We Are IH: Spiritual health practitioner encourages connections

Helping others navigate through some of the trials and tribulations of life is at the heart of Thandazani Mhlanga’s work as the first-ever spiritual health practitioner serving Cariboo Memorial Hospital (CMH) in Williams Lake. Thandazani started working at CMH this summer (2024) and is settling into his role well. 

His family, and his dad in particular, shaped his interest in becoming a spiritual health practitioner from a young age.

At CMH, Thandazani is available to support patients and staff. He describes a spiritual health practitioner as the person you connect with to journey through the turning points of life. At times of sadness, a spiritual health practitioner is a person you sit down with and you say ‘help me locate myself.’

“In a mall there’s a map of the entire mall and it usually has a sign that says ‘You are here.’ That way you can orient yourself and say ‘I want to get to there, but I am here’. The map shows you how to get where you are going. My work is to help people see the map!” Thandazani explained.“Because the map is different from one individual to the next, and in times of crisis, people don’t usually see themselves in their maps. So I help them be able to say ‘I am here’.”

Thandazani finds the work challenging and very rewarding.

“It’s like seeing someone move from a place where they were grasping for anything in the dark, to a place where they are saying, ‘hey I am here.’ Nothing beats that for me.”

A patient in the hospital wanting Thandazani’s support and guidance just has to ask staff to connect with him, which is information he really wants out in the community.

“I am not afraid of tears. I am not afraid of anger. Anger comes up a lot. It is the one thing we humans have mustered to mask all other emotions. When someone is afraid, but they don’t want to say, they mask it with anger.”

Thandazani also enjoys learning from others, which he is excited to do following an invitation to talk with elders at the All Nations Healing House in Williams Lake. For those interested in speaking with Thandazani, he encourages them to reach out.

“I don’t have all the answers but I have the space to explore. We can just go on that journey together.”

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