Scottish Association of Chaplains in Healthcare

SACH   Soundings  
No 27 December 2006

Contents

• From the President
• Annual General Meeting
• Helping Bereaved Families
• Room for Reflection
• Advance notice of Conference
• What the SACH Executive is doing for you
• Piloting NES Standards
• Spirituality
• Celebrations and Rituals
• Scratchings from the TDO
• Index of Previous Newsletters

  Print out SACH Sounding No 27 in PDF Format

The Bare Necessities

I must confess that I have been rather glad that ever since the recent restrictions on hand luggage on aeroplanes were introduced I haven't had need of flying anywhere. I'm sure that I'd have been one of the people who read the instructions wrongly and took all sorts of hazardous items on board. I never thought that a bottle of Highland Spring posed such a threat.

So what can you take on a plane? Despite rumours of a relaxation of the restrictions, at the time of writing you cannot take any liquids, or gels, no toothpaste and certainly not the manuscript for the last of the Harry Potter series, as J K Rowling recently found out. These restrictions threw up some interesting anomalies during the first few weeks. For example pilots were not allowed to take contact lens solution into the cockpit. (And you, like me, thought that all pilots had to have 20/20 vision!) Despite that, there is an axe fixed the bulkhead of the cockpit, which obviously presents no danger whatsoever.

I guess that all this fuss helps us to look at what precisely is essential in particular areas of our lives. I mean, who really needs to take hair gel on an Easyjet flight to Luton?

Carry this thought over, if you will, to our work as chaplains. What is it that we really need in order to do our jobs? I'm sure that, in time, our KSF outline will be very useful tool, and our continuing professional development will sharpen up our ideas, but none of that really helps when it matters most.

I'm sometimes envious of other healthcare professionals who could if they so desired, enter into a situation armed with a stethoscope or blood pressure monitor. I'm sure that like me, you walk into many a situation armed only with my experience, common sense and the skills acquired in training. This is likely very true of any person employed in talking therapies, but we encounter real human drama at the most pointed of sharp ends, at the bedside.

It is here that we are truly stripped bare of any pretensions or theological quibbles and we become aware that at its heart love demands that we stay where the pain is. It's an uncomfortable place; it's unglamorous; it's certainly not high tech: but it is the essence of chaplaincy.

I trust that despite all the changes that are happening in the world of spiritual care we will not lose sight of the bare essentials of the fascinating job that we do. If we can do that then we will be Head and Shoulders above those who need to take two bottles with them.

Derek Brown President of SACH

Top

The Annual General Meeting of SACH

10.30 am - Tuesday 24 th October 2006

Scottish Churches House, Dunblane

In addition to the usual AGM business of reports and elections
there will be 2 speakers:

• Murray Chalmers (retired mental health chaplain)
  Royal Edinburgh Hospital will talk on his reflections in mental health
• Dawn Allan (full time hospice chaplain, Marie Curie Hospice, Glasgow)
  will talk about the Romanian Palliative Care conference in Cluj, at which she was a speaker.

Helping bereaved families

When the death of a loved one happens early in life or when a child dies, the effect on those left behind can be devastating. On top of grief there will be shock and disbelief and for parents the heartbreaking job of helping children to cope with their grief, (whether it was a sibling or a parent who died). For those who believe, the very foundation of their faith may be shaken. On top of all that will be an overwhelming sense of isolation as almost certainly those who grieve will know of no-one else who has been through a similar experience

There are estimated to be around 150,000 people under the age of 50 in the UK who are single because of bereavement, the majority are single parents. Some 7000 children under the age of 19 die each year. Specialist provision to support people in these circumstances is in short supply, so major UK family charity Care for the Family have set up two projects to help plug this gap. A Different Journey supports those bereaved of a partner and their children and the Bereaved Parents Network supports those families who have lost a child. Those who run the projects have suffered similar bereavements and are passionate about bringing their own personal experiences to bear in coming alongside the bereaved, giving them support and understanding. Professional standards are maintained throughout by the involvement of an experienced Cruse Bereavement Care Counsellor and the objective of complying with National Bereavement Care Standards.

