May 27, 2025 • 47 mins
With the help of other health care chaplains and real-life stories of encounters, Debbie will share about eight key facets of health care chaplaincy. Having ‘assembled the octagon’ Debbie will ask “Is God calling you to this shape of ministry?’
Debbie Howard is lead chaplain at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
OK, good afternoon, everyone. We'll make a start because I
appreciate it's been a long day and everyone needs time to go
and have something to eat beforethe evening service.
So welcome to this seminar looking at the world of
healthcare chaplaincy. I'll make sure we leave a little
bit of time at the end to hear your reflections, your comments
(00:23):
and to answer, I hope, any questions that you may have.
So let me start by introducing myself.
My name is Debbie Howard. I'm currently the lead chaplain
for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
I lead a small team of chaplainsand we cover 3 hospitals and two
hospices and together we work toprovide support for a diverse
(00:48):
population of patients, their families, other visitors and
staff of all faiths, beliefs andnone.
And I'm delighted that I'm not the only one that's going to be
speaking this afternoon. But I'm joined by Caroline and
Connie who are going to come andintroduce themselves.
(01:09):
Good afternoon. I'm Caroline Castle and I'm the
lead chaplain at Kumtaf MugarnogUniversity Health Board, which
is in the Welsh valleys. Hello, good afternoon.
My name is Connie Ashton and I'mthe lead chaplain for Bansley
Hospitals. Great, thank you ladies.
So in the setting where we work,people have different
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perceptions when they hear the word chaplain.
Some automatically think about religion and for some this may
be comforting, but for others itcan be rather off putting.
Some people feel they need to fit into a particular model to
speak with us. They might even apologise,
saying oh I'm so sorry, I haven't been to church for
(01:55):
years. Others will become defensive,
maybe even a little angry. Oh, I don't believe in all that
stuff, I'm not religious, that'snot for me.
Some people will ask to see us directly, or they will ask their
family or staff members to do so.
Others can be referred to us by other members of staff, or by
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their families, or even by theirown faith and belief leaders.
But it's not just those in the hospital environment who can
have different perceptions of chaplains.
I've discovered that even churchleaders, maybe some that are in
this summit, and Christians, have different ideas when it
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comes to what a chaplain does. One of my colleagues who's
recently moved from a church based role into chaplaincy had
one of her past church members come up to her and say hi, I
know you're not really a proper minister anymore, but well,
today we're going to look at healthcare chaplaincy through
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eight different lenses, or in this case, qualities that I
think every chaplain in every setting, including healthcare,
needs to have. And we're going to do this
through 8, and I'm hoping that you're going to understand as we
go on, why I've chosen 8 lenses.The 1st is that chaplains need
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to be compassionate. As a healthcare chaplain, I have
the immense privilege of being invited into someone's space at
one of the most difficult and vulnerable times of their lives.
Sometimes they're anxious because they're waiting for
results. Sometimes they're apprehensive
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as they're about to start a new treatment.
Others are devastated because they've just been told there's
nothing else that can be done. Someone else may be happy
because they've heard they're going to go home, but they're
worried about how they're going to cope when they get there.
Perhaps it's a relative who's been watching a family member in
(04:11):
the last hours of their lives, or it's a staff member who's
been caring for someone over a period of time and now they have
to go and break bad news for various reasons.
People want to connect with me, and in those moments, in words
and in actions, I'm called to show compassion.
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And whether they are the 1st or the 21st person I've met that
day, whether I had other ideas of what I was good or needed to
do, each and every encounter is about showing compassion to that
individual, to that family member, to that staff person in
front of me. And in the busyness and the
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business of a hospital environment, The words of
Matthew 936 come to mind. Whenever crowds came to him, he
had compassion on them. You see, it's that Christ like
compassion that needs to overflow.
Whether I'm with a relative whose loved one has just died,
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whether I'm supporting 3 generations of a family whose
newest member has died just hours after birth, or whether
I'm coming alongside a staff member who is devastated because
they've just seen their first cardiac arrest.
Whatever it is, I'm there to show that Christlike compassion
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which is core to chaplaincy. But I think a really good way of
understanding is by hearing stories.
So I'm going to ask Caroline to come and share a real life
encounter where she was able to demonstrate compassion.
(06:06):
So compassion is feeling, sympathy or concern especially
for those in suffering and we minister to everyone no matter
who they are or what they've done.
I received a call asking to provide a service for a patient
who was too unwell to attend their parents funeral.
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The patient was a prisoner. I had to go to the ward and
escort them to the multi faith room.
They were chained to two prison officers.
As we walked the corridors together, I saw the faces of
those who we passed, the looks that were given stepping away
from us. My heart was filled with
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compassion for this person, thisfellow human being.
We arrived at the Multi faith room and we sat together and I
held his little service, a funeral service for his parent
while the rest of the family were miles away in a
crematorium. And that same scripture that
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Debbie just shared in Matthew 9 that says when Jesus saw the
crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused
and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
Chaplains need that compassionate heart like Jesus
because then we can minister to everyone that we encounter
throughout the day. Thank you.
(07:38):
But I don't want you to think that we're just too saintly,
because as we look at the secondaspect of chaplaincy, we see the
importance of honesty. And I think being honest is a
very key component of what we doas chaplains and in healthcare.
This has a specific dimension. I'm sure many of us here today
(08:00):
would have been asked the question what will happen when I
die? Now whilst healthcare chaplaincy
is much broader than just end oflife care, this is part of our
work. And that question, what will
happen when I die is brought into a real sharp focus when
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you're in front of someone who has just been put on end of life
care. But it's not just the what
questions, it's the why questions.
Why has this happened to me? Why has this happened to my
child, to my spouse, to my family member?
What have I done wrong? Or the why etched on the face of
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a wife in the emergency department who says he went
upstairs. I only went to make a cup of tea
and then I heard a thud and now he's gone.
You see, I may have an answer tosome of the what questions, but
I often don't have an answer to the wise.
(09:08):
And to be honest, scrambling around trying to find an answer
risks mumbling out something inappropriate that isn't
particularly helpful and is totally inadequate in honouring
the depth of the question that is being asked.
To scramble around trying to find an answer I think is also
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to miss the point, because I don't think anyone is really
often asking for an answer, they're wanting to be heard it.
The important thing is that the question is spoken either in
words or body language, and thatwhoever is asking, as I said,
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doesn't necessarily expect me togive them the answer.
They simply need to be heard. But when someone is expecting an
answer, then honesty needs to come in different ways.
In honouring the question by notrushing to answer.
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In sharing that I don't know theanswer.
In sitting in that situation, alongside in an openness for
further conversation, Connie, come and share with us a story
of being honest. Thank you.
(10:41):
As a chaplain, I provide pastoral and spiritual support
with sincerity and integrity on the city is a key in my role as
I strive to create meaningful connections.
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As Debbie has just said about honesty, most of the time we do
not have all the answers, but just being near and being
present with the people who willbe caring for is more than
enough. As a story, I met up with a
patient now on the ward. This patient had lost, had a
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still birth and but now this time she was in another ward
with a different issue altogether.
