Document resource
Background Spiritual care is frequently interpreted reductively as a form of religious support; referrals for spiritual care/chaplaincy are often made on this basis. However, this fails to represent the needs of contemporary patients and families living with life-limiting illnesses. It also misunderstands how contemporary professional spiritual care has evolved as a psychologically and philosophically informed talking therapy.Aim To describe an emerging form of professional spiritual care – psycho-spiritual care – and outline its contribution to patient care beyond a reductively interpreted religious intervention.Method This presentation briefly describes the contemporary landscape of belief in the UK (and other Anglophone countries). Even as Cicely Saunders opened St Christopher’s Hospice in 1967, UK religious affiliation was in precipitous decline, regular church attendance having peaked in 1956 at 10 million people (19% UK population). Brierley Consultancy predicts by this year attendance will be around 2.6 million (about 5%).Outlining the inappropriateness of the religious model of healthcare chaplaincy (Humanists UK. A like-minded listening ear. [internet]), the presentation introduces an emerging therapeutic framework. Psycho-spiritual care is a talking therapy that unites disciplines traditionally assumed to be in opposition: psychology and spirituality. These complementary disciplines are each concerned about the wellbeing and flourishing of the human soul (Greek, psyché–soul) (Nolan. J Study Spirituality. 2011;1(1):50-64). As practised by certain dual-qualified spiritual care practitioner-therapists, psycho-spiritual care grounds contemporary science in the wisdom of the world’s traditions and informs ancient insights with contemporary understandings.Results Recent research has acknowledged that greater interface of the psychological and spiritual could offer patient benefits that lead to more efficient therapeutic practice (Rego, Pereira, Rego. Neuropsychiatry. 2018;8(2):484–494).Conclusion Some hospices have radically redefined their commitment to spiritual care, marginalising or even removing spiritual care from their offer. This unnecessarily risks depriving patients of significant health benefits (Gijsberts, Liefbroer, Otten, et al. Med Sci. 2019;7(2):25). Our hospice is redefining its pastoral/spiritual support as psycho-spiritual care and has appointed a dual-qualified, transpersonal counsellor as a psycho-spiritual care counsellor.