Pastoral Care

What we do

Pastoral Care (Spiritual Care) is the provision of assessment, counselling, support and ritual in matters of a person’s beliefs, traditions, values and practices enabling the person to access their own spiritual resources.

When spiritual needs are recognised and responded to as an integral part of person-centred care, an essential contribution is made to peoples’ health and wellbeing.

Chaplains are not just about religious conversations.  Chaplains seek to engage with people’s ultimate concerns as they journey through life. 

Who we care for

We care for patients, their families and friends, residents, visitors, volunteers and staff.

What to expect

The majority of our chaplains are volunteers or are representatives of their faith communities. Many attend only when there is a specific referral, though a number of chaplains will visit for a few hours each week.

Chaplains are often assigned to a specific ward for their visits. Patients will not automatically get a chaplain visit you while you are at Bendigo Health.

If staff notice a patient or their family is struggling, please put in a referral.

Our Pastoral Care department also runs Memorial Services three times a year, inviting all next of kin of those who have died whilst patients at Bendigo Health. Ensuring that Next of Kin details in iPM are correct assists greatly with this process.

Referrals

Referrals are available for all patients. Chaplains can be contacted through the following channels:

• Staff can create a chaplain referral for you by following the chaplain referral process published on the staff intranet (Quick links). This process covers general and urgent referrals.
• A full list of chaplains and their area of focus is on the staff intranet. When a specific chaplain is requested, chaplains can be contacted directly by staff via the “Full Chaplains list”.
• Patients, residents and families can send an email to [email protected] outlining who is requesting a visit, their current location and some general background information on what is requested of the chaplain. (General referrals only, not urgent.)

Some chaplains are available for afterhours emergency visits, however many only visit during regular business hours.

Patients can access this service during their stay in hospital, as can those visiting someone in hospital, or residents in one of Bendigo Health’s residential services. Staff and volunteers can also access this service. Pastoral Care does not offer home visits.