As I remembered her, she just started pouring out questions.
Connie, when will this pain end?The pain of losing my child at
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34 weeks? Did I do something wrong?
Does God still love me? And again that question why has
this happened to me? As a chaplain?
I didn't have the answers to allthese questions, but I had to be
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honest enough to say I don't know.
I don't know. I don't have answers to these
questions. But with that compassion and
empathy, showing the person thatI'm here to listen.
And by the time we finish that visit, she just said thank you,
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thank you for being there, thankyou for listening, thank you.
You have had me. Now from what we've shared so
far, you may be thinking that healthcare chaplaincy sounds a
very heavy difficult, it's all full of sad, challenging
situations. And yes, that is part of the
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role, which is a privilege to have.
But that certainly doesn't sum up all that healthcare
chaplaincy is because unless something happens suddenly,
which he can do in a healthcare environment, often the deeper
conversations that we have are coming about as a result of the
third quality that you're looking at, which is being
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approachable. As a healthcare chaplain, I
don't just visit the wards and see patients, but I walk around
every area of the hospital, intooffices, into departments, I
walk the corridors, I sit in therestaurant, I just try to be as
visible as I possibly can. And there are many like
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conversations. When we talk about the weather,
we talk about what's happening at the weekend, talk about the
football, although I don't follow football, talk about
what's on the lunch menu. But it's those quick hellos in
the corridors that helps a relationship to be formed.
And as a relationship is formed,then it opens up the opportunity
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for those significant conversations to take place.
All my pages are stuck together.There you go.
And it's straight over to Connieagain for a story, is it not?
(14:36):
I've flicked over too many pages.
No, I haven't. It is Connie who's going to come
and tell us about being approachable because you're not
scary. So you're quite easy, I think
for patients and staff to talk to.
Maybe I should ask them, do I look approachable?
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They're not answering. Oh, like we said, a chaplain
embodies qualities that foster trust, openness and
accessibility. Like Debbie said, we can talk
about anything. Most people, they talk to me
about lipstick because they always say who you've got a red
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lipstick today, then the conversation starts there.
So we creating that environment where patients or our staff can
can approach us in the corridors, in the offices or in,
in in the woods as well. Showing empathy and
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understanding and also compassion that Caroline has
already spoken about and having that moment of active listening.
Because when you are not really listening people, they pick up
on that one. So the next time they want to
approach, she says, oh, she's always busy, so why do I need to
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talk to that person? And showing genuine interest and
allowing people to express theirthoughts and emotions.
So my story is more on staff support where sometimes they
feel they are left out in our support as chaplains.
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So stopping and asking a genuinehow are you and stopping to
respond to hear their response because with our busy life,
everybody's like how are you? Before I answer, somebody has
already gone. So we do a lot of staff support
as well, checking in with them, especially with their work in
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A&E, that business area within the hospital.
So also checking if they're OK, if there's anything that we can
do and even making a cup of tea for them the next time they're
like, oh, I remember this chaplain has given us a tea, a
cup of tea. So I think I put this little
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scripture here. It says a happy heart.
A happy heart makes the first cheerful and but a heartache
crushes spirit. So we are cheerful and
approachable. Often when we talk about
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chaplaincy, you hear about the importance of being present.
To be present I think is at the heart of chaplaincy.
It's what's often described as ministry of presence or
incarnational ministry. And like other components of
chaplaincy, that presence is multi layered.
There's a physical presence. So I have an office where I can
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be based, but to be honest, people rarely find me in the
office. My team are always smiling when
I say, oh, I'm just popping out for a minute.
I'll be back in a couple of minutes because I disappear and
they don't see me for a couple of hours because I've bumped
into somebody who has something specific that they want to share
with me at that moment because I'm present.
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If I was to just sit in the office all day, I would miss out
on so many of those daily encounters.
To be present is also to be completely present to that
individual or individuals in front of me.
To put aside the To Do List, to put aside the things that are
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concerning me about perhaps another visit, and to embrace
the privilege of the conversation in front of me.
But also being present means I know when to leave.
You see in a ward setting, unless a patient is in a side
room, conversations are rarely just in the space with you and
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that person. You may be in a Bay with five or
six other people, other patients.
There can be a doctor giving medical treatment to somebody.
There can be a cleaner Hoover in.
There can be visitors around. There can be lots of noise.
There can even be an emergency in the next Bay.
And there's all that hustle around and being present means
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you're not just present to the person that you're speaking to
at that moment, but you're also a acutely present to the other
things that happening. And sometimes that means that
you choose discernfully before God to know when to leave and to
say, I'll come back now for someof you who are complete
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finishers, that would be really tough.
But it's so important to know the right moment to say, it's
been a pleasure to talk with youtoday.
I'll come and see you again. That's sometimes much better
than ploughing on with a long conversation when someone is
tired and needing to rest. Yeah, chaplaincy is
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incarnational. As chaplains, we need to be open
to the person we're ministering to and to the Holy Spirit.
We need to be hearing from God in as we are listening to the
patient and in each situation being sensitive to what that
situation needs. I was called to a patient who'd
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been battling with cancer for quite some time.
They were young, in their early 40s, but they had just been told
that no more could be done for their their life was ending.
And there are no words. What do you say in that moment?
You can't say anything at times like this.
So I just sat with her and I held her hand in silence.
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It seemed like eternity. I think it was about 30 to 40
minutes, just sat holding her hand.
We were being present with each other in this moment of time.
And then she said thank you, canyou come back in a couple of
days, which I did. And when I went back, the
patient shared what that time ofpresent silence actually meant
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to them, how it helped them in their journey at that time.
And chaplains in healthcare settings do this present
ministry all the time, sometimesin silence and sometimes using
words. But every encounter is
different. So the kind of encounter that
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Caroline has just described happened because she was
present. And this leads us on to the
fifth component, which is all about listening, because the
role of a chaplain is much more listening than talking, which is
why it's so great to be able to talk in front of you today.
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Don't often get that much of an opportunity to talk in a
healthcare setting. There are lots of people who
will listen, but generally they're listening out for
Pacific information. They're listening to responses
concerning medical conditions, social context, dietary
requirements, practical needs. They're listening because they
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want a Pacific answer to their Pacific questions.
But as a chaplain, I'm not therewith an agenda.
I'm there to listen. I'm there to listen to the
spoken and the unspoken, to provide that spiritual part of
holistic care, compromising physical, emotional, social and
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spiritual care. Maybe there'd be a faithful
belief element to the conversation.
Maybe they won't. Maybe I'll need to contact a
Pacific religious leader to comein and offer support.
Maybe I just need to sit with that individual and let them
share without me pushing for certain information, listening
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to where they are at at that moment.
Time is precious today isn't it and we live by the clock and
it's same in the hospital but chaplains listen, it's a skill.
I was always told we got 2 ears and one mouth, use them in
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proportion. I was doing a ward round, it was
a four bedded Bay and I visited the first three patients and
they were lovely chats, so lovely encounters.
And then I introduced myself to the 4th patient.
He was so angry. He asked how I could believe in
God but he gave me no chance to reply.
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A torrent of anger and pain flooded out from his mouth.
