America is experiencing a historic mental health crisis. Some sufferers require hospitalization for their condition.
One chaplain serving at a psychiatric facility in Columbus, Ohio, reaches these patients in a unique way through song.
“We find strength, mentally, physically, spiritually, in all sorts of places. Music is one of them,” said Rev. Chris Ciampa, the chaplain at Ohio State University’s Harding Hospital, a part of Wexner Medical Center.
“What we get in the hospital are people whose mental illness has gotten to the point where they need to have that kind of really intense focus. And that’s hard,” Ciampa said. “I figured if you’re going to work that hard you deserve to have someone come by, no big sweat, we’re just going to sing and have some fun. You know, a little relief from the day.”
While Ciampa doesn’t rule out Christian hymns, he generally chooses pop songs about love and hope, like Thank You For Being a Friend, and the Elvis classic, I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You. With just his acoustic guitar, he invites patients to join him in a common room. He posts the lyrics on the walls so patients can sing along if they like.
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