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Contents Soundings:12

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SACH  Soundings
 No 12 December 2002

Page 3

The Times they are a changing

I’m writing this in the afterglow of the long awaited publication of the Scottish Executive Health Department Letter on Spiritual Care. There is little doubt that this will usher in the most significant review of chaplaincy services for some considerable time and that professional organisations such as SACH will have a very important part to play in shaping the spiritual care policies that will evolve.
So it’s an exciting time to have been elected President and now having had a little time to look at the range of items that the Executive deals with I’d like to express my thanks on your behalf to them all and particularly Anne Harper who has been at the helm these past three years.
While the Guidance on spiritual care will doubtless occupy chaplain’s waking hours there are other issues which will also require attention such as professional registration, training and education, a code of professional practice, chaplaincy standards and data protection. If you can think of any others please put your answers on a postcard!
Actually that’s not as daft as it sounds because one of aims of SACH is to provide support and fellowship to chaplains and it’s hard to do that without members engaging with one another. What better plug could there be for our publications? Soundings is a means of mutual support and encouragement as well as a way of disseminating news and views. The Journal is a more reflective publication which does an excellent job in promoting the interests of chaplaincy.
The future is as ever, indeterminable, but we do have it within our power to be part of shaping the future of health care chaplaincy in Scotland and beyond. As we shape and mould, discuss and design the services that we provide I’d like to think that we won’t lose sight of what it’s all about- the patient in the bed with their myriad needs, hopes and fears.
I look forward to serving as President during this time of development and change so that we can all deliver the best possible care for our patients and feel valued and supported whilst doing it.
Wishing you every blessing in your work.

Derek Brown
President of SACH

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A little more about Derek Brown

I was a little alarmed to discover at the Carberry conference in September that of all the chaplains present I had been in post the longest - 15 years and counting. I don’t feel like an elder statesman and I hope I don’t look like one either!
I shall briefly attempt to flesh out this dinosaur’s bones. A Paisley buddie by birth I was schooled in Penicuik and had a short career in banking before being called to the ministry. I studied at New College and after a probationary year in Inverness I began working two sessions a week at Raigmore Hospital which in time combined with an appointment at Highland Hospice to give a full time post.
I graduated D.Min from Princeton in 2000, the subject of my thesis being how to assist hospice staff to meet spiritual needs.
I’m married to Susan who is minister of Dornoch Cathedral and we have two children, Simon 15, and Hannah, 12. I enjoy hillwalking, cycling and photography and am a member of the inshore rescue lifeboat crew at Dornoch.

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