aline 4 years ago

this is really good know. I am not a religious person myself, but it's good to know there's someone I can talk to about these bigger questions of life

clairewretham 4 years ago

Absolutely Aline! There is always someone around at Marie Curie who will listen but sometimes we have to make a safe space for those questions to be REALLY BIG or maybe even existential. That's why we are so passionate about Spiritual Care at Marie Curie - we really do believe its for everyone

clairewretham 4 years ago

A question that has come in to me via direct message .. 

This all sounds quite new to me but I’m interested to know more. What else does the Spiritual care Lead or Chaplain do at Marie Curie? It is quite new to have such a vocal approach to meeting peoples religious, spiritual and cultural needs at the end of their life and we are really proud of the work we do to be inclusive for people of all faiths and none! Chaplains have been doing this work in different places for years but we want to elevate that and keep driving forward inclusively and in a variety of different ways. We think everyone has spiritual needs and we want to give everyone an opportunity to explore them.

Our spiritual care teams are involved in promoting all sorts of messages of diversity and inclusion in lots of different Marie Curie settings. They work with nursing staff all the way through to the communications teams to ensure that everyone is trained to be open minded about what it looks like to find peace and meaning in life and how to someone about what that means for them. The U.K is a patchwork of beliefs, religions, philosophies and ideas and we think that should be celebrated from birth to death. If you are a vegan who loves their dog and meditates every day those things are important to you every day of your life! But equally if you are a Muslim who prays five times a day and observes a Halal diet we can help you to keep doing that throughout your terminal illness journey.

mwills 4 years ago

Thanks Claire, this is really interesting to read and fantastic to hear how you and the other spiritual care teams can support people at such difficult times.

clairewretham 4 years ago

Thanks Mwills! Do feel free post any questions you have