Jennifer Block is an Interfaith minister and Buddhist chaplain who has been practicing Zen, Insight Meditation, and yoga since 1988. Her life’s work centers on spiritual care for people in crisis, supporting caregivers, and helping others connect with their own natural capacity for caring and healing.
Based in San Francisco, Jennifer is a nationally recognized educator and consultant for a wide range of organizations and businesses. She leads workshops that bring together spiritual care, hospice care, and contemplative care approaches.
As one of the country’s first Buddhist chaplains, Jennifer offers deep experience in hospice, grief, and chaplaincy work. She works with caregivers, clinicians, chaplaincy students, and especially people navigating the spiritual and emotional challenges of aging, illness, dying, and grief. Her warm, authentic teaching style is matched by the grounded ease of her caregiving practice.
In 2003, Jennifer co-founded the Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program with Gil Fronsdal and Paul Haller at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies in Redwood City, CA. From 2004 to 2011, she served as Director of Education & Chaplain at Zen Hospice Project, where she developed a curriculum rooted in their contemplative care approach.
From 1998 to 2004, Jennifer trained in spiritual care and pastoral education at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco. She earned her undergraduate degree from Boston University in 1985 and her theology degree from Naropa University in 2000. She was ordained as an Interfaith minister in 1998, and in 2012 received Lay Ordination from Norman Fischer of Everyday Zen. When she needs rest from the pace of daily life, Jennifer and her husband recharge in nature and enjoy time in the world of dogs.