On Monday the 8th June, between 11am-12pm, the Spiritual Care Lead from our Cardiff Hospice, Claire, will be here to answer your questions or simply talk about how you’re feeling.
You don’t need to have any spiritual or religious beliefs to talk to her – you might just have a few questions about your current situation or journey.
She is someone you can talk to about what’s on your mind, and with whom you can share your thoughts about the bigger, deeper questions of life.
If you have anything you would like to ask, please comment below or join us on Monday!
·Good Morning Marie Curie Online Community! My name is Claire and I am the Spiritual Care Lead at the Cardiff Hospice. I’m here to this morning to answer some of your questions live in the chat and I also have some Frequently Asked Questions to explain a bit about the work I do at the hospice and on the Support Line. I work with patients and their families to help people of all faiths and none find peace, meaning and connection whilst living with a terminal illness. My role is very similar to that of a Chaplain and I work with community faith leaders in Cardiff and the Vale to help people express themselves religiously if that is important to them. I also work with people who don’t have a faith to talk about what matters to them and how they find peace. My work is all about journey and I work with people to help them understand and voice their journey before they die.
What is a Chaplain? Or a Spiritual Care Lead? A Chaplain is a member of the family support team in Healthcare Settings, but they are also found in prisons and in the military. Traditionally the role was for an on hand Christian priest to be available for patients, family members and staff, but these days the role is given to people of lots of different backgrounds and beliefs and is essentially on hand to provide emotional, psychological and spiritual support wherever it is needed. This can involve signposting to different organisations, calling in faith leaders for prayers or rituals to be carried out, or simply providing a listening ear and a space to talk.
I’m not part of a religious group and I’m not sure what I believe in, can I still talk to a spiritual care coordinator about how I’m feeling? Of course! The Spiritual Care Coordinator is for people of all faiths and none. I always try to speak to everyone regardless of their beliefs or background, but also have lots of resources and connections so can signpost you onto to someone more specialist if I can’t answer any of your questions in the moment. I often ask people about what brings them peace and how they find meaning and connection in their life. These might not be related to religious beliefs! But then again they might not be. I just give people a chance to explore that by asking them questions and giving them space to talk
But why does that stuff matter if I’m ill with physical symptoms? We know that terminal illnesses can affect people in all areas of their life and we know that symptoms might not just be physical but they might be emotional or spiritual too. We refer to these symptoms as “Spiritual Distress” – for some this might be that they can’t come to terms with the fact that the end of their life is approaching, and they are angry or in denial. For others it looks like sleepless nights lying awake wishing you had made peace with a family member you haven’t spoken to for years and years. For others again the questions might be about what is beyond death – Is there a heaven? Have I been “good enough” to get there? Research shows that people who are given the time and space to work through some of these questions or process big events in life are more likely to die at peace and using lower doses of pain relief so we think its important that everyone has a chance to do that if they want to!
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
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.
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.
Hi Brigette! A lot of the time people ask about what it is that I can do to help them or what my job actually is (which hopefully I have answered above!) People also often ask me about death and what it will be like, whether or not it will hurt and if I think there is anything beyond death.
Obviously the answers to these questions can be so specific and individual so I often ask people what is behind their question. If someone is asking about pain is it because this is of concern to them? Or have they watched someone else die in pain and so are keen to avoid that happening again?
A lot of the time I help people to prepare for death - just like the way a midwife helps a mother to prepare for a birth! There’s lots of questions about the specifics, the pain, what happens next and the truth is every story and every journey is different… but discussing the possibilities can be endless helpful
Thank you Claire that sounds really similar to what we get asked on the Support Line, many people tell us that talking out loud and being heard can really help them to process their thoughts and worries.
It is really natural that people want to talk about what may happen to them. Do you have any hints or tips to help family members to facilitate these difficult conversations?
Tips to help family members to facilitate these difficult conversations? I think to answer your question Brigette the main question to be asking those you love is “What matters to you?” and to follow that up with questions like “What is important in this moment and what is going to matter over the coming weeks and months?” “Who is important? Who do you need to speak to or be visited by?” and of course as always just be really open minded and attentive to the answers to these questions! Your answers might not be the same as your spouses and thats okay …
Final Question and Answer from me which has also come in directly …
Have you got any great stories from your hospice work? Of course! Spiritual needs show up all over the place. Sometimes my work is simple and involves helping people to plan their funerals or write their own eulogies. I also might call in the local Catholic priest for the patient who would like to receive the final sacrament. I have worked with the team to arrange for visits from all sort of different pets from cats and dogs to horses in the hospice garden! I’ve helped a mother write a letter to the child that she put up for adoption and has never seen again, asking for forgiveness and peace. She died just one day after writing that letter. One gentleman told me that he didn’t believe in anything really, but could I please make sure the window was opened in his room when he died, he wanted to make sure that his soul had somewhere to go and wasn’t stuck in the room. I made sure this was written into his care plan and informed the nurses who were overseeing his care.
Thanks for having me Online Community! Hope to see you again soon!
My name is Claire and I am the Spiritual Care Lead at the Cardiff Hospice. I’m here to this morning to answer some of your questions live in the chat and I also have some Frequently Asked Questions to explain a bit about the work I do at the hospice and on the Support Line. I work with patients and their families to help people of all faiths and none find peace, meaning and connection whilst living with a terminal illness. My role is very similar to that of a Chaplain and I work with community faith leaders in Cardiff and the Vale to help people express themselves religiously if that is important to them. I also work with people who don’t have a faith to talk about what matters to them and how they find peace. My work is all about journey and I work with people to help them understand and voice their journey before they die.