August 13, 2024
In our ongoing series, Senior Manger, Corporate Communications, Stacia Franz took time to get to know Andrew Terhoch a little better.
SF: Thanks for having me into your office. It’s very serene and calming in here.
AT: I am happy it feels like a welcoming atmosphere.
SF: Let’s start off with your introduction: name, position and how long you’ve been at St.Amant.
AT: Hello to all readers, my name is Andrew Terhoch, and I’m a Spiritual Health Practitioner for the St.Amant community and I’ve been in this role for six and a half years.
SF: What was your career path to get to St.Amant?
AT: I worked as a collaborator, consultant and private practitioner in the St.Amant community. My connectionhere began as a massage therapist in 2010 for clients and staff in the St.Amant community. I did that for 8 years until I was chosen for the staff role as spiritual health practitioner. But really, I guess my path began long before that as I’ve been working in the disability community since I was a kid. I began as a volunteer with Special Olympics as a teenager. After high school, I became a teaching assistant working with children and young adults with disabilities. In 1993, I took on a role as a therapy assistant working with children with neuromuscular disabilities, primarily cerebral palsy and autism. And in 1998, I graduated from Massage Therapy college. I worked as a massage therapist for 23 years with a focus of supporting people withdisabilities as well as people receiving palliative care. The last 8 of those years were enjoyed providing care and support to people in the St.Amant community. In that same time, I was expanding my personal mindfulness studies and practice and began developing workshops and education around mindful touch and care for the sensitive nervous system.
What really sparked my interest in this area of mindfulness education, was when a parent asked me “how do you have success (massaging) my child because they are so sensitive and struggle with touch?” I didn’t really know why I did have that success, it was just my approach to my practice and the care relationship. A couple parents encouraged met to explore that. I started doing research around massage and touch from a sensory perspective. From that, I started considering the frequency of touch that people experience in health care – with support getting dressed, being pushed in wheelchair, being supported in brushing their hair and brushing their teeth, the list of moments of touch is long. Each moment can be one of sensitivity and vulnerability. And each moment requires trust in the same way receiving touch through massage does. So how do we hold that vulnerability with care and deep respect? My thoughts expanded beyond our hands; to how we ‘touch’ people with words, and how we communicate and build trust with our tone of voice and with our presence. Those were my first thoughts of what became the Mindful Practice program (Mindful Practice for Direct Support Professionals) at St.Amant.
That led me to think about how deeply profound and vulnerable it can be to trust and rely on others to support you to create a good life. And how much responsibility we hold in any moment of living with someone we support; sharing a meal, embarking on a new experience, developing a new skill, coping with loss. It goes so much further, beyond our support for personal care. Our presence can be a source of courage for people we accompany. So mindful practice is very much aligned with St.Amant’s support for people’s spiritual health; to ensure people can know themselves, make meaning and know and experience the value of relationships. This requires our mindful and compassionate support presence each day.
So everything leading up to this role in spiritual health educated me in unique ways; as a coach, a respite worker, educational assistant, a therapist. My greatest teachers are the people I’ve had the privilege of accompanying and supporting along the way. I’ve studied spiritual health practice more formally these past 6 years, and continue to do so. But my path has been informed by a wide variety of valuable life experiences. It’s been an experiential learning for me. A long way of answering: 14 years now at St.Amant!
SF: ha yes, but it adds more understanding to what you do here and the talents you bring.
AT: I see St.Amant as a place that I was just supposed to arrive at back in 2010, and I trust that it is exactly where I’m supposed to be today.
SF: What do you do at St.Amant – what does your day to day look like?
AT: I don’t have a typical day. I am always available for urgent support; if there’s a crisis, such as end of life approaching for a person we support. It is a great responsibility for us all to share in supporting challenging moments. So I look for ways to best support and a resource to each person and their family, and the staff and volunteers on that journey with them. Another day, I maybe a helper to a Knowledge Carrier in a ceremony. You might find me preparing to officiate a funeral or a celebration of life. I spend a part of each day considering what is needed in our spiritual health model, and work on program development. I’m working on a new palliative care project. It’s deeply meaningful to do that work in healthy ways, so that’s a focus for me right now. I might meet with individuals and family members to discuss spiritual needs during times of transition and change.
We are deeply committed to supporting both the Catholic tradition and traditional Indigenous ways of knowing spirit. So I collaborate with others regularly on those gatherings, including Wilson Cortes who leads support for all of our Catholic experiences. I spend time each day considering my work in relation to ‘two-eyed seeing’, opening to different views, other ways of knowing and ways of being. It is good to ask “is there more I need to know”. So, I consider that every day; what I can do differently in my role as a practitioner to innovate, to create opportunities in which people can grow spiritual health through the arts, music, nature or story sharing.
