July eNews - Spiritually Inclusive Healthcare for All!
The beginning of July marked the commencement of a new financial year, and for SHA that means a new strategic plan! At the heart of our strategic plan is our commitment to co-creating a fundamental change in how spiritual care is understood, valued and integrated into healthcare.
Spiritually Inclusive Healthcare for All!
The beginning of July marked the commencement of a new financial year, and for SHA that means a new strategic plan! I am delighted to launch here our Strategic Plan 2023-2024. Our new vision is a bold statement of what we want to see offered across health services in Australia, spiritually inclusive healthcare for all!
At the heart of our strategic plan is our commitment to co-creating a fundamental change in how spiritual care is understood, valued and integrated into healthcare.
We are excited about what the year ahead holds, and we have already made a start with:
- the pilot and evaluation of the co-designed national model for spiritual care in eleven health services
- the development of new resources for international spiritual care week 2023
- new research investigating roles and contributions of spiritual care practitioners in mental health.
Our membership is growing, and we are excited at the opportunities that lie ahead to bring our collective voices together to advocate for the integration of high-quality and safe spiritual care in healthcare.
July also saw the Albanese Government release Measuring What Matters, Australia's first national wellbeing framework, to help better track outcomes in our economy and society. The framework uses 50 indicators to measure how we are faring as we pursue a more healthy, secure, sustainable, cohesive and prosperous Australia.
SHA was pleased to work with our colleagues at the University of Melbourne and Deakin University on a submission to the consultation on the framework. While the spiritual dimension only makes a small appearance, it is at least mentioned. For example:
For many Australians – including First Nations people – the natural environment provides a source of cultural and spiritual connection.
Click here to download a copy of the framework.
Finally, the team at SHA said a very fond farewell to our Administration Assistant Sabrina Dong in July. Sabrina has the opportunity for a 6-month student exchange to Copenhagen which she could not turn down! Sabrina has been a joy to work with and has provided wonderful assistance to all of the team at SHA. She will definitely be missed and we wish her many exciting adventures ahead. We are thankful that Sabrina had two weeks to provide a thorough handover to our new Administration Assistant, Joey Goh. We warmly welcome Joey to the SHA team as we move into all that lies ahead in 2023-2024.
Cheryl Holmes, CEO