We have a team of volunteers supporting the trust’s chaplaincy-spiritual care team. They tend to the spiritual wellbeing of patients and family members of all faiths and none. They often provide comfort at times of spiritual challenge.
Chaplain Claire Carson explains: “The aim of Dying Matters Awareness Week is to encourage people to think, ask questions and talk about death. Every day my work as a chaplain reminds me how fragile and precious life is.
“So many people I talk to wish they had been able to talk about death with loved ones sooner. Being open, honest and having the courage to talk about death and dying can transform the way we live or lives. It can also transform the care we offer patients who are dying.
“The Chaplaincy-Spiritual Care team is here for everyone of any faith, belief, or philosophy of life. We offer spiritual and religious care in response to an individual’s need in a compassionate, non-judgemental way.
“As well as chaplains from various faith and belief backgrounds our volunteers visit patients each week on the wards, offering them time and space to explore their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and stories about what is important to them. Sometimes being alongside someone in silence is just as important.”
Mari, a chaplaincy-spiritual care volunteers says: “A dying patient once said to me that what she most wanted was to be able to die at peace with the world.
“In the weeks that followed it was a strange joy to give her calm space in which to consider what that might mean – from the form of her funeral to the possessions she might leave each of her daughters and the growing comfort of her faith”.