He'd lost his wife to cancer, a son had been killed in an
accident. He had experienced so much
trauma in his life. And he continued with this to
raid for such a long time. It seemed like an age stating
there's no God and God wouldn't allow these things to happen if
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he was loving. And I stood at the end of the
bed and I listened to all he said.
And then he said, I don't want to talk anymore.
So I simply said, I'm sorry to hear all these things that
you've experienced. And I left the next week.
When I went back on that ward into that Bay, this patient was
still there. And he, as I entered, he called
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me over. He beckoned me.
He'd remembered my name. And he took my hand and he
thanked me profusely for all that I did for him.
And all I did was listen. You see, sometimes listening is
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just what is needed in that moment.
So often patients and staff willsay to me, oh, thank you so
much. Everything you've said has just
helped me so much. And I'm thinking, I didn't say
anything. You did all the talking.
I simply provided that space. But Caroline could only listen
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because she made herself available, which is another key
aspect of being a chaplain, being available to others and to
God. It's saying to God, this is my
plan for the day. This is what I'm thinking needs
to happen. But you're in charge.
Lead me to the people that you want me to talk to.
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Help me to engage with those that you have prepared to hear
your message. But to be available is also to
be vulnerable. Not everyone wants to talk with
you, and some people will tell you that in no uncertain terms.
Caroline made herself vulnerableby talking with that patient who
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was angry because of everything that he had experienced.
She was vulnerable, but she was available.
Being available is about creating, sometimes very
rapidly, a space for a conversation from the beginning
of an encounter, the signal thatyou have all the time in the
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world for that one person in front of you.
You see, someone could be just testing you out.
They're trying to pluck up the courage to see if they can
really share something with you that they've never shared with
anybody in their life. But they're waiting to see if
you're really open and availableand ready for that.
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I think in ministry sometimes there is that pressure upon us
to show how busy we are, isn't there?
You know, you quite often hear people talking about, Oh yeah, I
work really long hours, I work really long days.
And it is to show that we're busy, busy, busy people.
And that's very true in the NHS.Everybody is busy.
Everybody has to justify what they do.
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You have to be able to prove your worth to keep your job in
many situations. And so often I will be asked,
oh, how are you today, Debbie, are you busy?
There's a lot going on, isn't there?
And I'm always very careful how I answer that question.
And I say, well, yes, we are busy.
We know how busy the the hospitals are at the moment.
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But then I add, but I've always got time if there's anything
that you want to talk about or anything that you want to share.
Because by doing that, I'm keeping the door open, I'm being
approachable, I'm listening, I'mshowing that I'm always
available. Being available is about time
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because emergencies don't just occur 9 to 5.
And so like many in healthcare environments, I work in a team
where we provide 24/7 cover eachday of the year.
And we ensure that the intentiveness to individuals and
families is the same whether it's 3:00 in the afternoon or
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3:00 in the morning. That does require a bit of
caffeine though, I must admit. So I think Connie, you're going
to share. I was called to a patient.
It's an emergency call. The patient was self harming.
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Patient had tried to commit suicide several times and when
they offered our services, the patient was happy for us to
visit and just being available at the crucial time where they
wanted really to explain what was happening to them, what is
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causing self harm, what is causing them to want to commit
suicide. And listening to them with
empathy and compassion and beingavailable in a short time they
call came in was something that really made a difference in this
patient's life. Something you hear a lot about
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in the NHS and in many areas of life today is inclusivity.
Because as a chaplain, I'm therefor people of all faiths,
beliefs and none. A large proportion of the
encounters I have with people are with those who do not
profess any faith or particular belief.
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You see, I need to remember thatmy salary is not paid by a
church or by elim, is paid by the NHS.
And as an NHS employee and a chaplain, I'm bound by the NHS
Trust in which I work, but also the UK Board of Healthcare
Chaplaincy, which has its own code of conduct.
On no account am I allowed to prosthesize.
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I can, of course, respond directly to questions that are
asked of me and I never compromise or am expected to
compromise my integrity. But supporting A diverse
community of people of differentbeliefs and those with no
religious belief requires respect.
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It requires active intervention.It requires engagement and
grace, and it also requires thatI remain nourished and resourced
from my own faith community so that I'm well fed and equipped
and centred. Caroline, come and talk about
inclusivity. So as chaplains, we have to have
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a strong personal theological foundation because this enables
us not to feel threatened by thethings that we face and the
encounters that we have. And being inclusive is so
important. It allows us to form
relationships with all, especially the marginalized.
NHS is a hierarchical institution and chaplains are
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unique because even though we have a line of management, we're
unique because throughout the day we could minister to a
nurse, then a consultant, then acleaner, then a painter, an
executive member, as well as thepatients and their relatives
from all stratas of society weretotally inclusive.
And I remember coming across a staff member in a corridor in
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tears, struggling because they had dyslexia and they were
administrator and they were afraid they were going to lose
their job. And I just said, well, have you
told your boss, your manager? No.
Have you contacted Hockey health?
No. So I directed them towards
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occupational health, who assessed them.
They found out they had dyslexiaand everything changed for them
and it's those simple encounterswhere we notice people who are
marginalised and we can help them by being inclusive into the
organization. And that leads us very neatly
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onto our final lens in which we're looking at chaplaincy as
we look and think about respect and dialogue and support and
engagement and grace. All of this is about being non
judgmental. Part of the healthcare chaplains
role is in teaching and that includes teaching staff and
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patients about what the role of chaplaincy is all about.
And key to this, I often share what chaplains do, but also what
they won't do. I tell them that chaplains won't
judge you, they won't criticise you, they won't preach and they
won't force religion on you either.
They won't pass on information that you share unless you ask us
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to or unless, of course, there'sa safeguarding risk.
And perhaps most importantly, I alluded to this earlier, we
won't outstay our welcome. And so just before perhaps I
outstay mine, I'm going to hand over to Connie to tell us our
final story for today. And this story will bring
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together all of the elements of chaplaincy that we've discussed
so far. So this story I was actually
called to our family, they had had a very bad prognosis at at
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17 weeks of pregnancy and they had come to a decision for
termination. And this I visited this family,
there was a lot of regret and guilt after determination.
And as we said, as Debbie has just said about non judgmental,
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it was not about my decision or to come to conclusion or judging
them for coming to that decision.
So I sat with them when they were looking at the fittest
saying what if they made they were wrong with the diagnosis.
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So it was just being there, not judging them on the decision
that they had made. But the harder thing at the end
was they didn't want to be present later on to be with us
as they'd requested for what we call a baby blessing in the
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hospitals and doing that with only staff.
Then we also had to support staff.
We had gone through that withoutjudging the patient, without
judging the staff and really trying to bring them to a
conclusion that this is what chaplaincy is here for.
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Thank you. So have you worked out why I'm
talking about 8 elements of chaplain?
It's because chaplains are compassionate, honest,
approachable, present, listening, available, inclusive,
non judgmental. And of course that spells out
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chaplain, but it's not just about 1 chaplain.
So I want to suggest that we addan S to the end because it's not
just about Debbie Lee, chaplain at Hampshire Hospital.
