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GSAA Spiritual Care Staff
Titus, Carol, Kelly, and Jonathan
HAYWARD
Rev. Kelly Childress, M.Div., M.A., BCC
Spiritual Care Director, Greater Southern Alameda Area
An ordained minister with the United Church of Christ, I also include Buddhist meditation in my spiritual practice. Within the UCC I serve on the Overview Board for Justice and Witness Ministry and am active in my local congregation. Though I grew up in beautiful Oregon I fell in love with the Bay Area when I moved here to attend seminary at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, where I received my Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Bioethics. I completed my clinical residency at UCLA Medical Center, and am Board Certified with the Association of Professional Chaplains.
My clinical experience includes working with patients, families and staff in Oncology, Trauma ICU, Burn ICU, Liver/Kidney transplant ICU, Neonatal ICU, Acute Adult Mental Health, Emergency, Hospice and Medical/surgical units.
I have three beautiful nieces who live in Washington State – they are a constant joy in my life! I am also a “Big” with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the East Bay, and have a wonderful little sister with whom I share many fun adventures. In December, 2004 I traveled to Hawaii to run in the Honolulu Marathon for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. It was a remarkable experience and I finished the 26.2 miles in 6.5 hours!
Rev. Jonathan Leavy, M.Div.
Coming from St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, I'm thrilled to begin my Kaiser employment here in Hayward. I graduated with my Masters in Divinity from Pacific School of Religion in 2001 where I focused on spirituality and the arts. After graduation I worked as a non-profit administrator and teacher with Body Wisdom, Inc. in Oakland, where I both managed the local/national office and taught classes in InterPlay - movement, voice and storytelling - all with a spiritual and improvisational focus. I went on to teach and perform in Australia as well as across the United States. Through leading the small groups and individual one-on-one sessions, I helped people such as nurses, teachers, ministers, prison workers and social workers find their creative and expressive selves. For the last 10 years I've been a member of InterPlay's Wing It! Performance Ensemble.
My previous career was as a musical theatre performer on the east coast. After receiving my Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Colorado State University, I journeyed east and earned a living singing and dancing for 12 years in regional theatres, theme parks, cruise ships, dinner theatres, national tours and even the Metropolitan Opera. It was while I was singing in Alaska and leading the inter-denominational worship services for the passengers on the cruise ship that I received my call to ministry.
Today, I live in Alameda with my spouse and our beloved dog Mavis. I am Pastor in covenant at 1st Congregational Church of Alameda, and became ordained in The United Church of Christ in June of 2008.
FREMONT
Chaplain Titus George, M.A., B.D., M.Th.
I was born and raised in Kerala, in southern India. I lived the early years of my childhood in Wyanad, Kerala, a mountainous region known for spices and coffee. Later my family moved to a coastal village in the central region of Kerala where I spent my teen years. Before moving to the US in 2001, my academic studies were in Theology and Sociology with the Senate of Serampore and Annamalai University in India. In 2002 I did my Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) residency at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Later I joined Pacific School of Religion to study of Pastoral Counseling.
In my career so far, I have been a teacher, a community development worker, and a researcher.
My early experiences of work were with indigenous communities in India. I first taught Hinduism at a theological school in the north eastern state of Nagaland, near the Burmese border. Later I was involved in a community development program with the Koruku tribes, an indigenous community in Central India.
After completing my Masters of Theology, I worked with the Theological Research Institute in New Delhi. Later, I joined the Bombay-Delhi diocese of the Mar Thoma Church of Malabar. I taught theology and social change at the Dharmajyothi Vidhyapeeth, a then new theological institute of the Mar Thoma Church in New Delhi. During this period I also helped the diocese to do ecumenical and inter-faith programs.
My career took a turn at that point as I began to be involved with participatory evaluations and research on the health of rural communities in India. I consulted for several national and international organizations, and wrote articles on religion, ethnic identity, and social change, including a book on the involvement of the Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) in social change and community development. In 2000 I contributed a chapter Responding with Faith, in India Disasters Report published by the Oxford University Press.
My experience with different religions, Hinduism in specific, cultures and the CPE program developed my perspectives on illness. Ever since I have been trying to place illness within particular cultures and engage rituals as culturally meaningful symbols to help patients integrate their experience with illness.
As a chaplain I would like to relate to the culturally and linguistically diverse patients, communities, and staff. My vision of spiritual care here involves creating an ongoing process of wholeness, and of helping others to integrate their experience in Kaiser Permanente, Fremont into their life story and find new meaning in it.
Rev. Carol Estes, M.Div.
Born and raised in San Francisco, I earned a Master’s of Divinity degree from Pacific School of Religion and am a licensed pastor with the United Methodist Church. I completed my clinical pastoral residency at the University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill, with areas of specialty including domestic violence, bereavement and grief support and cardiac thoracic services.
Although my faith tradition is United Methodist, I infuse practices of many other world philosophies (religions) in my daily spiritual journey, which greatly enriches my spiritual life. Study and practice in world philosophies has increased my awareness and deepened my appreciation of the universal divine-human connection. While rendering the service of spiritual attending, I am continually mindful of the importance of nurturing this connection as a means of facilitating internal healing and wholeness, as well as cultivating external peace.
My eyesight is compromised by a retinal condition, known as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative and progressive condition that could ultimately lead to blindness. Having a visual impairment has deepened my level of empathy for persons with physical differences. RP presents me with daily challenges and struggles, yet it also presents me with many wonderful opportunities to connect and be with all of the Divine's creation without preconceived notions or judgments.
My hobbies include listening to music and reading.
When you see me moving through the hallways, say Hello. I love meeting people!
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