Our 2022 guests

Karen Murphy

(Episode 4)

Karen has been involved in palliative care chaplaincy since 1999, starting as a volunteer chaplain in a Sue Ryder hospice. She's been in her current full time post since 2005, developing the ethos and place of spiritual care in the hospice model of patient care. She feels privileged to be involved with AHPCC for many years and to be President of the association for 6 years. She's co-editor of ‘Chaplaincy in Hospice and Palliative Care’ with Bob Whorton, published in 2017. 

Paul Hurst

(Episode 5) 

After studying psychology in later life, Paul moved to counselling and psychotherapy, with a final qualification in pastoral care to expand his training. Previously a volunteer in his local hospital, he is now interested in finding ways to provide person-centred pastoral care to the broader community, including those who would benefit from support but reject either religion or therapy. Downloads of Paul's papers on inclusive website design and his dissertation can be found here and his website is here.

Rubina Yassin

(Episode 6)

Rubina Yasin was the first female Muslim Chaplain to be appointed by Bradford Teaching Hospitals in 1999 and one of the first nationally to develop the role and concept of “Muslim Chaplaincy”. She has previous experience of working alongside health professionals to develop Cultural Awareness Training, and has worked for the last 17 years as a Foster Carer and a member of the Fostering Panel bringing with her years of experience of working with children in care and families in crisis. 

Colin Woodhouse

(Episode 7)

Colin is originally from Lancashire, shifting from  the oil industry to nursing and specialising in Neurosciences and Oncology. Over the past 4 years Colin has been doing post graduate study on palliative care through the University of Otago and is in the final process of writing a thesis on spiritual care in the hospital environment. He is a council member of Humanists NZ and is part of a multi-faith and no faith work group trying to get funding to do a nationwide review of spiritual, pastoral, and religious support in public hospitals.

Leon Dundas

(Episode 12)

Leon is a chaplain at Exeter prison. Born in Guyana, he studied and worked in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, USA and UK. He is involved in community based leadership in church networks, restorative justice and mediation as well as Health and Palliative Care Chaplaincy. His career reflects a commitment to multiculturalism, religious pluralism/inter-faith dialogue and serving (with) those who live on the margins of power.

Mark Dowd

(Episode 8)

Mark Dowd is a former Dominican/Friar who worked at the BBC’s Newsnight and Panorama and went on to present a number of award winning TV programmes including Tsunami: Where Was God? from which experience, his recent book My Tsunami Journey has been published.  He is involved in environmental debates and authored a book Catholic and Queer in 2017. He is a presenter on the podcast Things Unseen. Links to his resources and networks can be found on his website.

Martin McGonigle

(Episode 9)

Martin has been an healthcare chaplain for 20 years, the past 16 specialising in Palliative and End of Life Care.  He has worked both in the NHS and the charitable sector and is a member of the Buddhist Healthcare Chaplains Trust.  Martin seeks to widen chaplaincy provision, hence the use of the title SPARCS (Spiritual Pastoral And Religious Care Service), so that service users may self-identify and have a range of ways in which their values; what give them strength, purpose, meaning, hope and love, can be supported.  It is core to his practice, that as healthcare providers we leave as much control as possible in the hands of the service user.

Dr Simon Nightingale

(Episode 10)

Simon is a retired clinical neurologist with a special interest in palliative and end of life care. He has an interest in cognitive neuroscience, for example in this podcast he talks about the biological basis of empathy. Simon is active in his local humanist and interfaith communities, conducts humanist funerals, talks about humanism in schools and does a regular humanist Thought for the Day on Radio Shropshire.

Dr Simon Harrison

(Episode 11)

Simon has been a Healthcare Chaplain now for about 25 years (in different roles) including forensic mental health and acute general.  He remains actively involved in the life of the College of Health Care Chaplains in the UK, currently serving second term as President. He lives in Devon. He loves cats - but lives with three children and three dogs. 

Leti Hawthorn

(Episode 14)

Leti is a Hospice Well-being Coordinator, an interfaith minister (OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation), a trauma-informed yoga teacher (Creative Calm), specialising in restorative and palliative care. For the last 26 years she has been providing health & wellbeing support in workplaces and communities; is trained to Master Level in Usui Reiki and is an intuitive soul midwife who has had the privilege of accompanying a number of souls, from life to death. Leti has been a Quaker since the 1990s and is a member of GreenSpirit. Her spiritual journey has taken her to different convents and monasteries, and shamanism through the lenses of anthropology, theology & the work of Gabrielle Roth.

Dr Anastasia Somerville-Wong

(Episode 15)

Anastasia works as a chaplain with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (Community and Mental health) and on the Multifaith Chaplaincy Team at the University of Exeter. Anastasia is the writer and editor of Secular Liturgies (https://secularliturgies.wordpress.com/), which seeks to enrich secular life with progressive ethical and spiritual leadership, care and creativity. Anastasia has a background in academia with research interests lying in the history and contemporary manifestations of belief, unbelief, philosophy and religion, and their impact on society and wellbeing, with a particular focus on marginalised and minority histories and heritages. Her helpful spirituality 'wheel' can be found in our resource section.

Dr Isobel Morton

(Episode 16)

Isobel is a medical registrar in the East London region. Having completed multiple palliative care placements both in London and Yorkshire where she trained, she hopes to specialise in Palliative Care in the near future. Her interests include Global Palliative Care and Medical Education and she is currently the Careers and Mentorship Coorindator for the Association of Palliative Medicine Junior Committee. When not working, you can find most likely her watching Strictly Come Dancing.