I've already said that I work ina team, and so chaplaincy
requires more than one person. It requires all of us.
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So let me close by asking you a question.
Is God maybe challenging you, calling you into this role of
privilege and challenge, of opportunity and grace, of
vulnerability and purpose, of provision and prayerful
discernment? God's calling you into
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chaplaincy, whether it's in a healthcare setting or another
area of chaplaincy. Then please do visit the stand
up in the exhibition area where there will be chaplains
available to talk with you goingto hand over to Carolyn who's
going to share some of the journey into chaplaincy.
When I was exploring chaplaincy,Carolyn was already working as a
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chaplain and she was a source ofinformation and help to me.
So she can explain that and thenanswer all the difficult
questions that you're storing upfor her.
But just before she comes, I'm just going to pray for you, if
that's OK. Yeah.
And just pray for the work of chaplaincy.
So Father God, we just want to thank you for the calling that
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is on upon our lives to serve you in this way outside of a
church environment, supporting people at some of the most
vulnerable and difficult times of their lives.
And I want to thank you for the wonderful people in front of me
who have come to listen at the end of a long day.
You know where they are. You know what it is that they
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are seeking from you. You know what it is that you're
calling them into. Pray, Lord, that you will
continue to speak to them, continue to lead them, continue
to direct them, continue to showthem the way forward and to
provide opportunities. And Father, I thank you for our
NHSI. Thank you for the nurses, the
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doctors, and all of the staff that work in very difficult and
challenging situations. And I pray, Lord God, that they
may, if they do not yet know you, they may come to know you
and receive that help, that support, and that strength to go
forward. And Lord, we think of people
that we know who are sick at this time, who need a touch from
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you. I just pray that you would just
draw near to them, that they will know that in the midst of
all those why questions, that they will know that you love and
care for them. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
OK, I'm just going to give you awhistle stop tour of God's
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leading in my life. I went into chaplaincy because
my nan collapsed one Saturday and four day 4 weeks later she
died. But she was visited by a
chaplain every single day in those four weeks and she told me
a chaplain said this, a chaplaindid that.
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The chaplain was so encouraging and supportive of her.
I thought maybe I could do that.And so I went to the local
hospital, living in Cardiff at the time.
So Cardiff and the Veiler went to the Heath and I applied and
joined a chaplaincy volunteer course which ran for six weeks
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where we learnt about NHS chaplains.
After that six weeks I shadowed the other chaplains and then
they shadowed me and they reallyshadowed me because I was the
first Pentecostal that they had taken on in that hospital.
I think they were a little nervous and then when they found
out that I was OK, I worked for two years on an adult trauma
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ward which was a short stay. The patients were short stay and
after two years I requested. Could I move to a ward where I
could make relationships, long term patients?
And the paediatric chaplain recruited me.
He recruited me to the children's cancer ward and I
worked closely with the Roman Catholic nun and we supported
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the children and the parents andthe wider family and I got a lot
of experience from that. He really mentored me, that
chaplain. And then the hospital approached
me and asked me if I would become a lay chaplain so that I
could work into the neonatal andthe pediatric intensive care
unit. Well, at this point, I went to
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Chris Cartwright. He was my regional
Superintendent at the time, and I talked it through with him and
he said he would like me to makelinks with Elim stronger.
So I applied for what they called at that time, a license
to minister. On my interview day I was told
that I wasn't applying for a license to minister, I was
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applying to be a minister in training because the NLT had
decided that they wanted to takechaplains through to ordination.
So that was a little bit of a shock.
But I was accepted as a ministerin training and I spent half by
training time in church and halftime in the chaplaincy
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department. The NHS chaplain started taking
me to emergency situations. They were mentoring me.
I was daily visiting the neonatal and the pediatric
intensive care units as well as continuing in the cancer ward
and then also going into the adult wards, giving communions
and doing religious care as wellas pastoral care.
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Halfway through my MIT, I got a part, a part time job was
advertised and because I had a credential with Elim, I was able
to apply for the job and I was asuccessful candidate.
So I actually volunteered for seven years before I got a job,
an employee job as a chaplain. I was ordained in 2013 and by
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now I was working full time because my manager had died very
suddenly and they needed an extra person to help out with
legs on the wards. And in that point I learned how
to minister out of my own grief because he meant so much to me
and that was a real challenging time with an elim.
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Chaplaincy was growing. Nigel and the Nigel's
responsibility and care. There were more and more
chaplains, and Elin was becomingmore and more aware of the
chaplaincy ministry, and RegentsTheological College offered a
master's in applied theology with the chaplaincy track.
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Now I'm not academic. Anyone who knows me and anyone
who has seen me on my writing know that.
But I know what God's call is, and he called me to that.
I didn't have a degree. I went in on my, on my
experience and I managed to passthe Masters, which was a really
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tough, difficult challenge. Challenging time for me to learn
a new language of theology, to learn how to write academically.
But I loved every minute of the study.
And as I said, I passed. I could put MTH after my name if
I wanted, but I don't. Anyway, that was in my appraisal
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with my manager in 2018. He asked me what I wanted to
achieve in the next 5 years. I asked if I could retire.
He said no. So he instead said you should
apply for the lead chaplaincy post in the next health board.
And I was in no way, I'm not doing that.
I can't do that. But again, God's leading God.
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God really impressed on my heartthat that's where he wanted me
to, to step into. And so in May of 2018, I became
the lead chaplain there. I'm involved within Elim.
So within Elim, nationally we have a network of chaplaincy and
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it's not just healthcare. We've got chaplains in all
sectors and Nigel leads that armfor us.
Regionally, we have Zooms for chaplains bimonthly and we
support each other and we network with each other.
So what I would say is that if you feel that you're called
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chaplaincy, please come and talkto us.
If you feel that that call upon your life and you want to apply
for a job, particularly in the NHS, please contact a chaplain
because the system to apply in the NHS is a really challenging
system and we can help you and advise you.
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We, we will offer to help and advise you in any way that we
can. Now Debbie, that was a whistle
stop tour for time, but talk to us after if you want to.
But if you've got any questions,like Debbie said, I'm answering
them so you're not getting away with that because these two are
going to help me too if needs be.
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But have you got any questions? No.
I am conscious that this probably isn't the easiest venue
in which to ask questions. So my proposal to you is that we
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finish a little bit early. Don't know if that's allowed or
not, but I suggest we do that sothat you will get that extra 10
minutes before the evening meeting.
But if you do have any questionsthen we will be hanging around
and able to answer them. Thank you for coming.
Bye bye. I think Nigel just like to say
something first. Can we thank everybody?
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They've done really well and that's very inspiring.
I just wanted to mention if you are wanting to know a little bit
more, there's a really good brochure that gives them
information about Elam chaplaincy in all the sectors we
work in. And this brochure here just
gives some information about 3 opportunities, a chaplains
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conference, a training conference, and how we want to
help local churches develop chaplaincy.
So please pick up one of those before you leave.
So thank you very much. Thanks.
OK, good afternoon, everyone. We'll make a start because I
appreciate it's been a long day and everyone needs time to go
and have something to eat beforethe evening service.
