismissing or shying away from emotion, tenderhearted practitioners move toward the emotional distress of their colleagues and create space for anguish to be held in community. Like the God who sees, those who practice in the way of the wounded healer foster environments of growth and new purpose for medical trainees, practitioners, and patients alike.
References:
Nouwen, Henri J. M. The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society. Doubleday Religion, 1972.
The book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible includes the story of a woman named Hagar who likewise experienced flourishing after being seen in her moment of deep distress (Genesis 16, NIV). God saw Hagar amidst her confusion, anger, and pain and spoke words of direction and blessing to her, to which Hagar responded, “You are the God who sees me” (Gen. 16:13). God’s deliberate attention toward Hagar’s plight led her out of the wilderness and into renewed purpose. Like a gardener who carefully identifies and prunes dead and diseased branches, we enable the flourishing of fellow humans when we have eyes to see another’s pain and the capacity to engage with it. To preserve a sense of tenderheartedness among medical trainees, we need to be taught how to see each other. I propose Henri Nouwen’s pastoral persona of the wounded healer as a framework for instructing healthcare trainees in the work of seeing and engaging with one another’s suffering. Such a framework not only encourages emotional flourishing among trainees, but also nurtures students’ ability to thoughtfully engage with the emotional distress of their patients.
According to Nouwen’s theological treatise “The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society,” embodying the wounded healer involves three steps: recognizing and naming emotional wounds; engaging in personal reflection upon and acceptance of those wounds; and creating a community in which common wounds are named in the pursuit of hope and healing. The first step involves acknowledging one’s inner emotional brokenness as a shared experience among all humankind (Nouwen 94-95). Following this awareness, Nouwen employs the concept of hospitality in two parts: inner reflection meant to more deeply own one’s suffering followed by cultivation of an inviting space for the suffering other (Nouwen 95-96). Out of a shared experience of pain comes collective hope which engenders mutual flourishing. By attending to the emotional distress of colleagues, medical practitioners model for trainees what it means to remain tenderhearted. Instead of dismissing or shying away from emotion, tenderhearted practitioners move toward the emotional distress of their colleagues and create space for anguish to be held in community. Like the God who sees, those who practice in the way of the wounded healer foster environments of growth and new purpose for medical trainees, practitioners, and patients alike.
References:
Nouwen, Henri J. M. The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society. Doubleday Religion, 1972.