Spiritual Care Week: 20-26 October 2024
This month, we celebrate Spiritual Care Week across the sector, focusing on this year’s theme of spiritual care extending beyond traditional religious care. SHA has long advocated for the recognition of spiritual care as a vital part of holistic healthcare, essential for every patient, regardless of their faith or religious background. As integral members of multidisciplinary health teams, spiritual care practitioners ensure that patients’ spiritual needs are met throughout their health journey.
As a practitioner, I have found that some of the most profound spiritual care stories often involve patients who have no faith or religious affiliation but are facing significant life crises, such as unexpected health issues or life-changing diagnoses. Perhaps it’s the patient who, estranged from their family and facing a sudden cancer diagnosis, seeks to embark on a journey of forgiveness and reconnection. Or perhaps it’s the patient who, due to unresolved trauma, has been reluctant to engage with medical and allied health teams. Upon referral to the spiritual care team, this patient is finally able to have the crucial conversations needed to begin the healing process, enabling them to engage with the wider health team as they undergo treatment.
SHA’s National Model for Spiritual Care in Health is based on this principle that spiritual care extends beyond religious care. The initial launch presentation highlighted key stories from non-religious patients and demonstrated the impact of spiritual care within a multidisciplinary team. These stories continue to drive our advocacy efforts as we strive to implement the National Model in many more health services across Australia.
For Spiritual Care Week 2024, SHA has developed a postcard to help health services facilitate discussions on inclusive spiritual care. This postcard showcases the ideal workforce model for providing holistic spiritual care, as defined in the National Model, and explains the role each member of the multidisciplinary team plays in ensuring that spiritual care is more than just religious care. More details can be found below.
Until next month…
Craig Exon, Interim CEO
Click here to read our October eNews.
To receive our monthly e-news and register for our new website, click here.
