FCG Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day

FCG Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day: Cultivating a Childlike Curiosity

Tuesday 16th June 10:30 to 16:30, Cleaves Conference Centre, 6 Castle Gate, Nottingham NG1 7AS.

This study day, put on for Free Churches Group chaplains but open to all, will feature input from Linda Dunbar and Graham Adams. Linda will provide training around Values Based Reflective Practice, and the Connect, Reflect, Respond reflective practice and/or supervision model. Graham will offer insights from his book God the Child: Small, Weak and Curious Subversions exploring the potential implications for chaplaincy of 'God as Child': How might this metaphor open up different possibilities for us? How might it also cause some disruption and difficulty? In particular, are there insights to be gained from thinking of God as small, as weak and as curious? Could this speak into our care-giving but also to us as childlike chaplains? Together, through the day, Graham and Linda will encourage us to explore how we might cultivate a childlike curiosity as chaplains.

Linda is the founding Director of LSShetland, Practice Educator for NHS Scotland Spiritual Care, the NHS Scotland National Lead for Values Based Reflective Practice,  registered Healthcare Chaplain and has recently been appointed as the academic lead director for the UKBHC. Linda devises and delivers on-line and in-person training on supervision, reflective practice and listening skills. Linda has a doctorate in Practical Theology and a PGDip in Pastoral Supervision with the Institute of Pastoral Supervision and Reflective Practice. She is passionate about honouring the inner wisdom inherent within each person and providing a safe, facilitative space and time for people to connect with their own insight.

Graham is Tutor in Mission Studies, World Christianity and Religious Diversity, and programme lead for the postgraduate degrees (n both theology and chaplaincy studies), at Luther King Theological College, Manchester. He also teaches for the Congregational Institute for Practical Theology. He is the author of Holy Anarchy: Dismantling domination, Embodying community, Loving strangeness (SCM, 2022) and God the Child: small, weak and curious subversions (SCM, 2024) and the forthcoming The Anarchic Spirit: Interpreting the Bible and the World in troubled times (SCM, 2026). Before teaching full-time, he was in Congregational ministry in Manchester.

Healthcare Chaplain Annual Study Day: Chaplaincy on the Edge

Exploring being on the margins through art, research and story

With input from Kate Cornwell, Tim Dixon, and Suzanne Nockels

Date: 12 June 2024, 10:00-16:00

Venue: Central URC Church, 60 Norfolk St, Sheffield S1 2JB

Price: £35

A discount code is available for the Free Church Healthcare chaplain.

Chris Swift writes about how chaplains are not simply on the margins between church systems and the medical paradigm that dominates the hospital, but between life and death, a Christendom past, and a contemporary spirituality that has rejected the rights of external authority. Yet, being perceived as on the border or edge can be a place of creativity that bring various benefits. Through story, art and research this study day will explore aspects of liminality and marginality and the joys, frustrations, opportunities and challenges that being ‘on the edge’ can bring.

Indicative Timetable for the day

10:15 Welcome and Introduction

10:30 Deep Talk 1

11:25 Break

11:40 Interpretating Art

12:45 Lunch

13:45 Reflections from Research

15:10 Break

15:25 Deep Talk 2

15:55 Depart/Cake and conversation

Deep Talk – sessions led by Kate Cornwell

Deep Talk is a creative and imaginative method that nurtures personal and community wellbeing. It uses life-coaching principles and the art of ancient storytelling to help individuals and groups consider their vision, wellbeing, and life purpose. Deep Talk has found success in various settings including workplaces, educational institutions, community groups, mediation, and professional development. These sessions, will give participants the opportunity to experience a full Deep Talk session and collectively explore what it means to work ‘at the edge’ of our various chaplaincy settings.

Interpretating Art – session led by Suzanne Nockels

Art, by its nature has no fixed meaning, is open to interpretation and can take on a new life not originally envisaged by the artist. Art is fluid so it can help us explore our own times of change. This session will involve sitting with a number of paintings and sculptures which broadly have healthcare as theme. They’ll be an opportunity to respond through open-ended questions and hear a little about the life and context of the artist. Together, we will build a fruitful conversation between the artwork, ourselves and between each other. Viewing art and talking around it can be a helpful tool in our own Chaplaincy contexts. At the end there will be the invitation to write or draw a response to something you’ve seen on a postcard (becoming an artist yourself).