So welcome to this seminar looking at the world of
healthcare chaplaincy. I'll make sure we leave a little
bit of time at the end to hear your reflections, your comments
(00:23):
and to answer, I hope, any questions that you may have.
So let me start by introducing myself.
My name is Debbie Howard. I'm currently the lead chaplain
for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
I lead a small team of chaplainsand we cover 3 hospitals and two
hospices and together we work toprovide support for a diverse
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population of patients, their families, other visitors and
staff of all faiths, beliefs andnone.
And I'm delighted that I'm not the only one that's going to be
speaking this afternoon. But I'm joined by Caroline and
Connie who are going to come andintroduce themselves.
(01:09):
Good afternoon. I'm Caroline Castle and I'm the
lead chaplain at Kumtaf MugarnogUniversity Health Board, which
is in the Welsh valleys. Hello, good afternoon.
My name is Connie Ashton and I'mthe lead chaplain for Bansley
Hospitals. Great, thank you ladies.
So in the setting where we work,people have different
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perceptions when they hear the word chaplain.
Some automatically think about religion and for some this may
be comforting, but for others itcan be rather off putting.
Some people feel they need to fit into a particular model to
speak with us. They might even apologise,
saying oh I'm so sorry, I haven't been to church for
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years. Others will become defensive,
maybe even a little angry. Oh, I don't believe in all that
stuff, I'm not religious, that'snot for me.
Some people will ask to see us directly, or they will ask their
family or staff members to do so.
Others can be referred to us by other members of staff, or by
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their families, or even by theirown faith and belief leaders.
But it's not just those in the hospital environment who can
have different perceptions of chaplains.
I've discovered that even churchleaders, maybe some that are in
this summit, and Christians, have different ideas when it
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comes to what a chaplain does. One of my colleagues who's
recently moved from a church based role into chaplaincy had
one of her past church members come up to her and say hi, I
know you're not really a proper minister anymore, but well,
today we're going to look at healthcare chaplaincy through
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eight different lenses, or in this case, qualities that I
think every chaplain in every setting, including healthcare,
needs to have. And we're going to do this
through 8, and I'm hoping that you're going to understand as we
go on, why I've chosen 8 lenses.The 1st is that chaplains need
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to be compassionate. As a healthcare chaplain, I have
the immense privilege of being invited into someone's space at
one of the most difficult and vulnerable times of their lives.
Sometimes they're anxious because they're waiting for
results. Sometimes they're apprehensive
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as they're about to start a new treatment.
Others are devastated because they've just been told there's
nothing else that can be done. Someone else may be happy
because they've heard they're going to go home, but they're
worried about how they're going to cope when they get there.
Perhaps it's a relative who's been watching a family member in
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the last hours of their lives, or it's a staff member who's
been caring for someone over a period of time and now they have
to go and break bad news for various reasons.
People want to connect with me, and in those moments, in words
and in actions, I'm called to show compassion.
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And whether they are the 1st or the 21st person I've met that
day, whether I had other ideas of what I was good or needed to
do, each and every encounter is about showing compassion to that
individual, to that family member, to that staff person in
front of me. And in the busyness and the
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business of a hospital environment, The words of
Matthew 936 come to mind. Whenever crowds came to him, he
had compassion on them. You see, it's that Christ like
compassion that needs to overflow.
Whether I'm with a relative whose loved one has just died,
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whether I'm supporting 3 generations of a family whose
newest member has died just hours after birth, or whether
I'm coming alongside a staff member who is devastated because
they've just seen their first cardiac arrest.
Whatever it is, I'm there to show that Christlike compassion
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which is core to chaplaincy. But I think a really good way of
understanding is by hearing stories.
So I'm going to ask Caroline to come and share a real life
encounter where she was able to demonstrate compassion.
(06:06):
So compassion is feeling, sympathy or concern especially
for those in suffering and we minister to everyone no matter
who they are or what they've done.
I received a call asking to provide a service for a patient
who was too unwell to attend their parents funeral.
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The patient was a prisoner. I had to go to the ward and
escort them to the multi faith room.
They were chained to two prison officers.
As we walked the corridors together, I saw the faces of
those who we passed, the looks that were given stepping away
from us. My heart was filled with
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compassion for this person, thisfellow human being.
We arrived at the Multi faith room and we sat together and I
held his little service, a funeral service for his parent
while the rest of the family were miles away in a
crematorium. And that same scripture that
(07:14):
Debbie just shared in Matthew 9 that says when Jesus saw the
crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused
and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
Chaplains need that compassionate heart like Jesus
because then we can minister to everyone that we encounter
throughout the day. Thank you.
(07:38):
But I don't want you to think that we're just too saintly,
because as we look at the secondaspect of chaplaincy, we see the
importance of honesty. And I think being honest is a
very key component of what we doas chaplains and in healthcare.
This has a specific dimension. I'm sure many of us here today
(08:00):
would have been asked the question what will happen when I
die? Now whilst healthcare chaplaincy
is much broader than just end oflife care, this is part of our
work. And that question, what will
happen when I die is brought into a real sharp focus when
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you're in front of someone who has just been put on end of life
care. But it's not just the what
questions, it's the why questions.
Why has this happened to me? Why has this happened to my
child, to my spouse, to my family member?
What have I done wrong? Or the why etched on the face of
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a wife in the emergency department who says he went
upstairs. I only went to make a cup of tea
and then I heard a thud and now he's gone.
You see, I may have an answer tosome of the what questions, but
I often don't have an answer to the wise.
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And to be honest, scrambling around trying to find an answer
risks mumbling out something inappropriate that isn't
particularly helpful and is totally inadequate in honouring
the depth of the question that is being asked.
To scramble around trying to find an answer I think is also
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to miss the point, because I don't think anyone is really
often asking for an answer, they're wanting to be heard it.
The important thing is that the question is spoken either in
words or body language, and thatwhoever is asking, as I said,
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doesn't necessarily expect me togive them the answer.
They simply need to be heard. But when someone is expecting an
answer, then honesty needs to come in different ways.
In honouring the question by notrushing to answer.
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In sharing that I don't know theanswer.
In sitting in that situation, alongside in an openness for
further conversation, Connie, come and share with us a story
of being honest. Thank you.
(10:41):
As a chaplain, I provide pastoral and spiritual support
with sincerity and integrity on the city is a key in my role as
I strive to create meaningful connections.
(11:05):
As Debbie has just said about honesty, most of the time we do
not have all the answers, but just being near and being
present with the people who willbe caring for is more than
enough. As a story, I met up with a
patient now on the ward. This patient had lost, had a
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still birth and but now this time she was in another ward
with a different issue altogether.
As I remembered her, she just started pouring out questions.
Connie, when will this pain end?The pain of losing my child at
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34 weeks? Did I do something wrong?
Does God still love me? And again that question why has
this happened to me? As a chaplain?
I didn't have the answers to allthese questions, but I had to be
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honest enough to say I don't know.
I don't know. I don't have answers to these
questions. But with that compassion and
empathy, showing the person thatI'm here to listen.
And by the time we finish that visit, she just said thank you,
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thank you for being there, thankyou for listening, thank you.
