Making Space for Meaning is an outcome of the dynamic, experiential thrust of the 2024 CASC/ACSS National Conference in London, Ontario. Workshop presenters, keynote speakers, pre-conference session leaders and poets are included as well as various authors who were not part of the Conference. A book has its own dynamism. The editors and the writers are like gardeners who can plant, water, fertilize, prune and cut but do not have control of the dynamism of the forest. Our book puts into print some of what happened at the London Conference in 2024 but also grows and moves beyond it.
What is “making space?” This phrase assumes that a place is crowded. Opening up space presents us with many challenges to create more space for all faiths, all spiritual and religious traditions, and people who identify as spiritual and not religious. There is a diversity of contributing authors who address the challenges of making space for meaning in a variety of contexts, like research practices, hospitals, long-term care facilities, therapy clinics and private practices, with a variety of peoples, such as Indigenous, those who identify as 2SLGBTQIAP+, and people with dementia or psychosis. How is the Divine inviting us as professionals to change? With the growth and dynamism of these challenges, there is more space in the forest. More inclusion means more space. Bob Tees, poet and musician at the Conference, summoned participants to gather and invited them to
Come to the window
Where impossibilities become possible.
The editors invite you to come to the window and see in this book a forest of meaning in all its diversity, with Spring and Autumn colours coexisting. Climb through the window and walk on our guided tour through these chapters and authors. Smell the fragrances, feel the sun, the wind, the heat and the cold. Make space for the meaning that this book offers. Enjoy.