Spiritual Care Support Ministries

Rev. Liz Danielsen, Chaplain
Founder and President

Rev. Elizabeth (Liz) Danielsen is an ordained minister and a nationally endorsed Health Care Chaplain. In addition to her theological training, she has completed clinical pastoral education training with an emphasis on hospital and hospice ministry; specialized training and certification as a bereavement facilitator; comprehensive bereavement skills training; training to understand and respond to complicated mourning; and has received Death and Grief Studies Certification.

Chaplain Liz works well with people of all faith backgrounds. She has the ability to quickly see the needs of patients and their families and to meet those needs with compassion. She is familiar with the complex dynamics and issues facing patients and families when they are ill, going through the dying process or in bereavement. She is also an experienced hospice worker and trainer, and a community and clergy educator in the bereavement field. She is often asked to lead retreats, teach seminars and speak at various functions.

Before Liz and her husband Arvid moved to Virginia, Liz spent fourteen years ministering as a hospital and hospice Chaplain in New Jersey at Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice and Newton Memorial Hospital, driving 10,000 miles a year visiting patients in homes, hospitals, nursing homes, and facilitated bereavement groups. Liz continued her hospital ministry in Virginia for nearly 3 years as Chaplain at Culpeper Regional Hospital. She served as Chaplain for the Hospice of the Rapidan for five years. Spiritual Care Support Ministries^SM, Inc. (SCSM) was birthed during her time in New Jersey and has now expanded to full time ministry in Virginia. Arvid, Liz’s husband of more than 30 years, remains very supportive of her work and serves on the SCSM Board.

In Liz’s own words, “I am privileged to be able to meet people in their most difficult moments of life.
As we journey together, we are all changed! There is nothing I would rather be doing.”

For a detailed resume for Rev. Liz Danielsen, Chaplain, please click here.

Susan Amato
Assistant Director

SCSM Volunteers reach for hands and touch hearts . The SCSM Center, open Monday through Friday from 10:00AM-2:00PM, is staffed by volunteers who make themselves available to answer phone calls and greet those who drop by for a visit or come for support.

Our volunteers are important for without them our ministry would be very limited. The need for volunteers is great and there are many areas from which you may choose to participate. All volunteers are given training. We need people who can assist with mailings; write letters and cards of encouragement to those who are ill and bereaved; help with office work; assist with Bible Studies; lead Bible Studies and GriefShare classes; visit nursing homes, hospitals, and homes. We need volunteers willing to be involved in our Community Prayer Hour each week; to do baking when necessary for our groups. People are needed to answer the telephones at the Center; take care of light housekeeping needs; weed flower beds and do other yard work. Volunteers are needed to help with our Clergy Breakfasts, GriefShare Breakfasts, Ladies Teas and other special events. Sue would be happy to find a place where you would feel comfortable serving.

Susan Amato is the Director of Volunteers and schedules meetings several times a year where we discuss the kinds of work we do as volunteers and how we can make it better. These meetings provide a time to discuss any questions that volunteers have as well as the various volunteer opportunities available at SCSM and, also, for volunteer training. These meetings also provide a time for the volunteers to get to know one another which is very important. We want to work together as a team so that we can better keep our programs running smoothly.

Our goal is to expand our services so that we can reach out more to the community. Right now we have volunteers at the Center for each weekday but we see that in the future there will be a need to have the Center open more hours each day, as well as a greater need to reach out to those who are shut-ins at home, in nursing homes and hospitals.

If you have a desire to serve the Lord and help others, consider becoming a volunteer for us. Knowing that you have brightened the day for someone is a wonderful feeling and quite often it’s the result of doing something as simple as sitting with a shut-in, or giving someone a sincere and loving smile. It is through our volunteers that lives are touched as we reach for a hand and touch a heart.

We would love to talk to you about the various opportunities available and the training we provide. If you have a desire to help others and aren’t sure how to use your time and talents, please call us at
540-349- 5814 or email Sue Amato at samato@scsm.tv

Dorothy Slaga
Media Specialist

Getting the message out about the purpose and activities of Spiritual Care Support Ministries^SM is important. The image portrayed while doing so is equally important. One SCSM goal is excellence in every avenue pursued.

The SCSM message is spread through our Ministry brochure; booklets specifically written and designed to describe particular Ministry focuses such as for Pastors, for Physicians, and for Businesses; posters and flyers to alert the community about SCSM events; mailings such as letters and invitations, thank you’s and acknowledgements. Newspaper advertisements, both paid and free, have been useful; newspaper articles both written by SCSM and by newspaper reporters have been published and successful in telling the community, and even beyond, who SCSM is, and what the Ministry provides.

The vision of SCSM goes well beyond the borders of its present community and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The SCSM newsletter, Hand & Heart, provides a quarterly update about Ministry activities and goes out all over the USA. The SCSM website, www.scsm.tv, puts the SCSM mission out to the world.

I am blessed to be a part of Spiritual Care Support Ministries^SM and to help in this area of getting out the written message. If I can be of any assistance please email me at Dslaga@scsm.tv.

Joseph Toth
Web Master

As a member of the SCSM support staff, I wear many hats, from cutting the grass, facilitating and co-facilitating GriefShare Support Groups, developing budgets and forecasts, to providing assistance any place and anywhere I can. One of my major duties, at the direction of the board of directors, is to assist Chaplain Liz with further development of SCSM in fulfillment of her vision and promise from God.

When I first met Chaplain Liz, I was skeptical that I could be of any assistance to her ministry. But her enthusiasm and trust in God was all I needed to get involved and what a blessing that has been to me. After working over 30 years in the world of numbers you get used to working long, boring hours and when all is said and done you have nothing tangible to point to but a stack of papers and then you are not sure that you made a difference.

SCSM changed all of that and continues to make a big difference in my life. I am continually amazed at the impact that Spiritual Care Support Ministries has on the lives of so many who are struggling with a personal crisis. As a result of my volunteer work with SCSM, I now know that I too, can make a difference and that alone makes it all worthwhile.

Background:

Education: Graduate of Benjamin Franklin University, Washington D.C.

Employment history: Retired from the Boeing Company and SAIC after a combined 30 years of service. Started career with Boeing as a General Ledger Manager and later managed many other departments within the accounting department to a final position of Controller, Boeing Information Services. Upon the acquisition of Boeing Information Services by SAIC, I was elevated to the position of Administrative Vice President, Delany Sector.

Related Volunteer work:

Volunteer work includes helping start up a neighborhood watch program for the City of Manassas, Virginia. Duties included fund raising, scheduling volunteers, and maintenance of equipment as well as police liaison. Additional volunteer work included being treasurer and on the board of directors for KOVAR (Knights of Virginia Assisting the Retarded). Duties included reviewing all request for grants to insure they met not only KOVAR by-laws but also federal and state non-profit regulation

For more information or help please please email me at Jtoth@scsm.tv.

Robin Carter

Director of Volunteers

Robin Carter is the Director of Volunteers and schedules meetings several times a year where we discuss the kinds of work we do as volunteers and how we can make it better. These meetings provide a time to discuss any questions that volunteers have as well as the various volunteer opportunities available at SCSM and, also, for volunteer training. These meetings also provide a time for the volunteers to get to know one another which is very important. We want to work together as a team so that we can better keep our programs running smoothly.