Staff

Cynthia W. Brasher joined the Pastoral Care Department as Corporate Director in March, 2018. Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, she returns to the state after having served in hospital chaplaincy positions in other states. Over the last fourteen years, she has been System Director of Spiritual Services for a health system in Florida.

Cynthia is a graduate of Wingate University, Southern Seminary, and completed advanced studies at Columbia Theological Seminary. She is Board Certified through the Association of Professional Chaplains. She is a Minister of Word and Sacrament with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and serves as a validated minister with the Presbytery of Coastal Carolina.

Cynthia, her husband, Craig, and their little dog, Toby, are exploring the Fayetteville area as their new home. Cynthia is excited and honored to be joining the team at Cape Fear Valley Health.

Chaplain Melanie Swofford is serving as a Clinical Staff Chaplain for the Cape Fear Valley Health System.

Chaplain Swofford earned her bachelor in music education from the University of NC at Greensboro where she specialized in clarinet performance. She studied music therapy and clarinet performance at Arizona State University. Melanie then went on to receive her Masters in Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. She worked as a chaplain at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky where she studied counseling.

She did her Clinical Pastoral Education internship at Gaston Memorial Hospital in Gastonia, NC and her residency in Wilmington, NC at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. Melanie is ordained through the Western NC Conference of the United Methodist Church and is affiliated, as a chaplain, with the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church. She is endorsed as a hospital chaplain through the United Methodist Endorsing Agency and is Board Certified through the Association of Professional Chaplains. She also has an Advanced certificate for chaplain palliative Care studies through the HealthCare Chaplaincy Association and California State University at San Marcos' Institute of Palliative Care.

In her residency, Melanie specialized in practice and research involving pastoral care with those who have a mental illness. She served on the Wilmington, NC local board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and spearheaded a project to raise funds for art supplies for the New Hanover Behavioral Health Hospital. Melanie loves working as a chaplain in trauma situations and with people in acute crisis. She is passionate about Advance Directives and their importance as well as medical ethics in the hospital.

Melanie is a published writer and an experienced presenter about Chaplaincy practices and developmental Spirituality. She plays multiple instruments and teaches private piano and clarinet lessons. She also works as a worship leader/music director at a local United Methodist Church. Her two dogs Cole and Buddy plus her cats Kiwi and Georgia are her babies. Melanie's other great joy are her two nieces who live nearby in Pinehurst, NC.