I have regular time devoted to leading meditation and reflection circles with groups and teams as needed. I facilitate St.Amant Mindful Practice class annually, Mindful Self Compassion classes for Réseau Compassion Network, and retreats too. The Heart of Leadership – a 5-day retreat for leaders is something I lead twice annually. And I sit on a number of St.Amant committees including the Critical Incident Stress Management Committee, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, Health and Wellness and Ethics. I’m on the Executive for provincial spiritual care association and Canadian Association for Spiritual Care’s National Reconciliation Council. So, usually I have some committee work on my mind and in my heart.
Back when I started this role, one of the Grey Nuns encouraged me to take time each day to “linger with intention”, just to be available for folks who need. So I try to spend a part of each casually visiting or working with my office door open, available should someone need.
SF: You seem really open-minded.
AT: It’s a requirement of my work. I believe it is important in all roles in human service. We never know where someone has journeyed from and we don’t always know where they are going. Be without judgement, assumptions and labels. What is or will be is never fully known. That is deep and loving human service: to accept everyone just as they are, ourselves included. Our spirit, our presence, our energy, is felt by others. Everything we do at St.Amant will show up in someone’s life at some point. Working behind the scenes, on the front lines and all places between, whether you’ve removed a barrier, identified a barrier, or are working at innovating your program or service area, whatever creates our good work leads to someone we support making meaning, reaching potential and knowing themselves more deeply – we all play a role in that. That is shared responsibility in spiritual health. That’s a big responsibility for us all. And, it is a gift and blessing, to know deep down that our work contributes to people and families in meaningful ways. That is the foundation of good spiritual health for us all.
I create space in my day to learn something new related to my work: spiritual health, disability, lens of equity, self awareness. I practice everyday with my own spirit, which is a lot of different things personally, different ways of nurturing my own spiritual health; meditation, reflection, prayer, writing, ceremony. I struggle with meaning too, just like every other human. So I practice opening up, everyday.
SF: Ah, you can’t pour from an empty cup.
AT: That’s a good analogy.
SF: Now that we know your “what” what is your “why”? what drives your passion for St.Amant?
AT: To simplify, and in reflecting back, it’s always been spiritual work for me. An early moment of really being called in this way was in witnessing a young woman’s experience of deep, exclusion, harm and ridicule because of who they were; ridicule that arose in large part because of her disability. I was impacted by that. So it is the vocation, a way of being in accompaniment that I’m drawn to. To be present in loving ways, to people, families and colleagues is spiritual for me. In Richard Wagamese’s words, “all we are is story”. I relate to that. I grew up with a couple of story tellers around me: my Baba and my Grandpa. It’s a deep value for me. I like to share stories, to write, I’m an amateur poet by heart. So, for the folks I work alongside, I have the opportunity to share in their stories. Amidst great barriers, we are looking to create light. That’s spiritual work. It’s never been about the job or the role, it’s being a part of accompanying someone in growing and knowing themselves and having a chance to live life more fully, share their story and their gifts. I can open up to empathy with others in times of vulnerability and, hold a deep affection for the importance of meaning making.
SF: What comes to mind when I ask about interesting, funny, inspiring stories about your work at St.Amant?
AT: First one that comes to mind is a young woman we were supporting and they came to a ceremony circle years ago and lit our first sacred fire, in honour in inaugural day for Truth and Reconciliation. A couple of Knowledge Carriers came from community. When the young woman came to the drum circle, a Knowledge Carrier came close and started to reflect on the young woman’s dancing abilities as she tapped her feet on her wheelchair foot rests. She said to the young woman, “you are a jig dancer, your spirit is dancing.” Her words struck me. To me, it is less often that people we support in wheelchairs are refereed to as dancers, or given the opportunity to dance.
A few days later, we supported the young woman to view videos of jig dancers on a large screen. A music therapist fitted her with bells on her ankles and we continued to share songs and videos and observe how she responded to that experience. The next ceremony we brought the video screen to the garden and the young woman shared a jig song with the bells on her feet. The following ceremony, a Knowledge Carrier came and drummed and the young woman led a dance.
A couple of months later, a staff member’s friend fitted the woman for a ribbon skirt and fitted her with new jig shoes. An OT built a wooden jig box to attach to the foot rests on her wheelchair. All this came together as she was moving onto next journey of her life as a jig dancer. There were many people who were a part of that story, who walked along side her, supported her with their own skills, presence and gifts. That is a deeply loving example of shared responsibility supporting spiritual health. I watched the nourishment it helped create in her. And I also know that everyone who contributed carries that story with them now. For all reasons why being a witness to suffering is hard in our work in human service, there are equally as beautiful moments too.
SF: Pick one person to give a shout out to at St.Amant and tell me why?
AT: Chad Gillert- the way he shares his spirit in every moment in all of his roles is so deeply generous, he can create joy, seemingly without effort and he can hold a moment of sadness with deep respect and grace. He’s a volunteer and worked in three different departments, and he’s a good man.
SF: To engage Blink users – what question do you want them to answer at the end of this written piece that would make for odd answers in the comment section?
AT: What’s a book you remember as a young person and why do you remember it, why does it stick with you?
SF: Great question. Thank you so much!