You have had me. Now from what we've shared so
far, you may be thinking that healthcare chaplaincy sounds a
very heavy difficult, it's all full of sad, challenging
situations. And yes, that is part of the
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role, which is a privilege to have.
But that certainly doesn't sum up all that healthcare
chaplaincy is because unless something happens suddenly,
which he can do in a healthcare environment, often the deeper
conversations that we have are coming about as a result of the
third quality that you're looking at, which is being
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approachable. As a healthcare chaplain, I
don't just visit the wards and see patients, but I walk around
every area of the hospital, intooffices, into departments, I
walk the corridors, I sit in therestaurant, I just try to be as
visible as I possibly can. And there are many like
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conversations. When we talk about the weather,
we talk about what's happening at the weekend, talk about the
football, although I don't follow football, talk about
what's on the lunch menu. But it's those quick hellos in
the corridors that helps a relationship to be formed.
And as a relationship is formed,then it opens up the opportunity
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for those significant conversations to take place.
All my pages are stuck together.There you go.
And it's straight over to Connieagain for a story, is it not?
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I've flicked over too many pages.
No, I haven't. It is Connie who's going to come
and tell us about being approachable because you're not
scary. So you're quite easy, I think
for patients and staff to talk to.
Maybe I should ask them, do I look approachable?
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They're not answering. Oh, like we said, a chaplain
embodies qualities that foster trust, openness and
accessibility. Like Debbie said, we can talk
about anything. Most people, they talk to me
about lipstick because they always say who you've got a red
(15:19):
lipstick today, then the conversation starts there.
So we creating that environment where patients or our staff can
can approach us in the corridors, in the offices or in,
in in the woods as well. Showing empathy and
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understanding and also compassion that Caroline has
already spoken about and having that moment of active listening.
Because when you are not really listening people, they pick up
on that one. So the next time they want to
approach, she says, oh, she's always busy, so why do I need to
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talk to that person? And showing genuine interest and
allowing people to express theirthoughts and emotions.
So my story is more on staff support where sometimes they
feel they are left out in our support as chaplains.
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So stopping and asking a genuinehow are you and stopping to
respond to hear their response because with our busy life,
everybody's like how are you? Before I answer, somebody has
already gone. So we do a lot of staff support
as well, checking in with them, especially with their work in
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A&E, that business area within the hospital.
So also checking if they're OK, if there's anything that we can
do and even making a cup of tea for them the next time they're
like, oh, I remember this chaplain has given us a tea, a
cup of tea. So I think I put this little
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scripture here. It says a happy heart.
A happy heart makes the first cheerful and but a heartache
crushes spirit. So we are cheerful and
approachable. Often when we talk about
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chaplaincy, you hear about the importance of being present.
To be present I think is at the heart of chaplaincy.
It's what's often described as ministry of presence or
incarnational ministry. And like other components of
chaplaincy, that presence is multi layered.
There's a physical presence. So I have an office where I can
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be based, but to be honest, people rarely find me in the
office. My team are always smiling when
I say, oh, I'm just popping out for a minute.
I'll be back in a couple of minutes because I disappear and
they don't see me for a couple of hours because I've bumped
into somebody who has something specific that they want to share
with me at that moment because I'm present.
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If I was to just sit in the office all day, I would miss out
on so many of those daily encounters.
To be present is also to be completely present to that
individual or individuals in front of me.
To put aside the To Do List, to put aside the things that are
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concerning me about perhaps another visit, and to embrace
the privilege of the conversation in front of me.
But also being present means I know when to leave.
You see in a ward setting, unless a patient is in a side
room, conversations are rarely just in the space with you and
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that person. You may be in a Bay with five or
six other people, other patients.
There can be a doctor giving medical treatment to somebody.
There can be a cleaner Hoover in.
There can be visitors around. There can be lots of noise.
There can even be an emergency in the next Bay.
And there's all that hustle around and being present means
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you're not just present to the person that you're speaking to
at that moment, but you're also a acutely present to the other
things that happening. And sometimes that means that
you choose discernfully before God to know when to leave and to
say, I'll come back now for someof you who are complete
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finishers, that would be really tough.
But it's so important to know the right moment to say, it's
been a pleasure to talk with youtoday.
I'll come and see you again. That's sometimes much better
than ploughing on with a long conversation when someone is
tired and needing to rest. Yeah, chaplaincy is
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incarnational. As chaplains, we need to be open
to the person we're ministering to and to the Holy Spirit.
We need to be hearing from God in as we are listening to the
patient and in each situation being sensitive to what that
situation needs. I was called to a patient who'd
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been battling with cancer for quite some time.
They were young, in their early 40s, but they had just been told
that no more could be done for their their life was ending.
And there are no words. What do you say in that moment?
You can't say anything at times like this.
So I just sat with her and I held her hand in silence.
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It seemed like eternity. I think it was about 30 to 40
minutes, just sat holding her hand.
We were being present with each other in this moment of time.
And then she said thank you, canyou come back in a couple of
days, which I did. And when I went back, the
patient shared what that time ofpresent silence actually meant
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to them, how it helped them in their journey at that time.
And chaplains in healthcare settings do this present
ministry all the time, sometimesin silence and sometimes using
words. But every encounter is
different. So the kind of encounter that
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Caroline has just described happened because she was
present. And this leads us on to the
fifth component, which is all about listening, because the
role of a chaplain is much more listening than talking, which is
why it's so great to be able to talk in front of you today.
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Don't often get that much of an opportunity to talk in a
healthcare setting. There are lots of people who
will listen, but generally they're listening out for
Pacific information. They're listening to responses
concerning medical conditions, social context, dietary
requirements, practical needs. They're listening because they
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want a Pacific answer to their Pacific questions.
But as a chaplain, I'm not therewith an agenda.
I'm there to listen. I'm there to listen to the
spoken and the unspoken, to provide that spiritual part of
holistic care, compromising physical, emotional, social and
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spiritual care. Maybe there'd be a faithful
belief element to the conversation.
Maybe they won't. Maybe I'll need to contact a
Pacific religious leader to comein and offer support.
Maybe I just need to sit with that individual and let them
share without me pushing for certain information, listening
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to where they are at at that moment.
Time is precious today isn't it and we live by the clock and
it's same in the hospital but chaplains listen, it's a skill.
I was always told we got 2 ears and one mouth, use them in
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proportion. I was doing a ward round, it was
a four bedded Bay and I visited the first three patients and
they were lovely chats, so lovely encounters.
And then I introduced myself to the 4th patient.
He was so angry. He asked how I could believe in
God but he gave me no chance to reply.
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A torrent of anger and pain flooded out from his mouth.
He'd lost his wife to cancer, a son had been killed in an
accident. He had experienced so much
trauma in his life. And he continued with this to
raid for such a long time. It seemed like an age stating
there's no God and God wouldn't allow these things to happen if
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he was loving. And I stood at the end of the
bed and I listened to all he said.
And then he said, I don't want to talk anymore.
So I simply said, I'm sorry to hear all these things that
you've experienced. And I left the next week.
