The Discipline (my handout)

The “Discipline of Pastoral Care” Cycle

Needs, Hopes, Resources – emphasizes that the patient is not just a need (or problem); the patient also has hopes and resources. Examples: Feelings, vocation, family, purpose, faith, community, world view, religious history, journey, ultimate values, dreams. Profile Concept of Holy Meaning (illness?) Hope Community Contributing outcomes Shared (with the patient) Sensory-based –(eg maintained more eye contact, as opposed to patient was less withdrawn/sad) Communicable – one sentence rule of thumb How to know you’re done for now

Plan Clear Communicable Responsibilities distinguished – who does what? the chaplain? the patient? another team member? Mutual (consent?) Integrated (with the medical care team) Interventions – can range from questions to confrontation to prayer to silent hand holding to reading scripture to personal sharing and and everything in between. (p. 24) Resources Presence Relational Intentional Non-judgmental Faithful Applying the discipline does not explicitly change [these behaviors], but it does raise our consciousness and intentionality. . . it blunts tendencies to “do what we always do” and keeps us focused. (p. 25)

Measurement Sensory-based (as it was with outcomes) Indicies Communicable Reflected Spiritual care providers are so accustomed to picking up on what’s going on right now and imagining what’s next [that we overlook] the distance we have come. . . This “overlooking leads to a lot of unnecessary anxiety [and] extra work. (p. 25) If the chaplain is not organized enough [and] does not have the courage . . . to look back on goals set [then targeted interventions can’t be made]. (p. 27) [W]e need to realize that even as we go about assessing, we are effectively giving pastoral care. (p. 27)