Main duties of the job
Continually update knowledge of culture, diversity, spiritual and religious care, current policy, and research evidence relevant to spiritual care services. Use this to promote and develop safe, effective, and inclusive practice with multidisciplinary colleagues to support people of all backgrounds.
Provide spiritual wellbeing training and education to NHFT staff
Actively participate in Trust level groups, meetings and forums, as well as wider spiritual wellbeing activities
Hold and lead communal spaces with appropriate role authority in the context of issues and events that require bringing people together for connection, recognition and action (e.g. memorial services and incident planning for unexpected events).
Work alongside the Trust’s Volunteer Manager to select, train and supervise Spiritual Wellbeing volunteers and Honorary Chaplains.
Maintain and develop external connections with a range of faith leaders and community support groups to better support the needs of our culturally diverse patients, service users, carers and staff.
Given the frequent exposure to distressing or emotional situations, engagement in regular reflective practice and supervision is an essential aspect of the role to support personal wellbeing as well as for informing professional practice
The post involves occasional outdoor work
Working for our organisation
To meet these needs as part of care plans within the relevant service boundaries and supporting discharge pathways into the community. Needs may be complex in the context of mental health settings and may require onward referral or signposting to other care providers or community groups as appropriate.
To develop and maintain 1:1 and group spiritual wellbeing support offers. This includes facilitating creative spiritual care groups for inpatient wards and offering bereavement support for staff and service users.
Record contacts in relevant systems, ensuring that information is treated confidentially and with the utmost discretion to preserve dignity and safety.
NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools. We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
NHFT promotes a culture of learning to improve the care and safety of our patients and staff, which focuses on people who enable our Trust to be ‘outstanding’ by supporting opportunity, innovation, development and growth.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To provide 1-1 spiritual care for patients, service users, staff and carers including pastoral, religious, faith and non-faith spiritual care.
Use evidence-based tools to assess spiritual care needs and explore core values and beliefs for people of all faiths and none.
For further information on the advertised role, please refer to the job description located under the Supporting Documents heading. The full person specification can be accessed under the ‘About You’ Section of the document.
Person specification
Behaviours and Values
* Be of a calm, caring and compassionate disposition.
* Commitment to compassionate, non-judgmental and non-discriminatory practice that is inclusive and accessible to all
* Values collaborative working with peers and colleagues across the organisation
* Ability to work in a flexible way and respond to change.
Knowledge and Experience
* Educated to degree level, or equivalent learning experience, in an area relevant to pastoral, spiritual and religious care and healthcare chaplaincy.
* Recognised or accredited, and in current good standing with faith or belief community.
* Significant knowledge and experience of providing pastoral and spiritual care in a healthcare setting. Experience of end -of-life palliative spiritual care provision.
* In depth knowledge of own faith or belief group teaching, tradition and practices, alongside a working knowledge of other faith and belief systems, with an ability to apply this as requested in a secular multi-cultural, multi-faith and belief context as requested.
* Registered as a Chaplain with UKBHC or the Network for Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious Care in Health
* Further studies relating to chaplaincy i.e. PG Cert in healthcare chaplaincy/ pastoral, spiritual or religious care, clinical supervision, mentoring, or spiritual direction
* Experience in creating and delivering teaching and training programs. Experience of managing volunteers
* Experience of delivering digital chaplaincy services (e.g. video appointments)
Skills andAbiliies
* Excellent communication skills, with the ability to connect with individuals in a variety of complex spiritual care encounters, including empathetic conversations during traumatic events and handling difficult questions and strong emotions without collusion.
* Excellent reflective practice skills. Ability to reflect theologically and or existentially
* Active listening skills and an ability to respond to others’ spiritual needs without proselytizing personal faith or belief.
* Keyboard skills and computer literate e.g. ability to work with Microsoft Office (i.e. Excel, Word and Outlook).
* Excellent interpersonal skills to build relationships with local faith communities and other external organisations.
* Excellent organisational skills to prioritize and manage own workload.
By completing an application you are giving authorisation for the transfer of your data. In submitting an application form, you authorise us to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process. Including factual reference, occupational health clearance and statutory and mandatory training records and full service history.
You must ensure that your application, including supporting statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
Correspondence regarding your application will be sent to you via a TRAC system account.
Please submit your application as soon as possible; due to the high volumes of applications we receive we reserve the right to close any adverts before the closing date once we have received sufficient applications.
We are an equal opportunities employer, which aims to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons from all backgrounds.
All roles are subject to the home office immigration rules and therefore eligibility must meet certain requirements for any sponsorship to be considered. Please visit the government website for more information regarding eligibility,
At NHFT we support many of our colleagues to work flexibly and we will consider requests for flexible working from day one. For this role, we are open to discussing a range of options including flexible hours, agile/home working, compressed hours and part time hours. Please have a conversation with the recruiting manager about the flexibility you need and we will promise to explore what is possible with you.
Applicants who have a disability and meet the essential criteria for the job will be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme. If you require a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process please make the recruitment services team aware as soon as possible.
All posts that are engaged in a regulated activity will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and a DBS re-check on a three yearly basis whilst employed in such a role. Staff employed in these posts will therefore be asked to register with the DBS Automatic Update Service upon receipt of their DBS certificate and must update yearly, the annual fee will be reimbursed subject to Trust policy. For further information please visit: DBS Update Service: applicant guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Please note if a DBS is applicable for the position then a charge will be deducted from your first salary or upfront cost if a staff bank position.
Please note that all new starters to the trustare subject to a probationary period.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Name Odette Douglas Job title Lead Chaplain / Team Manager Email address Odette.douglas@nhft.nhs.uk Telephone number 07860593519 Additional information
Loreen Mawongera
Head of Service - Learning Disabilities and Autism and Spiritual Wellbeing
Loreen.Mawongera@nhft.nhs.uk
07885446728
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