Lauren van Ham

Lauren Van Ham holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Naropa University, and The Chaplaincy Institute. After completing a B.F.A. in music theatre, Lauren pursued her childhood dream of living in New York City and worked off-Broadway. She moved to the Bay Area in 1998 for graduate studies in psychology, creation spirituality, and interfaith worldviews. Following her ordination in 1999, and until 2007, Lauren worked as an interfaith hospital chaplain, serving St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco, where she specialized in adolescent psychiatry, palliative care and bereavement support. Between 2005 and 2006, she was the Executive Director of Green Sangha, a nonprofit organization practicing spiritually-engaged environmental activism. She is featured in Renewal, an award-winning documentary, celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists in Green Sangha and seven other groups from diverse faith traditions across America.