When I went back on that ward into that Bay, this patient was
still there. And he, as I entered, he called
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me over. He beckoned me.
He'd remembered my name. And he took my hand and he
thanked me profusely for all that I did for him.
And all I did was listen. You see, sometimes listening is
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just what is needed in that moment.
So often patients and staff willsay to me, oh, thank you so
much. Everything you've said has just
helped me so much. And I'm thinking, I didn't say
anything. You did all the talking.
I simply provided that space. But Caroline could only listen
(25:41):
because she made herself available, which is another key
aspect of being a chaplain, being available to others and to
God. It's saying to God, this is my
plan for the day. This is what I'm thinking needs
to happen. But you're in charge.
Lead me to the people that you want me to talk to.
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Help me to engage with those that you have prepared to hear
your message. But to be available is also to
be vulnerable. Not everyone wants to talk with
you, and some people will tell you that in no uncertain terms.
Caroline made herself vulnerableby talking with that patient who
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was angry because of everything that he had experienced.
She was vulnerable, but she was available.
Being available is about creating, sometimes very
rapidly, a space for a conversation from the beginning
of an encounter, the signal thatyou have all the time in the
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world for that one person in front of you.
You see, someone could be just testing you out.
They're trying to pluck up the courage to see if they can
really share something with you that they've never shared with
anybody in their life. But they're waiting to see if
you're really open and availableand ready for that.
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I think in ministry sometimes there is that pressure upon us
to show how busy we are, isn't there?
You know, you quite often hear people talking about, Oh yeah, I
work really long hours, I work really long days.
And it is to show that we're busy, busy, busy people.
And that's very true in the NHS.Everybody is busy.
Everybody has to justify what they do.
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You have to be able to prove your worth to keep your job in
many situations. And so often I will be asked,
oh, how are you today, Debbie, are you busy?
There's a lot going on, isn't there?
And I'm always very careful how I answer that question.
And I say, well, yes, we are busy.
We know how busy the the hospitals are at the moment.
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But then I add, but I've always got time if there's anything
that you want to talk about or anything that you want to share.
Because by doing that, I'm keeping the door open, I'm being
approachable, I'm listening, I'mshowing that I'm always
available. Being available is about time
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because emergencies don't just occur 9 to 5.
And so like many in healthcare environments, I work in a team
where we provide 24/7 cover eachday of the year.
And we ensure that the intentiveness to individuals and
families is the same whether it's 3:00 in the afternoon or
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3:00 in the morning. That does require a bit of
caffeine though, I must admit. So I think Connie, you're going
to share. I was called to a patient.
It's an emergency call. The patient was self harming.
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Patient had tried to commit suicide several times and when
they offered our services, the patient was happy for us to
visit and just being available at the crucial time where they
wanted really to explain what was happening to them, what is
(29:15):
causing self harm, what is causing them to want to commit
suicide. And listening to them with
empathy and compassion and beingavailable in a short time they
call came in was something that really made a difference in this
patient's life. Something you hear a lot about
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in the NHS and in many areas of life today is inclusivity.
Because as a chaplain, I'm therefor people of all faiths,
beliefs and none. A large proportion of the
encounters I have with people are with those who do not
profess any faith or particular belief.
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You see, I need to remember thatmy salary is not paid by a
church or by elim, is paid by the NHS.
And as an NHS employee and a chaplain, I'm bound by the NHS
Trust in which I work, but also the UK Board of Healthcare
Chaplaincy, which has its own code of conduct.
On no account am I allowed to prosthesize.
(30:22):
I can, of course, respond directly to questions that are
asked of me and I never compromise or am expected to
compromise my integrity. But supporting A diverse
community of people of differentbeliefs and those with no
religious belief requires respect.
(30:43):
It requires active intervention.It requires engagement and
grace, and it also requires thatI remain nourished and resourced
from my own faith community so that I'm well fed and equipped
and centred. Caroline, come and talk about
inclusivity. So as chaplains, we have to have
(31:06):
a strong personal theological foundation because this enables
us not to feel threatened by thethings that we face and the
encounters that we have. And being inclusive is so
important. It allows us to form
relationships with all, especially the marginalized.
NHS is a hierarchical institution and chaplains are
(31:29):
unique because even though we have a line of management, we're
unique because throughout the day we could minister to a
nurse, then a consultant, then acleaner, then a painter, an
executive member, as well as thepatients and their relatives
from all stratas of society weretotally inclusive.
And I remember coming across a staff member in a corridor in
(31:53):
tears, struggling because they had dyslexia and they were
administrator and they were afraid they were going to lose
their job. And I just said, well, have you
told your boss, your manager? No.
Have you contacted Hockey health?
No. So I directed them towards
(32:13):
occupational health, who assessed them.
They found out they had dyslexiaand everything changed for them
and it's those simple encounterswhere we notice people who are
marginalised and we can help them by being inclusive into the
organization. And that leads us very neatly
(32:39):
onto our final lens in which we're looking at chaplaincy as
we look and think about respect and dialogue and support and
engagement and grace. All of this is about being non
judgmental. Part of the healthcare chaplains
role is in teaching and that includes teaching staff and
(33:00):
patients about what the role of chaplaincy is all about.
And key to this, I often share what chaplains do, but also what
they won't do. I tell them that chaplains won't
judge you, they won't criticise you, they won't preach and they
won't force religion on you either.
They won't pass on information that you share unless you ask us
(33:24):
to or unless, of course, there'sa safeguarding risk.
And perhaps most importantly, I alluded to this earlier, we
won't outstay our welcome. And so just before perhaps I
outstay mine, I'm going to hand over to Connie to tell us our
final story for today. And this story will bring
(33:44):
together all of the elements of chaplaincy that we've discussed
so far. So this story I was actually
called to our family, they had had a very bad prognosis at at
(34:05):
17 weeks of pregnancy and they had come to a decision for
termination. And this I visited this family,
there was a lot of regret and guilt after determination.
And as we said, as Debbie has just said about non judgmental,
(34:31):
it was not about my decision or to come to conclusion or judging
them for coming to that decision.
So I sat with them when they were looking at the fittest
saying what if they made they were wrong with the diagnosis.
(34:53):
So it was just being there, not judging them on the decision
that they had made. But the harder thing at the end
was they didn't want to be present later on to be with us
as they'd requested for what we call a baby blessing in the
(35:14):
hospitals and doing that with only staff.
Then we also had to support staff.
We had gone through that withoutjudging the patient, without
judging the staff and really trying to bring them to a
conclusion that this is what chaplaincy is here for.
(35:37):
Thank you. So have you worked out why I'm
talking about 8 elements of chaplain?
It's because chaplains are compassionate, honest,
approachable, present, listening, available, inclusive,
non judgmental. And of course that spells out
(35:59):
chaplain, but it's not just about 1 chaplain.
So I want to suggest that we addan S to the end because it's not
just about Debbie Lee, chaplain at Hampshire Hospital.
I've already said that I work ina team, and so chaplaincy
requires more than one person. It requires all of us.
(36:22):
So let me close by asking you a question.
