Healthcare

A Celebration of Chaplaincy, online event, 8th November, 7:30 - 8:30 pm

A Celebration of Chaplaincy with the President and Vice-President of the Methodist Conference

Affirming the great small things of chaplaincy through prayer, music and conversation

Register HERE before 31st October to receive your prayer pack for the event.

If you love chaplaincy then come and join us as we celebrate together. We’ll be hearing the stories of chaplains from many different sectors. There will be a chance to catch up with chaplains far and wide before being reaffirmed in this vital ministry and prayed for by the President and Vice President of the Methodist Conference.

The event will be taking place online. If you know of other chaplains local to you why not make this a shared experience by meeting together and joining the session as a group?

We would also like to send you a small gift as part of this event if you sign up before the 31st October and are happy to provide a postal address. You are still welcome to sign up after this date, although there will not be time to post anything to you.

The Methodist Church

A bit of Chaplaincy on the Side, a webinar exploring part-time chaplaincy

Monday 5th December from 18:30 to 20:00

Tickets are free and available from Eventbrite here.

Part-time chaplaincy roles come in many shapes and sizes. They may be:

  • inherited as part of a church posting

  • be carried out as a distinct role separate from church ministry

  • a role held alongside secular employment

Whether you are working part-time as a chaplain, would be interested in doing so, or know someone who should consider doing so(!) this webinar will explore how a part-time chaplaincy role can complement, inspire and inform other roles and areas of work and look at some of the pathways to becoming a chaplain.

With input from

  • The Revd Canon Helen Cameron: Chair of the Methodist Northampton District and Moderator of the Free Church Group

  • Gary Hopkins: Methodist Ministry Development Officer for Chaplaincy

  • Suzanne Nockels: Congregational Church Minister and Chaplain at Sheffield Children’s Hospital

  • Tas Cooper, Quaker Chaplain at Oxford University and a freelance Spanish to English translator

  • Bob Wilson: Secretary for Prison Chaplaincy and Free Churches Faith Advisor and chaplain at HMP Wayland

  • Mark Newitt: Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy and part of the chaplaincy teams at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and St Luke’s Hospice

The event flyer is available to download here.

Image by Gundula Vogel from Pixabay

Record demand for blood donations to help sickle cell patients prompts urgent call for donors of Black heritage

We’re proud to be supporting Black History Month this October. We would love your help promoting our #InOurBlood campaign, as we continue to increase the number of people of Black heritage donating blood. For many people with Sickle cell, ethnically matched blood often provides the best treatment, and this year we need 16,600 Black Caribbean or Black African donors to help save or improve lives.

It's #InOurBlood to help people living with sickle cell. Strength can be found in communities coming together - just like a family. That's why Black communities have the unifying power to treat sickle cell and help friends and neighbours who are battling this disease. During Black History Month, we are urging people of Black heritage to donate blood.

Sickle cell is a serious, lifelong and life-threatening blood disorder that mainly affects people of Black African and Black Caribbean ethnicity. New figures from NHS Blood and Transplant reveal that a record 250 donations are now needed every day to treat people with sickle cell, many of whom who need regular blood transfusions every four to six weeks.

This figure shows a huge increase in demand - only 150 donations a day were needed five years ago.

And hospital demand is likely to rise even further, by 14% over the next five years.

Blood donations save lives.

Sickle cell is the fastest growing genetic disorder/condition in the UK. Sickle cell symptoms include anaemia, strokes, blindness, bone damage, and over time can experience damage to organs, such as liver, kidney, lungs, heart and spleen. Ethnically matched blood provides the best treatment - without it people with sickle cell are at risk of strokes, organ failure or even death. This year 16,600 Black Caribbean or Black African donors are urgently needed to give patients the life enhancing and life saving treatments they need. The power to treat sickle cell is #InOurBlood.

How you can help

Child laughing with graphic containing messaging 'Not family, but blood' and It's #InOurBlood to treat sickle cell. Book today at blood.co.uk

You can help us save lives by sharing our campaign messaging and assets to your followers.

#InOurBlood suggested social media posts:

The power to help treat sickle cell is #InOurBlood. Blood donors of Black heritage are urgently needed. Help save up to 3 lives in one hour. Book now at blood.co.uk

Not family, but blood

It’s #InOurBlood to treat sickle cell.

Just 60 minutes can save up to 3 lives. Book now at blood.co.uk

Accompanying #InOurBlood assets:

Please accompany your posts with campaign assets from our promoting donation hub.

Please support us by sharing this campaign toolkit with your family and friends - https://sway.office.com/3JE8EAMXG1vfku9D?ref=Link

NHS Blood and Transplant

 Twitter @NHSBT  

Visit  nhsbt.nhs.uk

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

National Blood Week 2022, 13th - 19th June 2022

This week marks the National Blood Week (13th June to 19th June), and we’re encouraging more people to donate and find out their blood type. We have some great social media assets and information to share, and would really appreciate your help in getting these out to your family and friends.

The National Blood Week materials are now live on the hub here, please do download and share as you think most appropriate.

Here is also a Sway document with key messaging and how you can get involved this National Blood Week.

NHS Blood and Transplant