Chaplain Carol Dufresne is a board-certified clinical chaplain specializing in Mental Health, serving as a full-time staff chaplain at the Hampton VA Healthcare System in Virginia. In her role, she collaborates closely with mental health clinicians to provide comprehensive outpatient spiritual care to Veterans and their families, integrating spirituality with evidence-based therapeutic approaches such as ACT, CBT, CPT, and IFS. Her clinical expertise focuses on supporting Women Veterans and Veterans dealing with chronic PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and other complex conditions. Additionally, Carol facilitates mental health spirituality groups for older Veterans and serves on the hospital’s IRB and Women Veteran Health Committees.
Carol's extensive leadership experience includes serving as Pastoral Associate/Assistant Pastor and Director of Human Concerns at a 700-family parish, as well as leading the startup of Amachi/NY, a faith-based mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents. Before her ministry work, she played a key role in the development of workforce development programs (WEM and BEGIN Managed Programs), where she managed the work experience components, as part of New York City’s “welfare to work” initiatives and was one of the pioneering Family Preservationists in New York City's initial Family Preservation programs. Carol’s educational background includes a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York and Master of Social Work studies at the former Hunter College School of Social Work, a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University and 5 units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).
The 2024 Fellows
