Chaplain

Job overview

The NHFT Spiritual Wellbeing Team is seeking to appoint a Band 6 Trust Chaplain (part-time, 7.5 hours per week).

We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates. However, in line with our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion, we particularly encourage applications from candidates of the Muslim faith.

While our workforce and patient population include a growing number of individuals from Muslim communities, we have an underrepresentation in our spiritual wellbeing team

The successful postholder will provide spiritual, religious, and pastoral care to patients, families, and staff, supporting an inclusive and culturally responsive service. Appointment to the role will be based on merit.

Our Mental Health Chaplains work in partnership with multidisciplinary healthcare colleagues to care for the spiritual and religious needs of patients, carers and staff across the Trust. This includes mental health inpatient hospitals, community, and prison settings, working with people across age groups and abilities, both in person and online. The role requires a visible and supportive presence, working proactively to provide a listening ear for patients, carers, and staff (including our staff networks). Our Mental Health Chaplains are therefore an essential resource for our staff in the areas of ethics and spiritual care.

Main duties of the job

• Continually update knowledge of culture, diversity, spiritual and religious care, current policy, and research evidence relevant to spiritual care services. Use this to promote and develop safe, effective, and inclusive practice with multidisciplinary colleagues to support people of all backgrounds.
• Provide spiritual wellbeing training and education to NHFT staff
• Actively participate in Trust level groups, meetings and forums, as well as wider spiritual wellbeing activities
• Hold and lead communal spaces with appropriate role authority in the context of issues and events that require bringing people together for connection, recognition and action (e.g. memorial services and incident planning for unexpected events).
• Work alongside the Trust’s Volunteer Manager to select, train and supervise Spiritual Wellbeing volunteers and Honorary Chaplains.
• Maintain and develop external connections with a range of faith leaders and community support groups to better support the needs of our culturally diverse patients, servicer users, carers and staff.
• Given the frequent exposure to distressing or emotional situations, engagement in regular reflective practice and supervision is an essential aspect of the role to support personal wellbeing as well as for informing professional practice.
• The post involves occasional outdoor work

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide 1-1 spiritual care for patients, service users, staff and carers including pastoral, religious, faith and non-faith spiritual care.
• Use evidence-based tools to assess spiritual care needs and explore core values and beliefs for people of all faiths and none.
• For further information on the advertised role, please refer to the job description located under the Supporting Documents heading. The full person specification can be accessed under the ‘About You’ Section of the document