Both projects offer occasional get-togethers throughout the UK where those who have been bereaved in this way can get together to share experiences, to receive support on their journey through grief and to find hope for the future. There are also regular newsletters and a network of trained “befrienders” who are able to offer support by telephone. A Different Journey also has an informal network for those who want to share contact details.

Those who are bereaved in Scotland sometimes find it difficult to get bereavement support and it may be that these two projects will be able to help. There are telephone befrienders based in Scotland and the A Different Journey Friends Network may help people to locate others who have experienced a similar bereavement for mutual support. Both newsletters provide regular contact, support and advice. The Bereaved Parent Network has already held events in Scotland, but up to now those in Scotland have had to travel to England for A Different Journey events. As the project develops it is planned to hold regular events in Scotland.

Full details of the projects are available on Care for the Family's website where other details of support for families can be found. The page for the Bereaved Parents Network is www.careforthefamily.org.uk/bpn and for A Different Journey is www.careforthefamily.org.uk/adj Copies of the newsletters can also be downloaded from the site. Alternatively, to receive further details, ring 029 2081 0800 or e-mail mail@cff.org.uk

Room for Reflection

Patients, visitors and staff at Cupar's Adamson Hospital now have space for some quiet reflection. Thanks to the fund-raising efforts Lynn Brady the hospital chaplian and the congregation of Newburgh, Abdie and Dunbog Church, the hospital now includes a special quiet room which can be used by anyone needing some time out from the buzz of the hospital.

Expressing her thanks to the fund-raisers, charge nurse Agnes Carmichael said the former sitting room has been transformed. “The money raised has helped us buy furniture, lamps and soft furnishings which have helped create a relaxing environment.” she said.

Advance Notice

of

A Major International Conference

to celebrate Ten Years of the

Scottish Journal
of Healthcare Chaplaincy

A Decade of Chaplaincy: - Change and Challenge

Crieff Hydro Hotel

12th-13 March 2007

Programme and Booking Form

What the SACH Exectuive is doing for you

The SACH Executive meets quarterly to discuss various things specifically related to chaplaincy in Scotland including how we go about building bridges of communication with our colleagues in England and Wales.  Derek Brown – SACH President has been given observer status to represent SACH on the CHCC Council (College of Healthcare Chaplains). This is good partnership working in practice.  The SACH Executive will be returning the favour by inviting Paul Russell of the CHCC to attend the SACH AGM on 24 th October 2006.

Recruitment of new members is a current focus to enable us to encourage non-SACH members to join us and recognise the value of being part of our professional association.  We place real value on fellow chaplains participating with each other across denominations, helping promote and maintain a high standard of chaplaincy and also provide support and fellowship for each other.  Please help us in this by spreading the word to chaplains who may not already be members about the value of joining SACH and enjoying, in particular, receiving regular copies of the highly regarded Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy which speaks into all our situations with a variety of articles and well researched content.

Amongst other things, Professional Registration of chaplains is an ongoing topic we continue to discuss at the Executive meetings.

We currently have two posts to be filled on the SACH Executive: Our Treasurer and an ‘ordinary' member are resigning. In addition, each year the post of the President and Secretary come up for election. Both Derek and Dawn have indicated that they are happy to stand again

If you or anyone you know would like to join the Executive, please put nominations forward to the SACH Secretary, Dawn Allan by Monday 23 rd October in order for elections to take place at the AGM on Tuesday 24 th October.

Piloting NES Standards

Following a very successful consultation day at Glen Skirlie House on 27 th June the working group has now revised the NHS Education Scotland (NES) Standards for Spiritual Care. Many positive comments were received on that day resulting in some minor changes and one important addition in relation to Emergency Planning, an omission we were pleased to have pointed out.

Areas throughout Scotland have now been asked to pilot different standards according to their specialization by the beginning of November. Following this the standards will be sent for publishing before being distributed to Boards and Departments.

The standards have the backing of the College of Health Care Chaplains, the Scottish Association of Chaplains in Health Care and the Association of Palliative Care and Hospice Chaplains.

The next stage will be to develop competencies to guide the training required to provide good practice in spiritual care at different levels of the multi-professional health care team.

Although it may take some time, the working group hope that QIS standards will also be produced to guide Boards at a strategic level in providing best practice in spiritual care as an integral part of holistic care in their area.

