Spiritual care - staff support
Staff support is delivered through individual one-hour appointments in which staff can raise any issues or concerns which impact on their ability to carry out their work effectively.
"The staff support service has been a lifeline to me during very difficult times in my life. I can confidently say that without their amazing support I would not be working as a doctor today."
Dr Rutherford
About staff support
Staff member issues or concerns could be:
- personal - such as bereavements
- professional - such as loss of confidence or motivation, or trouble with colleagues
This form of staff support is open access: staff can self-refer or be referred (with their consent) by a colleague or manager.
The number of appointments is determined jointly by the staff member and chaplain in response to the presenting issues. Some come once. Others return for a number of sessions. On exiting the service an evaluation form is given to the participant which is completed anonymously.
Professional work-based supervision
The lead staff support chaplain is also an accredited professional supervisor and provides both clinical (discipline focused) and pastoral (systemic well-being focused) supervision to staff within NHS Highland.
Facilitated group support
Values Based Reflective Practice (VBRP©) is a NES-backed initiative which offers staff facilitated reflection and support. It is frequently requested by line managers or team leaders. Requests have grown exponentially. Anonymous feedback forms are collected from the participants at the end of each session which are retained by the team.
We also now cover Community Chaplain Listening Services in local health centres and GP surgeries.