Spiritual Care Bulletin Vol 1 No 2 December 2019
Vol 2 No 1 January 2020
Spiritual Care Bulletin Vol 2 No. 1 January 2020
This bulletin is the third in a series of regular professional newsletters for all involved with the practice, management and support of Civil Chaplaincy as it occurs within the scope of the Civil Chaplaincies Advisory Committee (CCAC).
It is organised around the objectives of the CCAC and the ten essential capabilities of Chaplains and Pastoral Care Workers it will also include illustrations and vignettes about the practice and benefits of Chaplaincy as practised in the Health and Justice services of New South Wales.
This bulletin provides a brief exposure of mission and work of the CCAC. This issue focusses on the role and importance of chaplains in dealing with moral injury, grief and loss and interfaith challenges. It also addresses the important issue of pastoral supervision for Chaplains.
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Peter Carblis
Secretary
Moral Injury and the Role of Chaplains
The increasing realisation of the significance of moral injury and its relationship with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) highlights the importance and value of Chaplaincy or Spiritual Care Practitioners in providing essential help (Frame, 2015; Graham, 2017; Meagher et al., 2014).
Those who serve in vocations which deal with or are exposed to crisis and violence are at particular risk of moral injury. This includes all who serve in the defence forces, police, corrective services, disaster prevention and recovery (SES, RFS etc.), and health services (nurses, doctors etc.).
In a review of research into moral injury, Hodgson and Carey (2018) noted its recognition as an ‘injury to the soul’ (p. 2). They related it to
an existential wound of lament where one’s morality is dissected by the destructive impact of war or other traumatic events to such an extent that a person’s integrity, morality and/or spiritual well-being may no longer be what it once was.
Grief, Loss and Chaplains
A central and essential role of the Chaplains is helping people dealing with grief and loss. This includes staff and patients in health services as well as staff and inmates in Justice institutions and services. CCAC Essential Capability 5 requires that all endorsed Chaplains have learned how to provide comfort and guidance in matters of grief and loss. This has unavoidable spiritual dimensions for the great majority of Australians.
Christopher Hall (2013) writes,
Historically grief has been seen primarily as a process of confronting and working through the emotional impacts of a loss. Other dimensions of grief, such as its social and cognitive impacts have tended to receive less attention, …
Pastoral Supervision
Interfaith Chaplaincy and
Interpretive Hospitality
Grief, Loss and Chaplains
Moral Injury and the Role of Chaplains
The increasing realisation of the significance of moral injury and its relationship with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) highlights the importance and value of Chaplaincy or Spiritual Care Practitioners in providing essential help (Frame, 2015; Graham, 2017; Meagher et al., 2014).
Those who serve in vocations which deal with or are exposed to crisis and violence are at particular risk of moral injury. This includes all who serve in the defence forces, police, corrective services, disaster prevention and recovery (SES, RFS etc.), and health services (nurses, doctors etc.).
In a review of research into moral injury, Hodgson and Carey (2018) noted its recognition as an ‘injury to the soul’ (p. 2). They related it to
an existential wound of lament where one’s morality is dissected by the destructive impact of war or other traumatic events …
A central and essential role of the Chaplains is helping people dealing with grief and loss. This includes staff and patients in health services as well as staff and inmates in Justice institutions and services. CCAC Essential Capability 5 requires that all endorsed Chaplains have learned how to provide comfort and guidance in matters of grief and loss. This has unavoidable spiritual dimensions for the great majority of Australians.
Christopher Hall (2013) writes,
Historically grief has been seen primarily as a process of confronting and working through the emotional impacts of a loss. Other dimensions of grief, such as its social and cognitive impacts have tended to receive less attention, ...
The pluralistic nature of the modern world introduces cultural and spiritual diversities that are well beyond the reasonable capacity of practitioners within the health or justice systems. CCAC Essential Capability 4 requires that Chaplains cab work with ethics and empathy in multi-cultural and multi-faith contexts.
Developing this capability requires that they develop interfaith capabilities.
Youngblood (2019) writes:
An interfaith chaplain is a spiritual caregiver who provides emotional and spiritual support to all persons, of any religion:
Chaplaincy, the provision of spiritual care, is increasingly recognised as a highly-skilled profession that is closely allied to and overlaps with services such as counselling and social work. Like these professions, an important part of the practice of Chaplains is undergoing intentional supervision.
The ninth essential capability for CCAC endorsed chaplains is that they willingly engage in regular pastoral supervision. This involves participation in a developing practice that is essential to the emerging and increasing professionalisation of Chaplaincy. Carroll (2014) suggests that this involves the following six functions or dimensions. These are
Email: secretary@ccacnsw.org.au Web: www.ccacnsw.org.au