Abstract
Healthcare chaplaincy in the National Health Service (NHS) has rapidly changed in the last few years. Research shows a decline of people belonging to traditional faith frameworks, and the non-religious patient demographic in the NHS has increased swiftly. This requires a different approach to healthcare chaplaincy. Where chaplaincy has originally been a Christian profession, this has expanded to a multi-faith context. Over the last five years, humanists with non-religious beliefs have entered the profession for the first time, creating multi-faith and belief teams. As this is a very new development, this article will focus on literature about humanists entering traditionally faith-based NHS chaplaincy teams within the last five years in England. This article addresses the question “what are the developments resulting from the inclusion of humanist chaplains in healthcare chaplaincy?” Topics arising from the literature are an acknowledgement of a changing healthcare chaplaincy field, worries about changing current practices and chaplaincy funding, the use of (Christian) language excluding non-religious people and challenging assumptions about those who identify as non-religious.
Highlights
This article was written by an employed humanist pastoral carer working within healthcare chaplaincy
As humanists entering faith-based chaplaincy teams is a recent development in the U.K., this article shall discuss the question “what are the developments resulting from the inclusion of humanist chaplains in healthcare chaplaincy?”
The guidelines explain that “healthcare chaplaincy is a service and a profession working within the National Health Service (NHS) that is focused on ensuring that all people, be they religious or not have the opportunity to access pastoral, spiritual or religious support when they need it”
Summary
This article was written by an employed humanist pastoral carer working within healthcare chaplaincy. A healthcare chaplain is viewed as a professional person working within a healthcare setting focusing on meaning-making, purpose and existential questions of patients, family members and staff which can include religious explorations and expressions to someone who holds a faith. This person is endorsed by his or her faith or belief group and works within a chaplaincy team to support in a pastoral, spiritual and religious way. When relating “pastoral” to an individual, it can relate to a person of humanist or non-religious background who is a professional person working within a healthcare setting focusing on meaning-making, purpose and existential questions of patients, family members and staff (Humanists UK 2021). The preferred title for humanists is pastoral carer; in keeping with the prevailing NHS job title, healthcare chaplain will be used in this article to encompass a range of titles which includes pastoral carer, humanist chaplain and non-religious pastoral support worker
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