{"title":"All Things to all People? The Integrity of Spiritual Care in a Plural Health Service","authors":"D. Maclaren","doi":"10.1558/HSCC.40568","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In recent decades, healthcare chaplaincy in the United Kingdom has had to adapt to the growth of cultural pluralism and the waning of Christian monopolies in the public sphere. It has done this in different ways in Scotland and in England, following their differing patterns of secularization. Typically, chaplaincy in England has responded by embracing diversity, with the emergence of “multi-faith” teams. Scotland, by contrast, has sought to create a neutral space for chaplaincy, with the construction of “generic” teams. This article argues that both these responses to pluralism are problematic, for different reasons. “Multi-faith” chaplaincy risks becoming inequitable, while “generic” chaplaincy puts the integrity of the chaplain under threat. This study offers a “third way” – a way of reconceptualizing the relationship between a chaplain’s particular formational identity and the demands of a professional spiritual care service that must give equal access to all. This insight is derived by analogy from the world of counselling and psychotherapy, which has come to terms with professionalization in recent years. Writing from the Scottish context, and in contrast to the generic model, I argue for a recovery of emphasis on the chaplain’s formational identity as a necessary resource in being able to offer authentic spiritual care. Part of the process of professionalization could be the retention of an older sense of “professional,” which acknowledges the importance of being rooted in the beliefs and commitments a person “professes.”","PeriodicalId":37483,"journal":{"name":"Health and Social Care Chaplaincy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2020-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Health and Social Care Chaplaincy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1558/HSCC.40568","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
In recent decades, healthcare chaplaincy in the United Kingdom has had to adapt to the growth of cultural pluralism and the waning of Christian monopolies in the public sphere. It has done this in different ways in Scotland and in England, following their differing patterns of secularization. Typically, chaplaincy in England has responded by embracing diversity, with the emergence of “multi-faith” teams. Scotland, by contrast, has sought to create a neutral space for chaplaincy, with the construction of “generic” teams. This article argues that both these responses to pluralism are problematic, for different reasons. “Multi-faith” chaplaincy risks becoming inequitable, while “generic” chaplaincy puts the integrity of the chaplain under threat. This study offers a “third way” – a way of reconceptualizing the relationship between a chaplain’s particular formational identity and the demands of a professional spiritual care service that must give equal access to all. This insight is derived by analogy from the world of counselling and psychotherapy, which has come to terms with professionalization in recent years. Writing from the Scottish context, and in contrast to the generic model, I argue for a recovery of emphasis on the chaplain’s formational identity as a necessary resource in being able to offer authentic spiritual care. Part of the process of professionalization could be the retention of an older sense of “professional,” which acknowledges the importance of being rooted in the beliefs and commitments a person “professes.”
期刊介绍:
Health and Social Care Chaplaincy is a peer-reviewed, international journal that assists health and social care chaplains to explore the art and science of spiritual care within a variety of contexts. The journal was founded in 2013 through the merger of the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy (issn:1748-801X) and the Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy (issn:1463-9920) . It continues to be the official journal of the College of Health Care Chaplains and members of the society receive the journal as part of their annual membership. For more details on membership subscriptions, please click on the ''members'' button at the top of this page. Back issues of both previous journals are being loaded onto this website (see Archives) and online access to these back issues is included in all institutional subscriptions. Health and Social Care Chaplaincy is a multidisciplinary forum for the discussion of a range of issues related to the delivery of spiritual care across various settings: acute, paediatric, mental health, palliative care and community. It encourages a creative collaboration and interface between health and social care practitioners in the UK and internationally and consolidates different traditions of discourse and communication research in its commitment to an understanding of psychosocial, cultural and ethical aspects of healthcare in contemporary societies. It is responsive to both ecumenical and interfaith agendas as well as those from a humanist perspective.