HDS - OMS - Field Education Handbook

Contact Person: Jon Schum, LMHC, Director of Activities

Project: Kit Clark Senior Services (KCSS) is a non-profit provider of services to older adults, including: mental health and addiction services, nutrition and home-delivered meals, home repair, congregate housing, meal sites, a senior social (walk-in) center, a day program for homeless elders, and adult day health (ADH) programs. There are four ADH programs: two for elders with general needs, one dementia day program, and a day program primarily for Vietnamese-speaking elders.

KCSS serves a multi-cultural population of English-speaking American-born, African-American, West Indian, Cape Verdean, and Vietnamese elders. Programs include outreach to the elder gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender population. Since 1974, Kit Clark Senior Services has been committed to helping older adults live with dignity and independence, regardless of religion, gender, ethnicity, race, language, or sexual orientation.

Student Involvement: The divinity student will work primarily in the adult day health and senior social center programs, with the possibility of additional opportunities in congregate housing sites and the day program for homeless elders.

Opportunities and responsibilities for the student include but are not limited to:

Addressing the range of developmental tasks, spiritual challenges, and human life crises that accompany aging. These include issues such as loss and bereavement, increasing frailty and infirmity, diminishment of meaning, and immobility.

Spending time in individual conversation with clients, listening to personal narratives and assessing spiritual needs and identifying strengths

Assisting with planning an annual remembrance service for clients who have died within the past year.

Arts of Ministry Competencies: Preaching and Worship. Pastoral Care and Counseling. Administration and Program Development. Public Leadership, Community Organizing and Planning.

Supervision: The proposed supervisor is the Director of Activities and Site Manager in the Adult Day Health program. He is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and holds both a M.A. in Expressive Arts Therapies and a M.A. in Theology. He has experience supervising graduate students.

Notes: KCSS is easily accessible by public transportation. Its main building is one block from the Fields Corner T stop on the Red line (Ashmont branch). Its other location is a ten-minute walk from the Shawmut stop.

Harvard Divinity School

Ministry Studies

Field Education Handbook