Communication 

Level 4

Develop and maintain communication with people on complex matters, issues and ideas and/or in complex situations 
 

• Service users
• Relatives/carers
• Colleagues/clergy
• Other religious leaders of different faiths
• Faith communities
• Healthcare staff
• Service delivery and development managers
• GPs
• Volunteers
• Registrars
• Coroners
• Students

Situational factors, issues and risks

• verbal abuse/aggression from service users or members of the public

Taking action to improve communication

• assessing the need for translators/advocates in a widely culturally diverse population
• accessing and using the interpreter service to aid communication with service users/relatives/carers

Purpose of communication

• providing spiritual, pastoral and religious counselling to distressed patients and/or their relatives
• comforting patients in states of high distress and disturbance
• offering advice and support to clinical staff and managers in order that they may better support the spiritual and pastoral care needs of service users
• providing and receiving complex/sensitive or contentious information e.g. exploring the interface  between religion/spirituality and mental health with highly disturbed service users
• listening actively and demonstrating empathy with service users who may have a different sense of reality
• overcoming barriers to understanding or acceptance of mental illness
• raising awareness and understanding of mental illness for staff and relatives/carers as well as service users
• being a source of information and reassurance to try to remove/lessen the stigma and fear associated with mental illness
• establishing and maintaining relationships in difficult pastoral circumstances
• dealing with differences of opinion in an equitable and objective manner
• receiving information from service users  in hospital while being bound by the dual demands of the Chaplaincy and the NHS in respecting the confidentiality of personal information and what may be shared with the team
• advising clergy and other religious leaders in the pastoral care of their people while in hospital
• advising healthcare staff in the spiritual, pastoral and religious care of patients and relatives/carers especially in the interface between spirituality and mental health
• teaching staff and students
• facilitating information and advice sharing networks among local faith communities concerning the relationship between spirituality, religion and mental health care
• acting as a resource for a wide range of people seeking advice on their studies e.g. suggesting reading lists, courses etc
• advising healthcare staff, patients/carers on multi-cultural issues and spiritual values
• conducting services of public worship in the hospital Chapel
• publicising when services will be held
• facilitating ceremonies and sacraments
• publicising Chaplaincy in mental health locally and nationally by presentations at seminars, conferences etc.

Personal and people development 

Level 4

Develop oneself and others in areas of practice

• keeping up-to-date with best practice through participation in courses, conferences and professional association activities e.g. study days for mental health chaplains
• being committed to and understanding own professional spiritual growth and development within an overall framework of a more general perspective on human emotional and psycho-spiritual development

Personal development

• receiving external professional supervision related to psychotherapy
• identifying own personal development plan with line manager
• engaging in reflective practice
• developing expertise and special interest within a programme of care e.g. mental health

Enabling others to develop

• leading nationally to develop mental health training for chaplains working in mental health settings
• contributing to a wide range of service initiatives in training and education
• offering advice, guidance and consultation to healthcare staff on issues related to spiritual assessment and care of patients and relatives
• ensuring that healthcare staff and the Chaplaincy team see the workplace as a learning environment, acting on reflective and evidence based practice as a normal way of working
• teaching healthcare staff how to address the spiritual needs of service users
• running ad hoc seminars for doctors and psychologists on the interface of spirituality and mental health
• offering work related support to staff experiencing stress
• acting as a resource for knowledge, support, training and education for healthcare staff
• planning, implementing, and evaluating the delivery of formal programmes which provide the core competences needed for CHCC Professional Registration - entry level
• contributing to the theological and professional development of the Chaplaincy Team
• supporting the Director in running the formal programmes
• negotiating resources for running programmes
• supervising theology students in the workplace
• coordinating part time chaplains and volunteer-student placements
• teaching volunteers

Health, safety and security 

Level 3

Promote, monitor and maintain best practice in health, safety and security

• undertaking statutory training and regular updates
• ensuring that team undertake statutory training and regular updates

Monitoring work areas and practices

• ensuring that the Chapel of Rest and Chapel are suitably maintained

Taking the necessary action in relation to risks

• undertaking an assessment of risk in all cases e.g. especially when working in high dependency locked areas
• providing training for chaplains in basic personal safety when working individually with patients e.g. how to exit the room
• providing training for team on defusing situations, dealing with aggression etc.
• providing training for volunteers in managing contingencies when patients are being transported from place to place
• ensuring security of information relating to patients

Service improvement  

Level 3

Appraise, interpret and apply suggestions, recommendations and directives to improve services

• identifying and evaluating the development of Chaplaincy work in a multi-faith setting
• making recommendations for improving draft policies and strategies where they may adversely affect service users
• participating in strategy meetings with core group of managers to improve mental health services
• leading in the development of  ''Trust values'' and production of value statements
• developing policies on how the values will be embedded throughout the Trust

Evaluating own and other's work

• analysing and interpreting local and national initiatives/ policies/ targets and discussing their implications for service delivery with the multi-faith team
• reviewing how Trust value statements have become embedded in the culture of service delivery

Further action

• publicising Trust developments nationally

Quality 

Level 4

Develop a culture that improves quality

• observing and implementing the National Standards set for the effective working of the Chaplaincy Service
• following the College of Healthcare Chaplains Code of Conduct
• abiding by the guidelines of own faith community e.g. the Church of England Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of Clergy
• following the Psychotherapy Code of Guidance
• implementing Chaplaincy service policies

