'Beginning Chaplaincy' - residential courses in Oct and March 2022 at St Padarn's, Cardiff

Are you a new or recently appointed health / social care chaplain? Then this course may be of interest to you…

Beginning Chaplaincy (residential) Course, St Padarn’s Institute, Cardiff
Saturday 9th October - Wednesday 13th October 2021 (inclusive)
Saturday 5th March - Wednesday 9th March 2022 (inclusive)

Beginning Chaplaincy is a five-day induction course for chaplains engaged in health or social care. It has been designed around the experience and needs of newly and recently appointed chaplains. Beginning Chaplaincy complements in-house induction programmes and local management. The course supports chaplains in being safe and effective practitioners, able to make a distinctive contribution. Beginning Chaplaincy is built upon the UKBHC Competencies Framework. All chaplains and volunteers are welcome to apply, regardless of their religion or belief.

More information, including contact details, can be found here and the application form here.

You can also find out about St Padarn’s postgraduate chaplaincy courses here.

(cover photo courtesy of Matheus Ferrero at Unsplash)

Bonded by Blood - A Mother's Story... Important campaign and webinar 29th September

We are sharing news of this important campaign, on behalf of the NHS Blood and Transplant services, which includes the opportunity to attend a webinar on 29th September.

NHS Blood and Transplant are pleased to announce our latest Black donor recruitment campaign - Bonded by Blood.  A Mother’s Story. This campaign is brought to you by ACLT (African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust), Unsickle My Cells, SickleKan and The Richard Okorogheye Foundation and is supported by NHSBT and is in memory of Richard Okorogheye, the 19-year-old young man who first appeared in the national news in April 2021 after disappearing from his home in London.  Richard had sickle cell and needed regular blood transfusions to stay well.  Sadly his body was found 2 weeks later, 20 miles away from home in Epping Forest.

To remember Richard, Bonded By Blood, a coalition of mothers (including Evidence Joel, Richard Okorogheye’s mother) who have seen the lifesaving power of blood first hand and blood charities are urging our Black communities to step forward and donate blood. The number of Black people donating in recent years has grown but to meet hospital demand and to provide the best blood match to patients, we still need more. This year we need 16000 new donors of Black heritage to help treat the majority of 15,000 sickle cell patients in the UK. We will be running Blood Donation Sessions in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and London over the next 3 weeks coinciding with both World Sickle Cell Awareness Month (September) and Black History Month (October).

Zoom Stakeholder Webinar – Bonded by Blood Campaign Briefing

We would also really like to encourage you to join a Zoom Stakeholder Webinar.  This campaign call will give you an insight into Bonded by Blood and outline the ways that you and your organisation can support the campaign: Wednesday 29th September at 5 pm.  You register to join using the following links (also featured in the toolkit). After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Topic: Stakeholder Campaign Call - Bonded by Blood.  A Mother’s Story

When: Sep 29, 2021 05:00 PM London

Register in advance for this webinar:

Campaign Toolkit

 To access more information about the campaign and get involved by sharing our campaign assets – please access our Bonded by Blood Toolkit here.

(cover photo courtesy of Amir Esrafili at Unsplash)

Free Churches Group Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day

There is a Crack in Everything: reflecting on grief, trauma and resilience in light of chaplain’s experience during the pandemic.

This Study Day will provide chaplains with an understandings of recent developments in the theory related to these themes as well as offering the opportunity to reflect on their experiences through the pandemic. With input from Nigel Fawcett-Jones, Pete English and a specially recorded poetry set from Harry Baker.

Cost:

• £6 for chaplains who belong to a denomination/organisation that is a member of the Free Churches Group

• £18 for all other chaplains

Date: Thu, 4 November 2021, 08:45 - 16:30

Programme

08:45 – digital doors open

09:15 – 09:45 welcome, introduction and opening prayer/reflection

09:45 – 11:00 session one – Grief (Pete English)

11:15 – 12:30 session two – Trauma (Nigel Fawcett-Jones)

Lunch –links will be provided for those who would like to chat over lunch with others

13:30 – 14:00 session three – recorded poetry set from Harry Baker

14:15 – 15:30 session four – Resilience (Nigel Fawcett-Jones)

15:45 – 16:30 Plenary followed by closing prayer/reflection

Speakers

Nigel Fawcett-Jones

Prior to his retirement in 2019 Nigel served 30 years as a police officer with West Yorkshire Police. His experience in his specialised role of Roads Policing saw him develop additional responsibilities as Road Death Family Liaison Officer, Casualty Bureau and Road Death Senior Investigation Officer. He also completed a post graduate diploma in Disaster Victim Identification at the University of Dundee.