Special thanks should be given to David Mitchell who has done so much in guiding this work and although he has now moved on from Huntershill Hospice to a parish in Tigh-na-bruaich we hope he will continue to be part of the working group bringing his great experience and knowledge in this field. We wish David well in his work as parish minister.

Gillian Munro

NHS Tayside
Representing SACH on working party

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

(Matthew 5.44)

Spirituality
By Felicity Warner

The following two articles were submitted by Fergus.McLachlan, the Chaplain at Inverclyde Royal.

When Dylan Thomas urged us to not to “go gentle into that good night", but to "rage, rage against the dying of the light", he certainly wasn't doing anything to lift the lingering taboo of death, or to encourage our acceptance of it.

Although we are never able to know when, why or how it will happen, death remains one of life's only certainties - yet in an age where we have control and choice over most aspects of our existence, death's unpredictability makes us apprehensive and reluctant to consciously plan for it. Death and dying is one of the most resilient taboos in our society. Death is something that we put off thinking about until 'nearer' the time. But the problem with this is that in our final days, or those of our loved ones, we may feel scared, uninformed and disempowered as death confronts us.

Death is in strict polarity with our vision of birth. Thirty years ago, the birth movement was transformed by 'de-medicalising' the process. Visionary doctors, including Frederick Leboyer and Michel Odent, and a number of independent midwives 'reinvented' the system. They listened to women, encouraged them to relate to their bodies instinctively, transformed harsh labour wards into soft, gentle spaces and encouraged the use of complementary therapies such as homeopathy, massage, acupuncture and aromatherapy in labour. Music, water and breathing techniques were also promoted to transform everyone's experience of birth. The ideas are now mostly mainstream and are used in many hospitals.

WE NEED TO do the same now with death and dying. Sadly, thousands of people are suffering sad and institutionalised, lonely deaths because of the deeply rooted medically unimaginative processes in place. Most of us hope to die at home free of pain, surrounded by friends and family. Yet statistics show that 67% of us die in hospital, far away from the familiar comforts of home, nursed by strangers in an unfamiliar, noisy, institutional environment where the emphasis may still be on preventing death rather than facilitating it in a compassionate and dignified way.

If we are lucky, we may end our days at a local hospice in an atmosphere of relaxed compassion. Yet only 12% of us will actually achieve this, and the large majority will be cancer patients. Best of all, we may be able to die at home, as long as our carers are willing and able, and provided that good palliative care can be set in place. Death is something all of us are going to have to face, but modern medicine does not currently facilitate a good death. Its culture is steeped in valuing 'cure at all cost' rather than enabling the quiet triumph of a peaceful death. Many doctors still view death as the ultimate failure.

We are a society increasingly in death denial. It still happens mysteriously behind curtains, or in the bed at the end of the busy ward. The body is whisked away quickly and the bed reoccupied by someone else. We are no longer used to seeing, hearing, smelling or witnessing the deaths of our loved ones. As a result, modern and institutionalised death can be a very lonely and soulless experience.

IN ORDER TO campaign for changes we have to define what a good death actually is. Survey after survey shows that for the old and dying, pain relief is paramount and comes at the top of the list. Easy communication between doctors and patients and their families comes a close second, followed by a sympathetic psychological and spiritual framework supporting families and carers including doctors, nurses, psychologists, spiritual advisers and counsellors.

Even though over a million people die in the UK every year, proper 'care for the dying' remains under-resourced, understaffed and categorised as a hard-to-recruit 'specialist' area of medicine. Although NHS guidelines specify that all major hospitals should have palliative care teams in place, the reality is that a small number of specialists have to spread themselves too thinly. Many terminally ill patients in hospitals never see a palliative care specialist.

Death is an intimate process involving the gentle unravelling of a lifetime's experience. The pace and essence of dying, although similar in ill of us, follow a highly individual process. The 'good' death enables the gentle unfolding, and reconciling with the spirit, supported within a calm, unhurried, loving and compassionate environment.

Wherever we die, and whatever we die of, we should ill be enabled to die in our own way, at our own pace, in a loving and calm environment with the minimum of anguish, pain or pressure to conform. No one should die frightened, unsupported or alone, unless of course that is their choice. It is a basic human right to die with dignity, in peaceful surroundings, with emotional and spiritual support.

