Free Churches Group, Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day

Moral Injury, Staff Support and Looking After Ourselves

Free Churches Group, Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day

27 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HH

Tuesday June 20th 10:30 to 15:30

Cost: £15 for chaplains whose denomination is a member of the Free Churches Group

 £25 for all other chaplains

Please register your place HERE.

09:45 doors open

10:30 to 11:15 Session one – Introduction to Moral Injury [Katie]

11:25 to 1210 Session two – Supporting Health and Social care staff to Navigate their way Through MI. [Diana]

12:10 to 13:05 Lunch (provided)

13:10 to 13:50 Session three – How we set up staff support work at G&ST [Tracy]

13:55 to 14:40 Session four – Sharing Good Practice [input from the panel and attendees]

15:00 to 15:30 Session five –Self-care and Creative Reflection [Bob]

15:30 cake and conversation for those who want to stay for a little bit extra

The focus of the day will very much be about lived experience rather than academic discussion. A well as the examples that the presenters will share we want to draw on the knowledge of those attending so please do think about examples of good practice from your context that you’d be happy to share in session four. If you have questions you’d like to ask both the presenter and those attending you can email them in advance to Mark at mark.newitt@freechurches.org.uk

A CPD certificate for 4 hours will be available at the end of the day.

Presenter Biographies

Tracy Morgan is originally from New Zealand. She trained as a health care chaplain in 2018 and works at Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. First working in Paediatrics and acute adults, Tracy joined the dedicated staff support chaplaincy team that was formed in response to the Covid 19 pandemic in November 2021.

Diana Steadman worked in education and guidance before training in pastoral ministry at Spurgeon’s College. She is currently serving as Staff Wellbeing Chaplain at Kingston Hospital NHS Trust where from 2017 she has been establishing the role working alongside a Physiotherapist, Clinical Psychologist and Mind-Body Practitioner as part of an in-house Staff Wellbeing Team. Diana is now responsible for creatively supporting and advocating for the pastoral needs of staff within Unplanned Care, harnessing the tools of reflective practice, pastoral supervision, coaching and other development activities, and by reporting into divisional progress and Trust-wide steering group meetings.

Katie Watson is Head of Chaplaincy at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She has served there for 15 years. Prior to this she was a Military Police Officer in the British Army with operational experience in Bosnia and Croatia during the early 90s and Northern Ireland during the conflict. She runs ultra distance trails and does so that cake can be a major factor in her diet.

Bob Whorton is retired from Healthcare Chaplaincy but continues to work as a reflective supervisor. His interests are in creativity, writing, embodiment and the use of the imagination.

Note: If you are a Free Church Healthcare Chaplain, please contact Thandar at thandar.tun@freechurches.org.uk for a discounted price. The member denominations list is available to view here.

Photo by Dim Hou on Unsplash

Researching Roles and Religious Belief

A half-day exploring chaplaincy roles and how religion influences behaviour with input from Martin Walton and Shola Oladipo

29th November, 09:00 - 13:45

Tickets are available from Eventbrite here.

Martin Walton is professor emeritus of chaplaincy studies at the Protestant Theological University in the Netherlands. Born in the USA (Corpus Christi, Texas 1953) as a son of a Methodist minister, he received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from the Colorado College. After two years in Berlin doing ecumenical work, he studied theology at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands where he received his PhD in theological ethics. For four years he served as a minister of a local congregation of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands and for fifteen years as a chaplain in mental health care, before receiving a position at the Protestant Theological University. His primary research interests have been interpretations of chaplaincy care by patients, conceptualizations of the domain of chaplaincy and case studies in chaplaincy.

Martin will present on:

Session 1: Case Studies Research. The Dutch Case Studies Project in Chaplaincy Care was a five year endeavour (2016 to 2021) in which about 60 chaplains worked with academic researchers in six research communities providing detailed descriptions of encounters with others in care settings, prisons and the military. The overall research question was: What do chaplains do, for what reasons and to what ends? Besides formulating a concise answer to the research question, I will offer some insights drawn from the cases with regard to use of ritual, counselling and methodology, the role of aesthetic aspects and outcomes of care. I will then offer some general observations on the participating chaplains, and then turn to reflect on the method, format and challenges of the research itself.

