HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY TASK FORCE REPORT Responding to human need by loving service. Abstract In the Epistle of James, the sick call for the elders of the Church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. Submitted by the members of the Hospital Chaplaincy Task Force, March 8, 2016 HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY TASK FORCE REPORT Contents Chapter 1 : Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter 2 : Scope and Methods.................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 3 : Responsibilities, Principles & Standards .................................................................................... 5 Chapter 4 : Background Research ................................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 5 : Organizational Model ................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 6 : Educational Needs .................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 7 : Glossary .................................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 8 : Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 16 1 | P a g e HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY TASK FORCE REPORT Chapter 1 : Executive Summary In providing this executive summary the Hospital Chaplaincy Task Force recommends the full report to the reader and encourages her or him to read to the end for a fuller understanding of the rationale and recommendations presented in this report. To begin, spiritual care ministry is a responsibility that we all share as Anglicans. In the Baptismal Covenant, we promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbour as ourselves; and the third Mark of Mission calls us to respond to human need by loving service. In the Book of Alternative Services, the ministry for the care of the sick is portrayed as an act of worship, calling us to prayer for the sick and names the actions of touching and anointing and the sharing of our Holy Communion. Like Jesus who consoles us, we are called to console those who are in any affliction. The Hospital Chaplaincy Task Force is proposing that a Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry be created which is both diocesan and regional in scope. It believes this can be achieved by establishing a Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry Council that will have responsibility for identifying and recruiting Clergy and lay spiritual care visitors (gather); educating and (in cooperation with the Bishop) certifying them (transform); and commissioning them (send) for ministry in the hospitals throughout the diocese. A significant amount of spiritual care ministry happens in many parishes in our diocese. Building on the strengths of parish spiritual care ministry discovered by the Hospital Chaplaincy Task Force Parish Survey and January Consultation, the recommended Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry model is based in regional deaneries and is based on a combination of lay Spiritual Care Visitors and clergy Spiritual Care Practitioners. There are at least five models of hospital chaplaincy at work in the Diocese. While there are parishes who visit hospitals, many others visit residential care facilities, extended care facilities and some visit correctional centres. Some parishes are involved in an ecumenical relationship that funds chaplaincy. This report makes recommendation solely for the ministry in hospitals. In the Hospital Chaplaincy Task Force’s research and literature review, we discovered the Ministry of Health’s new policy framework for spiritual care in the health care system and the Canadian Spiritual Care Association’s work on competencies and ethics. Their work has informed our approach to nomenclature in this report and the need for a program of training for both clergy and lay volunteers who are recruited into this ministry. The Task Force learned that Spiritual Care Visitors and Practitioners need to provide pastoral care to patients, certainly; but, there is a significant need to also care for the families of patients and staff in institutions. This report identifies the need to establish an Anglican spiritual care training program and expects that clergy and lay spiritual care visitors will be required to complete the screening in faith, police checks and anti-racism training before certification by the Bishop. This educational component and administrative requirement is one of the tasks of the Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry Council outlined in the following pages. Start up funding for this new program is required for its establishment and the development of the educational materials. The only anticipated ongoing costs are for ongoing training, certification, gatherings of the spiritual care visitors, etc. These are anticipated to be part of the job description for the part-time Diocesan Spiritual Care Coordinator which is seen as an ongoing expense. 2 | P a g e HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY TASK FORCE REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS The Hospital Chaplaincy Task Force makes the following recommendations to the Standing Committee on Mission & Ministry Development of the Diocese of New Westminster: 1. That there be established a Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry that is built around a partnership between the Diocese and the eleven (11) regional deaneries as described below. 2. That Diocesan Council, with the Bishop’s consent, establish the Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry, and on the Bishop’s recommendation, appoint a Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry Council (DSCMC). 3. That funding be found within diocesan resources or trust funds or through tuition fees for the development of an Anglican spiritual care training program, and that lay Spiritual Care Visitors be required to achieve this level of competency before certification is granted by the Bishop. 4. That the DSCMC partner with Vancouver School of Theology or the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care to develop this Anglican spiritual care training program. 5. Where Clergy do not have the first unit of CPE or equivalency, and they wish to be part of the Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry, HCTF recommends that funds should be found to make this possible from diocesan resources or trust funds and from the parish and regional deanery where the clergy is resident. 6. That individuals, both clergy and lay, who participate in this Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry be required to comply with Screening in Faith, Sexual Misconduct and Anti-Racism training policies, with full police record and vulnerable sector checks being required; and it further recommends that Spiritual Care Visitors who are selected by the DSCMC to participate in this Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry be licensed annually by the Bishop; and it further recommends that these Screening in Faith policies be updated to include these ministry positions. 7. That the DSCMC work with the Health Authorities to educate their health care staff about the benefits of spiritual care and the role and work of spiritual care workers. 8. That the DSCMC establish criteria for selection of spiritual care workers and be responsible for the recruitment of suitable candidates for this Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry and the establishment of an interview and selection process for the candidates. 9. That the DSCMC establish a budget to include the creation of a Training program/curriculum development, the paid half-time position of Diocesan Spiritual Care Coordinator to support the Council in its work, and a budget for annual expenses of the program. 10. That job descriptions be developed for clergy and lay Spiritual Care Visitors that will include competencies similar to those established by Canadian Association of Spiritual Care (see Appendix I & II). 11. That in addition to the sources of funding recommended above, that the Diocese establish this Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry as a priority for funding requests through annual gifts of money from individual Anglicans, parishes, grants from appropriate foundations, and ecumenical and health authority partnerships. 12. That the Diocesan Spiritual Care Ministry be implemented in 2017 after the DSCMC has been established and done its initial work of organization, recruitment and training. 3 | P a g e HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY TASK FORCE REPORT Chapter 2 : Scope and Methods The scope or mandate refers to the terms of Reference for the Hospital Chaplaincy Task Force (HCTF) which comes from the Standing Committee on Mission & Ministry Development (MMD) of the Diocese of New Westminster. HCTF’s task is to investigate whether hospital chaplaincy is considered by parishes and the diocese to be urgent and important, and to identify particular hospitals and other health care facilities where chaplains are needed. If HCTF determines that there is an urgent need, it is to create and recommend to MMD an annual budget for Hospital Chaplaincy Ministry that includes: (1) Remuneration, for hospital chaplains; (2) an education framework, such as Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) training of hospital Chaplains, volunteers, and parish-based clergy; (3) a method for coordination of the work, by defining and recommending to MMD how the coordination of the ministry might be integrated into the administrative