Rev. Dr. Carla Cheatham began her career in social services with an MA in Psychology, certification in trauma counseling and experience working in counseling and treatment centers.  She taught and researched on the interaction between spirituality and health at Texas A&M while receiving her PhD in Health & Kinesiology and earned her M.Div. at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology.    

After serving faith communities and directing an interfaith non-profit supporting worker justice, Carla began a decade of work as a hospice chaplain and bereavement coordinator in Austin, Texas. Carla is currently pastor at Faith UCC in New Braunfels, Texas.  

 She is also the Principal and Lead Trainer for Carla Cheatham Consulting Group, LLC and continues to serve as a national keynote speaker and educator teaching in the areas of clinical presence and attunement, compassion fatigue and resilience, ethical spiritual and existential care, grief support, ethical boundaries and healthy teams, and more.  She is the author of Hospice Whispers: Stories of Life and its companion piece, Sharing Our Stories: A Hospice Whispers Grief Support Workbook. You can learn more at  CarlaCheatham.com and HospiceWhispers.com 

Carla strives to practice what she teaches with regular hikes, mountain-bike excursions, and by absorbing as much live music as she possibly can in her beloved Austin.