Pastoral care director at Griffin Hospital in Derby wins award

Rev. Jo Clare Wilson

Director of Pastoral Care and Education at Griffin Hospital The Rev. Jo Clare Wilson of Hamden, recently received the prestigious 2013 Distinguished Service Award from the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. (ACPE) at its national conference.

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes the contributions of ACPE members for a variety of achievements, including long term service, outstanding service, innovative program practice or development, leadership, and recognition for contributions to related organizations.

A native of Nashville, Tenn., Wilson completed her M.Div. at Vanderbilt University and her Clinical Pastoral Education at Presbyterian Hospital in Denver. Ordained in the Disciples of Christ Church she spent the last 33 years in healthcare chaplaincy and education in Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan, Georgia, and South Carolina. For 13 years she has been Director of Pastoral Care and Education at Griffin Hospital in Derby.

Wilson has served ACPE both regionally and nationally in a variety of capacities. She served several terms on the Board of Representatives as member at large for women and as a representative for the Southeast Region.
She was Regional Director in the East Central Region from 1989 to 1991 prior to moving to Savannah. In 1998 as she began her term as President of ACPE she moved to Greenville, South Carolina where she was Director of Pastoral Care and Education. In 2000 she moved to Connecticut and served as Co-regional Director in the Eastern Region in 2005.

For more than 10 years she has co-chaired of the ACPE GLBT network, helping persons in the supervisory and educational process as well as providing education for the organization around issues of sexuality.

Her areas of interest in ministry include spirituality and health; addiction and family systems; and psychiatric illness.
Wilson co-authored the chapter “Spirituality: Inner Resources for Healing” in Putting Patients First: Designing and Practicing Patient- Centered Care, and wrote Spiritual and Pastoral Care of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered (GLBT) People in Professional Spiritual and Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain’s Handbook.

This post is taken from a press release from Griffin Hospital.


I've known Rev. Jo Clare since she started working at Griffin and I congratulate her on this much-deserved recognition!