Job overview

At NHFT we hold the view that spiritual care begins with encouraging human contact in compassionate relationships. This entails creating safe and secure spaces for people to talk about the things that matter most to them, to explore what give their lives meaning and purpose in life. The service is highly regarded and its development with diverse and culturally aware practitioners continues to be a priority for the organisation.

Our Chaplains work in partnership with multidisciplinary healthcare colleagues to care for the spiritual and religious needs of patients, carers and staff across the Trust. This includes mental health and community inpatient hospitals, and prison settings (Healthcare Staff support), working with people across age groups and abilities, both in person and online. The role requires being a visible and supportive presence, working proactively to provide a listening ear for patients, carers, and staff (including our staff networks). Our Chaplains are therefore an essential resource for our staff in the areas of ethics and spiritual care.

 At NHFT, we operate a model of chaplaincy where our Spiritual Wellbeing practitioners work inclusively to journey alongside people of all faith communities, belief systems and none. Sensitivity to a range of presenting needs and being person-centered is key. This role therefore requires passion and enthusiasm for working in this way.

Main duties of the job

·        Continually update knowledge of culture, diversity, spiritual and religious care, current policy, and research evidence relevant to spiritual care services. Use this to promote and develop safe, effective, and inclusive practice with multidisciplinary colleagues to support people of all backgrounds.

·        Provide spiritual wellbeing training and education to NHFT staff

·        Actively participate in Trust level groups, meetings and forums, as well as wider spiritual wellbeing activities

·        Hold and lead communal spaces with appropriate role authority in the context of issues and events that require bringing people together for connection, recognition and action (e.g. memorial services and incident planning for unexpected events).

·        Work alongside the Trust’s Volunteer Manager to select, train and supervise Spiritual Wellbeing volunteers and Honorary Chaplains.

·        Maintain and develop external connections with a range of faith leaders and community support groups to better support the needs of our culturally diverse patients, servicer users, carers and staff.

·        Given the frequent exposure to distressing or emotional situations, engagement in regular reflective practice and supervision is an essential aspect of the role to support personal wellbeing as well as for informing professional practice

·        The post involves occasional outdoor work

Working for our organisation

   ·        To meet these needs as part of care plans within the relevant service boundaries and supporting discharge pathways into the community. Needs may be complex in the context of mental health settings and may require onward referral or signposting to other care providers or community groups as appropriate.

To develop and maintain 1:1 and group spiritual wellbeing support offers. This includes facilitating creative spiritual care groups for inpatient wards and offering bereavement support for staff and service users.

·        Record contacts in relevant systems, ensuring that information is treated confidentially and with the utmost discretion to preserve dignity and safety.

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools. We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

NHFT promotes a culture of learning to improve the care and safety of our patients and staff, which focuses on people who enable our Trust to be ‘outstanding’ by supporting opportunity, innovation, development and growth.