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Are We Really Providing Whole-Person Care If We Ignore Spirituality? With Sinéad Dufour
We talk a lot about providing “whole-person care.” But are we actually doing it?
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We talk a lot about providing “whole-person care.” But are we actually doing it?
And if we leave spirituality completely out of the conversation...can we really call our care whole-person?
This is exactly the kind of question we love exploring with Dr. Sinéad Dufour.
Sinéad is one of the researchers and educators we respect most because she's constantly willing to examine the evidence, challenge her own assumptions and change her mind when the science takes her somewhere new.
So naturally, when she decided to go back to graduate school for counseling and spiritual care, we knew the conversation was going to be fascinating. 😆
And it's the foundation for the panel she's leading at PelviCon this year:
Spirit in Session: Towards Whole-Person Pelvic Healthcare
In this episode, we dive into:
✨ Spirituality vs. religion — why they're not the same thing, and why that distinction matters in healthcare.
🧠 Is biopsychosocial care actually whole-person care? Sinéad argues there's another domain we often leave out.
❤️ Purpose, meaning and compassion in the treatment room — and how pelvic health clinicians may already be touching on spirituality without realizing it.
🚧 Where's the line between whole-person care and “out of scope”? And what training, mentorship and self-awareness do clinicians need?
💻 What does GOOD virtual pelvic health care actually look like? Sinéad has built both in-person and virtual practices and has some fascinating thoughts about where virtual care shines—and where it simply cannot replace in-person assessment.
👀 The great irony of virtual care: Sinéad believes that becoming excellent virtually may require years of honing your skills in person first.
🤝 Why pelvic PTs need to refer to other pelvic PTs more often. Sometimes the best care isn't choosing virtual or in-person—it's creating a circle of care around the patient.
And Sinéad is now leading research to answer one of the questions our profession desperately needs better evidence around:
What actually constitutes high-quality virtual pelvic health care?
We can't wait to see what she finds.
🎟️ Learn from Sinéad LIVE at PelviCon 2026!
We're now just DAYS away from PelviCon!
Sinéad will be leading what might be one of the most unique conversations we've ever had on the PelviCon stage:
Spirit in Session: Towards Whole-Person Pelvic Healthcare
She'll be joined by Shelly Prosko, Yeni Abraham and Lynn Schulte for a panel discussion about spirituality, meaning, purpose and what it really means to care for the whole person.
Can't join us in Atlanta?
Grab your PelviCon Live Virtual + Recording ticket!
You'll get:
🎓 14 incredible, practice-changing talks
🌎 Learn from 8 world-class leaders in pelvic health
💻 Live Virtual access September 25–26 — including the opportunity to participate, interact and ask questions
▶️ Lifetime access to every recording — so these become resources you can come back to for years
This isn't just another Zoom course or a replay you'll forget about in your inbox.
Join us live. Bring your questions. Be part of PelviCon from wherever you are.
About Dr. Sinéad Dufour
Dr. Sinéad Dufour is a physiotherapist, professor, researcher, educator and entrepreneur whose work has helped advance pelvic and perinatal health care.
She's a professor at McMaster University, co-founder of The WOMB, and has spent her career bringing evidence into clinical practice.
Most recently, Sinéad completed additional graduate training in counseling and spiritual care, adding another dimension to her work around biopsychosocial and whole-person healthcare.
📱 Make sure you're following Sinéad on Instagram: @dr.sinead
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Nicole Cozean, PT, DPT, WCS
Founder of Pelvic PT Rising and PelvicSanity Physical Therapy in Southern California.
Dedicated to forever changing pelvic health with online clinical courses to help you be more confident in your practice and business resources to help start and grow pelvic health businesses.
Jesse Cozean, MBA
Co-founder of the Pelvic PT Rising and the Rising Podcast.
Jesse uses his business experience to help pelvic health business owners start and grow their practices so they can build a practice that truly works for them. From website design, SEO, conversions, marketing, finance and money mindset, he wants to make the process of owning your own practice easier and fun.
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