IS THERE A way of making death a better experience for those dying, those who are grieving, and those who work with the dying? In revisioning the way we approach death and dying we need to marry the best of medical service with the best approaches in spiritual comfort and solace. We can only make these changes by thinking about the death we would like for ourselves and our loved ones. We need better access to information about hospices, palliative care and how to facilitate dying at home. We also need to de-medicalise death and dying as well as campaigning to improve the process by formulating and adopting 'good death' practice in hospitals, care homes, retirement homes, hospices and our own homes.

Last year, a group of like-minded people formed the Hospice of the Heart, an online 'virtual' hospice. The Hospice of the Heart is a skilled community consisting of doctors, psychotherapists, nurses, healers, writers, musicians, artists and philosophers - all with a mission to push the boundaries and change the existing paradigm of death and dying.

As well as providing a resource for accessing vital practical information, one of its primary aims is to revision the way we tackle the subject with a new, fresh and imaginative approach. We need to learn to welcome death and its quiet wisdom into our lives. By improving the deaths of everyone around us, we ultimately improve our own.

Resurgence No. 235 March/April 2006 page 31
[see http://www.resurgence.org/contents/235.htm]

See: Hospice of the Heart
website: http://www.hospiceoftheheart.org/4436.html

The internet's first on line hospice:
http://www.communigate.co.uk/dorset/hospiceoftheheart/index.phtml

W hen Dylan Thomas urged us to not to “go gentle into that good night", but to "rage, rage against the dying of the light", he certainly wasn't doing anything to lift the lingering taboo of death, or to encourage our acceptance of it.

Although we are never able to know when, why or how it will happen, death remains one of life's only certainties - yet in an age where we have control and choice over most aspects of our existence, death's unpredictability makes us apprehensive and reluctant to consciously plan for it. Death and dying is one of the most resilient taboos in our society. Death is something that we put off thinking about until 'nearer' the time. But the problem with this is that in our final days, or those of our loved ones, we may feel scared, uninformed and disempowered as death confronts us.

Death is in strict polarity with our vision of birth. Thirty years ago, the birth movement was transformed by 'de-medicalising' the process. Visionary doctors, including Frederick Leboyer and Michel Odent, and a number of independent midwives 'reinvented' the system. They listened to women, encouraged them to relate to their bodies instinctively, transformed harsh labour wards into soft, gentle spaces and encouraged the use of complementary therapies such as homeopathy, massage, acupuncture and aromatherapy in labour. Music, water and breathing techniques were also promoted to transform everyone's experience of birth. The ideas are now mostly mainstream and are used in many hospitals.

WE NEED TO do the same now with death and dying. Sadly, thousands of people are suffering sad and institutionalised, lonely deaths because of the deeply rooted medically unimaginative processes in place. Most of us hope to die at home free of pain, surrounded by friends and family. Yet statistics show that 67% of us die in hospital, far away from the familiar comforts of home, nursed by strangers in an unfamiliar, noisy, institutional environment where the emphasis may still be on preventing death rather than facilitating it in a compassionate and dignified way.

If we are lucky, we may end our days at a local hospice in an atmosphere of relaxed compassion. Yet only 12% of us will actually achieve this, and the large majority will be cancer patients. Best of all, we may be able to die at home, as long as our carers are willing and able, and provided that good palliative care can be set in place. Death is something all of us are going to have to face, but modern medicine does not currently facilitate a good death. Its culture is steeped in valuing 'cure at all cost' rather than enabling the quiet triumph of a peaceful death. Many doctors still view death as the ultimate failure.

We are a society increasingly in death denial. It still happens mysteriously behind curtains, or in the bed at the end of the busy ward. The body is whisked away quickly and the bed reoccupied by someone else. We are no longer used to seeing, hearing, smelling or witnessing the deaths of our loved ones. As a result, modern and institutionalised death can be a very lonely and soulless experience.

IN ORDER TO campaign for changes we have to define what a good death actually is. Survey after survey shows that for the old and dying, pain relief is paramount and comes at the top of the list. Easy communication between doctors and patients and their families comes a close second, followed by a sympathetic psychological and spiritual framework supporting families and carers including doctors, nurses, psychologists, spiritual advisers and counsellors.

