Our Story

GISCE—pronounced GIS-see—came by way of the DMV: Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, where the three of us live, work, and play. Tahara pioneered a path as the first Muslim woman to become an ACPE Certified Educator and continues to open new possibilities for spiritual care education. Jonathan brought years of experience building, leading, and accrediting CPE programs. Syazana trained with Tahara and Jonathan as an educator trainee; over time, student became colleague, and colleague became partner.

We are friends before we are colleagues, and we love what we do—spiritual care, educating others in its practice, and seeing how this work becomes part of people’s lives, including our own.

That love beckons us to carry this work beyond our location and into conversation with others.

Spiritual care is already happening indigenously in communities around the world, even when it is not called spiritual care. GISCE hopes to meet people already tending to others in this way, to learn from and grow with them—to enliven the human spirit wherever people gather: in schools, hospitals, hospices, prisons, workplaces, neighborhoods, villages, senior communities, universities, and places we may not yet know.

We look for partners with generosity of spirit to begin this adventure with us.