Session two: Roles of Chaplains. Much has been written in recent years on the functions and competences of chaplains. I want to address the question what roles might the chaplain fulfil in order to exercise those functions and competences in an optimal and facilitating fashion. After first considering some ways in which roles and images of the pastor have been addressed, I will propose four role formulations, each of a slightly paradoxical nature: expert learner, welcoming guest, accompanying artist and distinctive colleague.

Shola Oladipo is a PhD candidate at Coventry university. Her research paradigm centres on the role of Black Majority Church Leaders (BMCL) and health inequalities. Shola is also a church leader, registered dietitian and entrepreneur. She oversees a community interest company – Food for Purpose; which supports ethnic faith communities with culturally relevant health solutions to support healthy living.

Alongside culture and traditional beliefs, health perceptions are influenced by religion and faith in the Black community. The Black majority church (BMC) is particularly prominent in South London, and studies show that Black majority church leaders (BMCL) are viewed as role models and decisions makers; instrumental in influencing health choices and behaviours. In her 2 sessions Shola will present findings from studies involving BMCL in South London

Session 1 - Perceptions of BMCL relating to health and causes of illness. A socio-cultural lens was employed to explore the perceptions of illness causation amongst participants in this qualitative study. Using the Common-Sense Model of illness perceptions to categorise data, findings from this study describe the views of South London based Black Majority church leaders (BMCL).

Session 2 - Response of BMCL to COVID-19 vaccine campaign in UK. Since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the UK, data from surveys have indicated greater vaccine hesitancy among people from Black African – Caribbean communities. This qualitative study examined the responses of BMCL in South London, with respect to the COVID-19 vaccine campaign. The Health Belief Model (HBM) theory was used as a framework to inform this study design to access constructs which are known to influence health behaviours related to vaccination.

Timetable

08:45 Gathering

09:00 Welcome/Introduction/Opening Reflection

09:10 Shola 1

09:55 Short break

10:00 Martin 1

11:15 Break

11:25 Martin 2

12:40 Short break

12:45 Shola 2

13:30 Short Plenary

13:40 Closing prayer/reflection

13:45 Close

Note: If you are a Free Church Healthcare Chaplain, please contact Thandar at info@freechurches.org.uk for a discount code.

Photo credit: Photo by Markus Winkler at Pexels

MPA Faith-Based Leadership Course, University of Birmingham

Start date : April 2020

Duration : MPA: 2 years part-time

Course Type : Postgraduate, Taught

Fees : UK/EU/International: £9,000 each year, part-time for two years

Leading a faith community today is an increasingly complex and challenging task. Our MPA helps develop effective, equipped and well-informed leaders who can help their organisations maximise their impact for the good of society.

Today’s faith communities are often sizeable organisations with sophisticated educational, healthcare or social engagement projects and significant financial turnover. However, the initial training of faith leaders understandably focusses on their theological and pastoral skills, leaving many leaders with significant professional responsibilities and management challenges that they sometimes feel ill-equipped to confront.

The Birmingham Master of Public Administration in Faith-Based Leadership offers a globally-unique approach to faith leadership development, combining insight into organisational, administrative, managerial and leadership skills from negotiation to social entrepreneurship, from decision science to ethical purchasing, and from leading volunteers to intercultural engagement with a commitment to faith-sensitive application of these core principles on the ground in faith communities across the world.

The MPA is a two-year, part-time programme designed for senior and emerging senior leaders from across a variety of faiths, from faith-based organisations and from governmental and non-governmental organisations that deal with faith-based issues as part of their everyday life. Our programme is ideal for, for example, chairs of trusts, mosques, temples and gurdwaras, directors of companies and CIOs, bishops, area deans or equivalent, CEOs or COOs from faith-based organisations.

Applicants will ordinarily require a 2:1 or above at undergraduate level (or equivalent), three years’ experience in a leadership role at some level (not necessarily a senior yet), and will need to be employed or presently volunteering extensively in a leadership capacity, with the capacity to dedicate approximately 8 hours a week on average to their studies throughout the two years.

Apply via the Degree Apprenticeship Levy

If your organisation is based in the UK and pays the degree apprenticeship levy, or is prepared to apply for UK government support, it may be possible for 2021 admission only for funding which will cover most of the programme fees. Please contact us for more information on this.

Please visit HERE for more details.