Care Happens in Community 

The caring relationship cannot be separated from the wider social, cultural, and political forces that shape the people for whom we care. For Dr. Arelis Benítez, schools of psychology that try to isolate individual symptoms, to treat them “objectively,” are an attempt to neatly cleave suffering from the broader human condition, a method that reduces people to pathology. As she enters Garrett Seminary as the Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology, Psychology, and Latiné Studies, Dr. Benítez wants students to see systemic forces as a foundation on which counseling can be built, not a distraction from the task at hand. “I want them to be mindful not only of who they are and their contextuality, but also of the communities they represent and hope to serve,” she explains. “I’m also thinking about a holistic approach to care: How do mind, body, and spirit contribute to overall wellness?”

When asked which scholars most contributed to her understanding, Dr. Benítez is quick to name the influence of pioneering Chicana feminist Gloria Anzaldúa. “Her definition of health is not the absence of disease,” Dr. Benítez observes. “It’s the continual labor of holistic care—for ourselves and our communities. How do we attend to wounds and consider the fissures and fractures, not in a way that says ‘I’m not good enough,’ but in a way that asks, ‘What is this teaching me about what’s wrong with the world?’”

As the child of migrant parents, Dr. Benítez is keenly attuned to the interplay between mental health and communal wellbeing. Rather than shy away from the knowledge those experiences bring, she models for students what it looks like to integrate them into her professional work, while maintaining appropriate ethicalboundaries. “I invite students to see vulnerability as a source of strength. In my own journey, learning to live into my multiple identities has taken courage and has brought joy, but also moments of depression—it all unfolds within and against a colonial system,” she shares. “It’s really important to model that storytelling, to be grounded in our own histories and identities. Even when I name my faith, I say that I’m in loving tension with the Seventh-Day Adventist tradition, creating space for students who may be navigating similar journeys.”

Part of what inhibits human flourishing is the way that structural power causes people to criticize essential parts of who we are, a lesson that Dr. Benítez knows intimately from reconciling her queerness with a world that does not always create space for LGBTQIA+ people. Reexistence and Return: Migration, Queer Identity and Healing in Latiné Communities, her forthcoming book, parses the strength and beauty she draws from her own Chicana ancestry with the ways that communities must continue to grow to support all people’s thriving. “We have to tap into our moral imaginations and create new ways of being because the old ways aren’t working,” she explains. “Trauma is not just psychological and emotional, it’s also spiritual. This is where theology becomes such fertile ground—a resource we can draw on to transform ideological structures.”

In addition to her professorial responsibilities in care and counseling, Dr. Benítez is excited to collaborate with Centro Raíces Latinas. “I love working with Latinéstudents, knowing that many of us are the first generation to enter higher education. I want to walk with them through that experience, because I’ve lived through it myself,” she says. “We’re navigating political fears of separation, alongside emotional separation that we’re seeking to heal. I’m committed to both one-on-one encounters and bringing in the wider Latiné community to learn from their passions and struggles.”

Across all aspects of her professorial approach, Dr. Benítez seeks to strengthen students’ own agency as future leaders and care providers. “My experiences in chaplaincy disrupted any assumption that, because I have this degree and training, I alone can offer something another person needs,” she explains. “Whether in care or in teaching, it’s not about leading a person, but walking with them and learning alongside them. I tell students, ‘Let the care seeker also be your teacher, help the person claim agency and a sense of control around their suffering narrative.’ In that process, I continue to ask, ‘How do we teach students to listen to themselves while also attending to the care seeker?’ It’s a dual process.” At a time when many are wrestling with questions of suffering, this humility cultivates a disposition toward servant leadership that has long characterized the ministry of Garrett graduates. “I’m here to empower students as they prepare for a lifetime of service—whether in parish ministry, chaplaincy, education, or spiritual activism,” she says with evident joy. “I hope that through academic space and my own research, we can create a web for transformative engagement.”