Is God maybe challenging you, calling you into this role of
privilege and challenge, of opportunity and grace, of
vulnerability and purpose, of provision and prayerful
discernment? God's calling you into
(36:44):
chaplaincy, whether it's in a healthcare setting or another
area of chaplaincy. Then please do visit the stand
up in the exhibition area where there will be chaplains
available to talk with you goingto hand over to Carolyn who's
going to share some of the journey into chaplaincy.
When I was exploring chaplaincy,Carolyn was already working as a
(37:06):
chaplain and she was a source ofinformation and help to me.
So she can explain that and thenanswer all the difficult
questions that you're storing upfor her.
But just before she comes, I'm just going to pray for you, if
that's OK. Yeah.
And just pray for the work of chaplaincy.
So Father God, we just want to thank you for the calling that
(37:28):
is on upon our lives to serve you in this way outside of a
church environment, supporting people at some of the most
vulnerable and difficult times of their lives.
And I want to thank you for the wonderful people in front of me
who have come to listen at the end of a long day.
You know where they are. You know what it is that they
(37:49):
are seeking from you. You know what it is that you're
calling them into. Pray, Lord, that you will
continue to speak to them, continue to lead them, continue
to direct them, continue to showthem the way forward and to
provide opportunities. And Father, I thank you for our
NHSI. Thank you for the nurses, the
(38:11):
doctors, and all of the staff that work in very difficult and
challenging situations. And I pray, Lord God, that they
may, if they do not yet know you, they may come to know you
and receive that help, that support, and that strength to go
forward. And Lord, we think of people
that we know who are sick at this time, who need a touch from
(38:34):
you. I just pray that you would just
draw near to them, that they will know that in the midst of
all those why questions, that they will know that you love and
care for them. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
OK, I'm just going to give you awhistle stop tour of God's
(38:57):
leading in my life. I went into chaplaincy because
my nan collapsed one Saturday and four day 4 weeks later she
died. But she was visited by a
chaplain every single day in those four weeks and she told me
a chaplain said this, a chaplaindid that.
(39:18):
The chaplain was so encouraging and supportive of her.
I thought maybe I could do that.And so I went to the local
hospital, living in Cardiff at the time.
So Cardiff and the Veiler went to the Heath and I applied and
joined a chaplaincy volunteer course which ran for six weeks
(39:38):
where we learnt about NHS chaplains.
After that six weeks I shadowed the other chaplains and then
they shadowed me and they reallyshadowed me because I was the
first Pentecostal that they had taken on in that hospital.
I think they were a little nervous and then when they found
out that I was OK, I worked for two years on an adult trauma
(40:02):
ward which was a short stay. The patients were short stay and
after two years I requested. Could I move to a ward where I
could make relationships, long term patients?
And the paediatric chaplain recruited me.
He recruited me to the children's cancer ward and I
worked closely with the Roman Catholic nun and we supported
(40:24):
the children and the parents andthe wider family and I got a lot
of experience from that. He really mentored me, that
chaplain. And then the hospital approached
me and asked me if I would become a lay chaplain so that I
could work into the neonatal andthe pediatric intensive care
unit. Well, at this point, I went to
(40:46):
Chris Cartwright. He was my regional
Superintendent at the time, and I talked it through with him and
he said he would like me to makelinks with Elim stronger.
So I applied for what they called at that time, a license
to minister. On my interview day I was told
that I wasn't applying for a license to minister, I was
(41:09):
applying to be a minister in training because the NLT had
decided that they wanted to takechaplains through to ordination.
So that was a little bit of a shock.
But I was accepted as a ministerin training and I spent half by
training time in church and halftime in the chaplaincy
(41:31):
department. The NHS chaplain started taking
me to emergency situations. They were mentoring me.
I was daily visiting the neonatal and the pediatric
intensive care units as well as continuing in the cancer ward
and then also going into the adult wards, giving communions
and doing religious care as wellas pastoral care.
(41:54):
Halfway through my MIT, I got a part, a part time job was
advertised and because I had a credential with Elim, I was able
to apply for the job and I was asuccessful candidate.
So I actually volunteered for seven years before I got a job,
an employee job as a chaplain. I was ordained in 2013 and by
(42:19):
now I was working full time because my manager had died very
suddenly and they needed an extra person to help out with
legs on the wards. And in that point I learned how
to minister out of my own grief because he meant so much to me
and that was a real challenging time with an elim.
(42:42):
Chaplaincy was growing. Nigel and the Nigel's
responsibility and care. There were more and more
chaplains, and Elin was becomingmore and more aware of the
chaplaincy ministry, and RegentsTheological College offered a
master's in applied theology with the chaplaincy track.
(43:04):
Now I'm not academic. Anyone who knows me and anyone
who has seen me on my writing know that.
But I know what God's call is, and he called me to that.
I didn't have a degree. I went in on my, on my
experience and I managed to passthe Masters, which was a really
(43:24):
tough, difficult challenge. Challenging time for me to learn
a new language of theology, to learn how to write academically.
But I loved every minute of the study.
And as I said, I passed. I could put MTH after my name if
I wanted, but I don't. Anyway, that was in my appraisal
(43:45):
with my manager in 2018. He asked me what I wanted to
achieve in the next 5 years. I asked if I could retire.
He said no. So he instead said you should
apply for the lead chaplaincy post in the next health board.
And I was in no way, I'm not doing that.
I can't do that. But again, God's leading God.
(44:09):
God really impressed on my heartthat that's where he wanted me
to, to step into. And so in May of 2018, I became
the lead chaplain there. I'm involved within Elim.
So within Elim, nationally we have a network of chaplaincy and
(44:29):
it's not just healthcare. We've got chaplains in all
sectors and Nigel leads that armfor us.
Regionally, we have Zooms for chaplains bimonthly and we
support each other and we network with each other.
So what I would say is that if you feel that you're called
(44:52):
chaplaincy, please come and talkto us.
If you feel that that call upon your life and you want to apply
for a job, particularly in the NHS, please contact a chaplain
because the system to apply in the NHS is a really challenging
system and we can help you and advise you.
(45:13):
We, we will offer to help and advise you in any way that we
can. Now Debbie, that was a whistle
stop tour for time, but talk to us after if you want to.
But if you've got any questions,like Debbie said, I'm answering
them so you're not getting away with that because these two are
going to help me too if needs be.
(45:33):
But have you got any questions? No.
I am conscious that this probably isn't the easiest venue
in which to ask questions. So my proposal to you is that we
(45:53):
finish a little bit early. Don't know if that's allowed or
not, but I suggest we do that sothat you will get that extra 10
minutes before the evening meeting.
But if you do have any questionsthen we will be hanging around
and able to answer them. Thank you for coming.
Bye bye. I think Nigel just like to say
something first. Can we thank everybody?
(46:14):
They've done really well and that's very inspiring.
I just wanted to mention if you are wanting to know a little bit
more, there's a really good brochure that gives them
information about Elam chaplaincy in all the sectors we
work in. And this brochure here just
gives some information about 3 opportunities, a chaplains
(46:36):
conference, a training conference, and how we want to
help local churches develop chaplaincy.
So please pick up one of those before you leave.
So thank you very much. Thanks.
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