Nigel works as a Chaplain Manager for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association which provides crisis trained chaplains who respond to community crises. He and his team have provided chaplain support to the church response at events as diverse as terrorist incidents (Westminster, London Bridge, Manchester), the Grenfell Tower fire and numerous flooding events across the UK. Internationally, Nigel has worked in a chaplain role in Haiti in response to the cholera outbreak, wildfires in the US and terrorism in Belgium.

Since 2019 Nigel has fulfilled the role of Chaplain within the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, Major Collision Enquiry Team and Counter Terrorism Unit. He has also developed training resources for the broader chaplain team of West Yorkshire Police.

Pete English

Pete has worked as a church youth worker & school counsellor for over 25 years. He is project lead for ListeningPeople - from AtaLoss.org. He counsels children and young people in 5 schools in the West Midlands and provides training and support to those who work with young people impacted by loss and bereavement.

Harry Baker

World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker published his debut anthology ‘The Sunshine Kid’ with Burning Eye in December 2014. The subsequent show of the same name was voted ‘Best Spoken Word show’ of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015. Now a fully-fledged maths graduate and full time poet, His work has been shared on TED.com and viewed millions of times worldwide, as well as being translated into 21 different languages.

(cover photo courtesy of Aaron Lee at Unsplash)

World Suicide Prevention Day - September 10th

On Friday 10th September it will be World Suicide Prevention Day.

Our Free Churches Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy, Revd Dr Mark Newitt, shares some helpful reflections on this difficult matter:

“Over the course of someone’s lifetime, 1 in 5 people have suicidal thoughts and 1 in 15 people attempt suicide. That may not sound like a lot, but a statistic that shocked me was that every two hours in the UK a man takes his own life. In fact, in the UK, suicide is the highest cause of death among men under the age 45. While women are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and make suicide attempts than men, men are 3 times more likely to take their own life than women.

The British Psychological Society suggests that one reason suicide rates are lower among women is that they are able to manage complex emotions, have more flexible coping strategies and, perhaps most importantly, are more likely to ask for help or express depressive or suicidal feelings,” writes Mark.

Mark goes on to say, “In the era of Covid-19, with all the uncertainty and anxiety it has brought, it’s more important than ever that we’re there for each other as well as looking after our own mental health.

You don’t need special training to have an open, authentic conversation about mental health. Being honest about our own feelings and vulnerabilities, and simply listening without judgement when someone is open with us, are important first steps.

If you would like more information around mental health generally, the charity Mind provides a wealth of resources, as does the NHS Every Mind Matters website.

For resources relating particularly to suicide prevention, supporting those who have been bereaved due to suicide, and using appropriate language around suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Alliance has links to national and local organisations. In Addition, I recently came across the Campaign Against Living Miserably website, which has lots of helpful information and guidance.”

(Cover photo courtesy of Kristina Tripkovic at Unsplash)

'ORGAN DONATION WEEK' COMING UP IN SEPTEMBER

A couple of years ago Free Churches Group, working with the Blood Transfusion and Organ donation services, facilitated a one day conference with our member churches and groups. This was a useful event to help us to raise the profile and importance of these services, particularly for our churches who have members from Black, Asian and other ethnic communities. We would like to continue to encourage more blood and organ donors from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to come forward to meet the needs of patients from across our communities. Certain conditions, such as sickle cell and thalassaemia, are more prevalent within these communities.

We would like to share with you news of Organ Donation Week which is coming up in September.

This is an awareness raising week from 20th - 26th September with a theme this year of: ‘Leave Them Certain’. This campaign aims to encourage people to talk to their loved ones about organ donation through highlighting that families are always involved before organ donation goes ahead.

Find out further information about this year’s campaign and how you, your churches and your families can get involved in the discussions about this vital issue.

ORGAN DONATION WEEK

(cover photo courtesy of DESIGNECOLOGIST at Unsplash)