Reflections from Research – session led by Tim Dixon

“It’s like you work for the prison, but you don’t!”

Tim will be leading us through a reflection on his doctoral thesis which looked at the pastoral care of remand prisoners and the role of the prison chaplain. One of the main themes explored there was the marginal or ‘liminal’ nature of chaplaincy, how we stand on the boundaries of people’s competing expectations and on the thresholds of being ‘part’ of the organisations we work for. Tim will make links to healthcare chaplaincy and how we work within ‘edge’ environments, with people trapped in limbo-like situations of disorientation sometimes for months or years at a time – what does this do to people and their identity, and what does it do to us? There will be opportunity for group discussion around these themes and what it might look like to live faithfully on the edge of things, and how this might be a benefit to our ministry, rather than a drawback.

If you are a Free Church Healthcare Chaplain, please contact Thandar at thandar.tun@freechurches.org.uk for the discount code. 

Photo by PNW Production at pexels.com

Organ & blood donation workshop – why health matters?

Organ and blood donation-why health matters? Join us at a special workshop to explore ways in which you can help NHS Blood and Transplant
About this event

Organ & blood donation workshop – why health matters?

Date: Tuesday 19th April 2022

Time: 10am-3.30pm

Venue: Holiday Inn, Coram St, London WC1N 1HT

We are pleased to invite you to a workshop organised by NHS Blood and Transplant and members of the Free Churches Group, Paul Rochester, and Paul Harrison from PKMedia. The aim of this workshop is to learn more about organ and blood donation, and why we need more donors from people of Black heritage.

It is also a chance to discuss ways in which you could help us reach this target audience within your church networks.

As part of the workshop, there will be a special appearance from individual speakers sharing their inspiring stories about how their lives have been impacted by blood or organ donation. There will also be an opportunity to hear from amazing speakers sharing tips and facts about how to boost your iron levels before giving blood.

A hot food buffet and teas and coffees will be provided throughout the day.

Further details can be found below. To confirm your attendance, please register via Eventbrite by Monday 21st March.

Hope to see you there.

NHS Blood and Transplant
Do something amazing today - Give Blood.
Organ donation. The gift of life.
You can visit us at www.nhsbt.nhs.uk

Allied Health Professionals Day 14th October

Allied health professionals make up the third largest clinical workforce in the NHS. There are 15 different roles working across a range of sectors from emergency response and diagnosis to mental and physical rehabilitation. On the 14 October, the many and varied workers who are allied health professions (AHPs) will be celebrating the 4th annual AHPs’ Day. This is very much driven by local ideas and opportunities. Follow #AHPsDay on Twitter you’ll be able to see examples from last year as well as plans starting to take shape for this year. You can also find out more about last year from the WeCommunities.

From Art Therapists to Osteopaths,

from Paramedics to Occupational Therapists,

from Dietitians to Podiatrists,

we pray for and give thanks for the work of those in allied health professions. Amen

Started in 2018, by Rachael Brandreth, a dietitian and Carrie Biddle, a speech and language therapist, AHPs’ Day is an annual opportunity for AHPs to come together and celebrate being part of the AHP family.

The day gives an opportunity to showcase to others the impact they make to the delivery of high quality care and is for all AHPs as well as anyone who wants to celebrate them and learn more about the work that they do.

(cover photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography @ Unsplash)

'Beginning Chaplaincy' - residential courses in Oct and March 2022 at St Padarn's, Cardiff

Are you a new or recently appointed health / social care chaplain? Then this course may be of interest to you…

Beginning Chaplaincy (residential) Course, St Padarn’s Institute, Cardiff
Saturday 9th October - Wednesday 13th October 2021 (inclusive)
Saturday 5th March - Wednesday 9th March 2022 (inclusive)

Beginning Chaplaincy is a five-day induction course for chaplains engaged in health or social care. It has been designed around the experience and needs of newly and recently appointed chaplains. Beginning Chaplaincy complements in-house induction programmes and local management. The course supports chaplains in being safe and effective practitioners, able to make a distinctive contribution. Beginning Chaplaincy is built upon the UKBHC Competencies Framework. All chaplains and volunteers are welcome to apply, regardless of their religion or belief.

More information, including contact details, can be found here and the application form here.

You can also find out about St Padarn’s postgraduate chaplaincy courses here.

(cover photo courtesy of Matheus Ferrero at Unsplash)