Spiritual health is essential. It significantly impacts physical health, well-being, and quality of life. Just as medical professionals care for bodies and minds, spiritual care practitioners contribute to the overall care of individuals.
There is no one definition of spirituality, but in general, spirituality:
• is something everyone can experience
• helps us to find meaning and purpose in the things we value
• can bring hope in times of suffering and loss
• encourages us to seek peace with ourselves, others and what lies beyond.
Spirituality often becomes more important in times of distress, emotional stress, physical and mental illness, loss, bereavement, and the approach to death.
We define spirituality as the search for life’s wholeness, meaning and purpose. It affirms an individual’s inherent dignity and value and respects all spiritual paths.
The World Health Organization defines the four dimensions of well-being as physical, social, mental, and spiritual health. The spiritual dimension “is not material in nature but belongs to the realm of ideas, beliefs, values, and ethics that have arisen in the minds and conscience of human beings…”.
Cultivating awareness of one’s spirituality can support quality of life, strengthen identity and purpose, and enhance coping and meaning-making when facing death or the death of a loved one.
At Carpenter Hospice, our holistic approach addresses the needs of mind, body, and spirit. We recognize that healthcare involves treating the whole person, and spiritual care attends to a person’s spiritual needs as they cope with illness, loss, grief, or pain.
Are you asking questions like “Why is this happening to me?” “Is there any meaning in my suffering?” If you feel hopeless and alone in your illness or your grief, then Spiritual Care support may be for you.
We provide an open, caring, and compassionate environment that empowers individuals to draw on their personal beliefs and practices for comfort, courage, and strength.
The Spiritual Care Coordinator provides short-term counselling, palliative care, and bereavement support.
Spiritual Care Services Include:
• Individual Spiritual Care sessions to help clarify ethical issues, explore strengths, connectedness, and meaning-making
• A compassionate, respectful listening presence
• Space to explore questions of spirituality, religion, meaning and personal faith, and the impact of illness on family life.
• The opportunity to explore feelings of abandonment, anger, confusion, betrayal, numbness, fear, despair, loss of hope, isolation, powerlessness, or emotional hurt.
• Prayer, meditation, and reflection
• Support for Life review and Legacy work
• Connecting with faith leaders in the community
• Care for all spiritual paths, which may or may not be rooted in a religious tradition.
• Celebrations of life, ritual, ceremony, and supporting funeral planning and /or delivery
• Support on how to talk to children about death and dying