Adding critical reflection to spiritual care: Complementing current pastoral care training

ABSTRACT This article argues for the inclusion of critical reflection in spiritual care training and practice, including Clinical Pastoral Education. Most spiritual care training emphasizes the importance of listening well and deeply, combined with awareness of the listener’s personal reactions. Critical reflection makes explicit the importance of understanding the influence of the social context on the listening experience, and articulating the underlying assumptions and values that may be influencing the spiritual carer and those to whom they are listening. This approach fosters seeing the connections to what is happening in an individual’s external world, in their family and community and in the broader social and historical context. Individuals may thereby become conscious that external change is needed as well as, or instead of, internal: the attitudes and values expressed in an organisation or culture may be the issue rather than only the internal state of the client. Using critical reflection to complement existing training in listening will foster greater capacity to seek change where it is needed, and to encourage more socially just organisations and communities.