Even though over a million people die in the UK every year, proper 'care for the dying' remains under-resourced, understaffed and categorised as a hard-to-recruit 'specialist' area of medicine. Although NHS guidelines specify that all major hospitals should have palliative care teams in place, the reality is that a small number of specialists have to spread themselves too thinly. Many terminally ill patients in hospitals never see a palliative care specialist.

Death is an intimate process involving the gentle unravelling of a lifetime's experience. The pace and essence of dying, although similar in ill of us, follow a highly individual process. The 'good' death enables the gentle unfolding, and reconciling with the spirit, supported within a calm, unhurried, loving and compassionate environment.

Wherever we die, and whatever we die of, we should ill be enabled to die in our own way, at our own pace, in a loving and calm environment with the minimum of anguish, pain or pressure to conform. No one should die frightened, unsupported or alone, unless of course that is their choice. It is a basic human right to die with dignity, in peaceful surroundings, with emotional and spiritual support.

IS THERE A way of making death a better experience for those dying, those who are grieving, and those who work with the dying? In revisioning the way we approach death and dying we need to marry the best of medical service with the best approaches in spiritual comfort and solace. We can only make these changes by thinking about the death we would like for ourselves and our loved ones. We need better access to information about hospices, palliative care and how to facilitate dying at home. We also need to de-medicalise death and dying as well as campaigning to improve the process by formulating and adopting 'good death' practice in hospitals, care homes, retirement homes, hospices and our own homes.

Last year, a group of like-minded people formed the Hospice of the Heart, an online 'virtual' hospice. The Hospice of the Heart is a skilled community consisting of doctors, psychotherapists, nurses, healers, writers, musicians, artists and philosophers - all with a mission to push the boundaries and change the existing paradigm of death and dying.

As well as providing a resource for accessing vital practical information, one of its primary aims is to revision the way we tackle the subject with a new, fresh and imaginative approach. We need to learn to welcome death and its quiet wisdom into our lives. By improving the deaths of everyone around us, we ultimately improve our own.

Resurgence No. 235 March/April 2006 page 31
[see http://www.resurgence.org/contents/235.htm]

See: Hospice of the Heart
website: http://www.hospiceoftheheart.org/4436.html &

The internet's first on line hospice:
http://www.communigate.co.uk/dorset/hospiceoftheheart/index.phtml

Celebrations and Rituals

•  Hold a fantastic party... before you die

•  Make a recording of your voice

•  Make a scrapbook of your life

We think of death as the ultimate loss, but all losses are small deaths. Is death really an ending? Or is it, as in the cycles of nature a stage in the process of transformation? A loss is a transition, a rite of passage.

Our culture abounds with taboos about anything that is painful, especially death...many of us hate to say goodbye, or even mourn properly. We have lost many of our traditions in dealing with loss and because of this recovery can be slow, painful and difficult. Suffering a major loss reflects our own mortality.

Rituals, ceremonies, rites of passage and celebrations can help to heal our hearts and help us to move into new territory.

They can be helpful both before and after death and can be private or involve large groups of people.

TEN GOOD IDEAS

•  Make a memory book of family sayings, childhood memories, favourite songs, poems, music, favourite recipes, jokes etc

•  Record a cassette tape of either memories or messages or simply read a favourite poem or passage so that your loved ones can remember your voice.

•  Make a small altar- or a collection of objects that inspire you to keep beside your bed. This might include photographs, jewellery, stones, shells, feathers and nice things to smell.

•  Keep a large candle burning beside your bed at all times. It's very comforting to see the soft glow at night.

•  Write letters to anyone that you need to say something special too. You may want to tell someone you have really loved them, or that you are sorry for something, or it may even be a letter to someone who no longer exists. Writing down our thoughts is a very healing process.

•  If you are troubled by a long-term memory, relationship or deep secret, create a symbol or object, that represents it. When you feel ready, release it with a blessing and a smile - either by burning, tearing up or just throwing it away.

