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When faced with significant illness, change or loss, many people require more than just attention to their physical needs. Spiritual care provides a supportive, compassionate presence for people in times of need, helping them on their journey towards healing.

As a peak body, Spiritual Health Victoria (SHV) - until very recently known as Healthcare Chaplaincy Council Victoria (HCCVI) -  supports this journey by enabling quality spiritual care across the health spectrum. SHV works in collaboration with carers, faith communities and health services across Victoria and is supported by the state Department of Health. Spiritual care is an inclusive term describing a range of services including spiritual support, pastoral care, faith-based chaplaincy, religious services and other rituals. We are very conscious of the increasingly multicultural and multi-faith nature of our communities.

Sikh & Buddhist Immersion day experience

With this in view, we obtained funding from the Victorian Multicultural Commission to implement, in collaboration with our multi-faith partners, a pilot training program for spiritual care providers in the health care system. This ran over a six month period and included immersion day experiences with Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jewish, Buddhist and Orthodox Christian leaders, hosted by their respective communities. Information about their faith traditions was presented and participants interacted with the leaders and community members to explore each tradition and its distinctive resources and spirituality. The program concluded with a plenary session in which participants and organisers reflected together on the program and its outcomes.

Jewish & Islamic Immersion day experience

The organising leaders of the participating faith communities have been particularly pleased by the benefits their communities have experienced as a result of this program, such as the coming together of leaders of some sub-groups within their faith community that did not usually meet and work with each other; the friendliness, genuine interest and respect that was displayed by participants towards the organisers and the members of their community, and also the encouragement and weight it gave to their on-going efforts to establish a trained group of pastoral care workers from their own faith background.

Christian (Orthodox) & Hindu Immersion day experience

The participants had much to say about the program and how it had benefited their work. There was unanimous appreciation of the generous sharing of knowledge and experiences by all faith groups involved and also of the warm and very generous hospitality. The depth of understanding offered about the essence of each faith and how many of the practices differ with cultural background enabled some practitioners to more clearly understand what is faith based and what is cultural based. A number of participants reported that very soon after some sessions they encountered a patient from that faith background and felt very confident making a referral or in seeking advice from the relevant faith organising group.

There was very wide agreement amongst the participants that such a program should be run regularly and that there are many others in the health care system - pastoral care workers and other staff - who would be interested in it and would benefit from it. We have begun working to find ways of achieving this on-going goal.

Heather Tan
Spiritual Health Victoria
http://www.spiritualhealthvictoria.org.au/