Distress, loss and bereavement - a support pack from MHA

As part of the regular mailings which our Healthcare Secretary, Mark Newitt, shares with healthcare chaplains, I am passing on a recent publication by MHA, which you may find useful. It is a report aimed at those who are relatives and friends of those living in care settings, but will be helpful to others too.

The support pack, entitled ‘Relative Recovery’, which you can access at link below covers things such as:

• Distress, loss and bereavement

• Grief

• Supporting children

• Guilt

• Dementia

• Two short orders of service for memorials

(cover photo courtesy of Cristian Newman at Unsplash)

If you are working as a chaplain in a healthcare setting, why not join us for a cuppa and a chat over Zoom?

Tea & Chat - for mutual support.

For the next few weeks, there will be sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Everyone is welcome.

Tuesday: 16th March, from 4-5pm.

Zoom details: Meeting ID: 847 3526 3933; Passcode 499408

Wednesday: 24th March, from 4-5pm.

Zoom details: Meeting ID: 848 8989 8244; Passcode: 685885
Thursday: 11th March, 1st April, from 4-5pm.

Zoom details: Meeting ID: 884 0930 9600; Passcode: 750073

Come and share what is happening in your situation,

so that we can support one another.

Mark Newitt, Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy (pictured below), will host these events. Mark provides the leadership on Healthcare Chaplaincy work at a national level for the Free Churches as well as in a multi-faith context.

Rev Dr Mark Newitt

(cover photo courtesy of Jorge Garcia @ Unsplash)

We have a new Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy starting tomorrow!

Rev Meg Burton, who has been diligently serving for many months, as Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy for the FCG, is pleased to announce that her successor has been appointed. May we take this opportunity to thank Meg for all of her hard work in this role as we usher in the new Secretary. We will, in due course, have the chance to thank Meg more fully, but for now, here is some background on Meg’s successor!

It is Rev. Dr. Mark Newitt (pictured below). Mark is an Anglican and has been a chaplain in Sheffield for 15 years, working at both the Teaching Hospital and, more recently, at St Luke's Hospice. Meg writes, “like many of us, Mark has been influenced by, and has experience of, several different denominations, both while he was growing up (Salvation Army, Methodist and Baptist) and since working as a healthcare chaplain.”

Mark has been one of the leaders of the Yorkshire and Humber Chaplaincy Research Group and is also Book Review Editor of the journal Health and Social Care Chaplaincy. He brings a wealth of experience and fresh eyes to the role.

Mark will begin working with us tomorrow and Meg will leave once he has settled in, so there will be time for a hand-over. Congratulations, Mark, and welcome!

“Mark is looking forward to working with Free Church Healthcare chaplains and understands the theology, values and practice that have inspired the Free Churches for many centuries.”

— Rev Paul Rochester, General Secretary of the FCG

Rev Dr Mark Newitt

Tea and chat - a time for healthcare chaplains to get together

Tea & Chat - for mutual support. A chance to chew over the week before you go home….. For the next few weeks, there will be sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Everyone is welcome.

Tuesday: 23rd February, 16th March, from 4-5pm.

Zoom details: Meeting ID: 847 3526 3933; Passcode 499408

Wednesday: 10th February, 3rd March, 24th March, from 4-5pm.

Zoom details: Meeting ID: 848 8989 8244; Passcode: 685885
Thursday: 18th February, 11th March, 1st April, from 4-5pm.

Zoom details: Meeting ID: 884 0930 9600; Passcode: 750073

Come and share what is happening in your situation,

so that we can support one another.

Meg Burton, Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy (pictured below), will host these events. Meg provides the leadership on Healthcare Chaplaincy work at a national level for the Free Churches as well as in a multi-faith context.

(cover photo courtesy of Freddy Castro @ Unsplash)

"Dying Matters Week" 10th to 16th May 2021

Dying Matters is led by Hospice UK and aims to raise awareness of dying, death and bereavement.

Save the Date!

It's time to get the diaries out and save the date for Dying Matters Awareness Week 2021.

Running from 10 - 16 May, take part and join in the conversation about death, dying and bereavement. 

More details about the theme for this year and how to get involved will be published soon.

Revd Meg Burton, the Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy for Free Churches, plays an active role in this planning for and sharing issues for this awareness raising week.

“Our mission is to create an open culture that talks about death and where people feel able to listen and support those who are plannning for end of life, who are dying and who have been bereaved.”

— says the Dying Matters working group

(cover photo courtesy of Aaron Burden at Unsplash)