•  Write a poem, which might be read at your funeral

•  Hold a party for everyone you love... before you die

•  Make a memory box for your relatives to enjoy- fill a box (shoe box) with small objects. It could contain anything meaningful from photographs, coins, jewellery, gloves, tobacco, perfume …

•  Tell your life story to someone and get them to write it down. Confine it to an hour or so a day and concentrate on the happiest moments.

http://www.hospiceoftheheart.org/16307.html

Scratchings from the Training and Development Officer

Didn't the summer go quickly? Are you, like me, still waiting for that spell when things go a wee bit quieter and you'll find the time to get organised so that at least you'll know where your diary is? Well there is always next year.

Chaplaincy Service Standards were to the fore with our consultation event on 27 th June at Glenskirlie House Hotel. It was a fine day and it was good to have Peter Speck , John Swinton and David Mitchell as our speakers. Feedback on the “standards” has been positive and we are now asking a few areas to try using them or part of them as a pilot exercise to see how useful they are or if they need further “tweeking”. They can be found on our web site and I am looking at the possibility of having them printed. I am confident that they will be a significant help as they are used in different boards to plan the way ahead. The purpose is not to compare boards of departments but to give a handle on how to develop an action plan for future development.

The mental health chaplains day at Perth had around 20 participants and we learned of a music project in Glasgow which involves patients in making music alongside musicians as part of a group. Our attempts with bongos and rattles suggested that we should hang onto our days jobs for the meantime. But it was fun. Mike Henderson, a clinical psychologist from the borders gave a presentation which showed that psychology and spiritual care have many themes in common. He talked about the need for meaning in ways which were very familiar. He gave out resources and CDs with one called “A guide for Self-Help Resources for Depression and Anxiety” – A Practitioner's Resource. I have a few extra of these which he sent if any would care to ask. The third speaker was Charlie MacMillan of SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health) who worked until recently for the Scottish Executive on Equality and Diversity. He talked in an animated way about these issues and made them real and in particular with regard to mental health.

The Carberry conference and the one for recently Appointed Chaplains are on the horizon.

Ten or eleven chaplains begin on a course on research methods this Autumn. The course is designed by Harriet Mowatt and John Swinton and I hope will encourage chaplains to develop their research interest and expertise. This is an area where the volume and scope of work needs to be increased. The Training and Development Unit has managed to fund this initiative and I look forward to seeing how it will forward this necessary part of our agenda.

Unfortunately the revision of the HDL has been on hold for a number of months on account of the time lapse in chaplains employment issues but we are hopeful that the direct employment of whole time chaplains, in the first instance, will soon happen. I doubt if we will look seriously at HDL revision before next summer.

The Multi – faith resource document is coming on apace although the feedback and alterations and number of versions is now getting quite complicated. Our hope is that it might be published by the end of November – to coincide with Scottish Inter Faith week, but we will need to see if everything can come together by then. Distribution will involve all GP practices as well as wards and departments in hospitals.

A proposed seminar about churches and chaplaincy, organised with Kevin Franz and Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) was postponed from September, but we hope it will happen in November. In this we will look at the changes and the alternative ways in which chaplaincy is thought about in order to see what common ground and what differences remain.

It's a Friday as I write this and the sun is trying to come through the window. Who needs to get organised anyway? Let's go sailing! (cycling, swimming, running, relaxing or whatever is yours to do)

Chris Levison
Chaplaincy Training and Development Officer

NHS Education for Scotland (NES)
2 Central Quay
89 Hydepark Street
Glasgow G3 8BW
Tel: 0141 223 1443
Chris.Levison@chaplains.co.uk

The Secretary of SACH is :

Dawn Allan
Chaplain's Office
Marie Curie Hospice
Hunters Hill
1 Belmont Road
Glasgow G21 3AY

Telephone: 0141 531 1346
E-mail: secretary@sach.org.uk

You can find this (and previous) editions of SACH Soundings in full colour
on the SACH Website:
www.sach.org.uk/news.htm
If you would like to receive
the colour version of SACH Soundings
by E-mail in Acrobat PDF Format,
send your E-mail address to:
Fred.Coutts@sach.org.uk

The next edition of SACH Soundings

will be published in December 2006. 
Send news, articles, pictures, stories and ideas by the end of November to:

Rev Fred Coutts
Chaplains’ Office
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Foresterhill
Aberdeen
AB25 2ZN

Tel: 01224 553166
 
E-mail: Fred.Coutts@sach.org,uk