Working effectively in own team and as part of the whole organisation

• working with team leaders to help them lead and deliver their agreed core services
• leading discussions on the spiritual care of patients with the multi-disciplinary team
• representing chaplains in mental health by attending meetings both within the Trust and nationally
• developing groups of volunteers
• initiating and taking responsibility for own work pattern
• respecting the views of others and their professional roles
• working collaboratively with all other members of the Chaplaincy Team
• collaborating with other faith leaders
• promoting effective working relationships with colleagues, other professionals and voluntary agencies

Risks to quality

• highlighting where equality and diversity policies and procedures are failing to achieve the desired effect
• addressing service user dissatisfaction with the chaplaincy service e.g. approach of clergy trying to impose personal beliefs

Equality and diversity 

Level 4

Develop a culture that promotes equality and values diversity

• respecting individual’s rights in expressing spirituality through all faiths and none
• following Healthcare Chaplains Code of Conduct
• promoting equality of opportunity and good relations as outlined in the Trust's Equality and Diversity Policy
• ensuring that the Trust value statements are embedded in Trust Equality and Diversity Policy

Actively promoting equality and diversity

• ensuring that the workplace is a neutral environment e.g. ministering with integrity to others who have a different philosophy, belief and value system
• supporting staff who have complaints as a consequence of unfair and discriminatory practice
• using Trust methods and processes to resolve complaints
• working with Trust equality and diversity lead to evaluate the effectiveness of Trust policies and how well Trust values are embedded in the policies
• protecting patients from unwanted visits from faith groups/religious representatives
• ensuring equality and respecting diversity in the recruitment and selection of clergy and volunteers

Protection of health and wellbeing  

Level 2

Contribute to protecting people at risk

• service users who have been identified as neglecting themselves or likely to harm themselves
• service users who put others at risk

Protective interventions will include

• working with other members of the team e.g. social workers, nurses, psychologists, other health care professionals
• assessment and monitoring of the people concerned
• on-going contact and follow-up
• recording and reporting work undertaken

Enablement to address health and wellbeing needs 
 

Level 4

Empower people to realise and maintain their potential in relation to health and wellbeing

• enabling service users and their families/carers to understand the interface between mental health and spirituality
• enabling service users and their families/carers/friends to overcome the fear and stigma associated with mental health problems

Risks to health and wellbeing will include

• actual or potential self-harm
• rapid deterioration of mental health or social support networks
• the complexity and range of factors contributing to breakdown of mental health

Enable people to realise and maintain their potential will include

• counselling
• providing spiritual support
• enabling people to come to terms with large scale life changes e.g. death
• empowering service users to manage their behaviour
• providing psychological support
• enabling service users to become expert in managing their mental illness

Assessment and treatment planning 

Level 4

Assess physiological and/or psychological functioning when there are complex and/or undifferentiated abnormalities, disease and disorders and develop, monitor and review related treatment plans

• a spiritual assessment as part of the patient journey
• developing a psychological profile of the patient
• psychotherapeutic assessments
• assisting and advising healthcare staff undertaking spiritual assessments
• multi-disciplinary case reviews

Assessment may result in

• psychotherapeutic treatment planning
• a treatment plan that includes counselling
• spiritual support
• referrals to other healthcare practitioners
• referrals to other faith  communities

Level 4

Plan, deliver and evaluate interventions and/or treatments when there are complex issues and/or serious illness

-     assessment

• psychotherapeutic
• counselling
• spiritual direction
• spiritual practices e.g. body related techniques for self management; meditation; rituals
• pastoral accompanying and moral support

Learning and development 

Level 4

Design, plan, implement and evaluate learning and development programmes

• designing formal training programmes for clergy or volunteers from minority faith communities which provide the core competencies for chaplain registration
• providing bursaries for students attending the formal training programmes
• arranging practice placements for the students in community and ward settings
• supporting the team delivering the programmes
• monitoring programmes and students progress
• evaluating the outcomes of the programmes

Dimension G2

Development and Innovation 

Level 3

Test and Review

New concepts, models, methods, practices, and equipment.

Indicators

To develop concepts which expand and focus spiritual and pastoral care intervention in the area of mental health care –

• review and develop appropriate psychological models to the interface between spiritual and mental health care
• develop and apply body based techniques used in spiritual traditions e.g. yoga, energy movement, and meditation to the care of persons with disturbed mental health
• explore and develop the application of traditional practices of prayer and worship for people with disturbed mental health

-    critique and challenge conventional medical approaches which fail to see the individual    as a whole person

Dimension G4

Financial Management  

Level 1

Indicators

Examples of application

-    Budget planning and management

• Authorisation and review of expenditure
• Generation of income through course fees

Services and project management 

Level 3

Prioritise and manage the ongoing work of services and/or projects

• assessment of spiritual need
• improving mental health and wellbeing
• education, training and development
• service effectiveness
• human resource management and development
• capacity and capability building
• marketing and promotion

Monitoring the delivery of the service/project will include

• effectiveness of the formal teaching programmes meeting their objectives
• use of resources against agreed budgets

People management 

Level 3

Coordinate and delegate work and review people's performance

• number of staff in team
• skill mix of staff e.g. clergy and volunteers
• gender, race-culture and faith community profiling to match profile of client groups
• interviewing and appointing staff
• performance review and staff discipline
• supervision of clinical and pastoral practice

Capacity and capability 

Level 4

Work in Partnership with others to develop and sustain capacity and capability

• spirituality in mental health care as a developing area of chaplaincy work

Processes will include

• advice and facilitation
• consultancy
• opportunities for participating with others
• seeking out new partnerships
• team building, locally and nationally

Issues will include

• motivation and commitment of management to provide resources
• differing views about the need for developing capacity and capability in this field

Evaluation will include

• feedback from all agencies involved