The Pilgrimage Mind Frame

Empowering Your Practice, Embracing Your Purpose

Mitigates burnout among healthcare professionals
Cultivates empathy and compassion.
Fosters self-care practices and emotional resilience.
Enhances patient connectivity and improves patient care outcomes.
Promotes mindfulness and a sense of grounding
Provides tools for stress reduction and emotional regulation.
Offers a holistic approach to healing and self-discovery.

A transformative approach to healthcare developed by Dr. Roxanne Chadderton to
combat burnout, enhance empathy, and foster self-care among healthcare
professionals. Rooted in the mystical practice of the pilgrimage and combined with
Narrative medicine, our 14-week course, workshops, and resources integrate narrative
medicine with contemplative practices, including centering practices, walking
meditation, and Visio Divina, to cultivate mindfulness, resilience, and a deeper
connection with patients.

Beyond Skills: The Spiritual Path to Healthcare

The concept of a pilgrimage mind frame in healthcare involves viewing the journey of
becoming a healthcare professional as a transformative and spiritual experience, rather
than just the acquisition of knowledge and skills. This mindset includes a curriculum that
incorporates reflective practices and encourages students to see themselves as pilgrims
on a healing journey alongside their patients.

Contemplative Practices

Contemplative practices like sitting meditation, mindfulness, visio divina, walking meditation, and reflective silence can help healthcare professionals cultivate qualities like compassion, openness, and the ability to engage with suffering without being overwhelmed. These practices can help restore and rejuvenate us so that we can encounter the world fresh and renewed for service and purpose.

Centering Practice: A form of monastic meditation aimed at fostering a sense of presence. It involves choosing a sacred word or phrase to focus on, helping practitioners cultivate emotional resilience, empathy, and compassion.
Mindfulness: A practice that involves bringing one’s complete attention to the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. It cultivates acceptance and provides practitioners with the emotional resilience needed to navigate stressful environments.
Visio Divina: A form of seeing or attention to images or objects in your environment. In the healthcare setting, this practice can foster a sense of awe and curiosity, allowing practitioners to reconnect with the wonder of life, even in the midst of challenging clinical situations. Visio Divina helps to regulate emotions, reduce stress, and cultivate a sense of radical presence in interactions with patients.
Walking Meditation: This practice involves deliberate movements with deep breathing, cultivating mindfulness and presence.

Narrative Medicine

Narrative medicine, pioneered by Rita Charon, is a field that integrates humanities, medicine, primary care, narratology, and the study of doctor-patient relationships. It emphasizes the importance of actively engaging in telling, processing, and writing the stories of patients to build empathy and strengthen the connection between provider and patient. It involves active listening, interpreting patients’ stories, and understanding the broader context of their experiences.

About Dr. Roxanne Chadderton

Dr. Roxanne Chadderton, MDiv, DMin, serves as the University Program Associate for the Global Program at the UNC Adams School of Dentistry, where she plays a vital role in supporting and mentoring students as they prepare for global health experiences. A passionate advocate for cultivating empathy, self-care, and resilience in healthcare education, she is deeply committed to helping students grow their altruistic mind frames and develop the cultural sensitivity needed to serve communities around the world with compassion and curiosity.

Dr. Chadderton brings over 27 years of experience in teaching and counseling students. She began her journey at ASOD in Admissions before transitioning to the role of Clinical Care Coordinator, where she helped predoctoral students navigate burnout and strengthen patient connection. In her current role within the Global Program, she delights in creating meaningful opportunities for learners to engage with diverse healthcare systems and cultural contexts.

She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Wake Forest University, where she focused on global pilgrimage traditions and contemplative practices. A retired Reverend from The United Methodist Church and an interfaith minister, she has traveled extensively for academic and spiritual pilgrimages. Her deep interest in transformative journeys inspired her doctoral work in Transformational Leadership at Boston University. While developing her research, she expanded on her earlier work teaching fourth-year medical students, where she designed and implemented curriculum aimed at promoting emotional well-being and deepening empathy for improved self-care. Her doctoral research built upon this foundation, focusing on the development of curricula that uses the “pilgrimage mind frame” to help healthcare practitioners mitigate burnout, embody empathy, foster self-care, and enhance patient connectivity.