Chapter Fourteen: Help Me Regain Control.
Another resource for reflective practice is to focus on one of the Case Study presentations published in a journal such as the Health and Social Care Chaplaincy journal published by Equinox.
Craig’s story was published on the 12 April 2018
Vol. 5 No. 2 (2017): Special Issue: Chaplain Case Study Research
This Exercise is a whole group discussion. Using the case studies presented in this particular journal is an invaluable resource for reflective practice. Furthermore, George Fitchett of Rush University Medical Center and Chaplain, Steve Nolan of Princess Alice Hospice, and University of Winchester offer many excellent case studies for group discussion and personal reflection (see footnote).
Objective: to acknowledge our own vulnerability and helplessness in healthcare encounters. To yield not to the temptation to be ‘fixers.’
Procedure:
A. Assemble the whole group in a circle
B. Facilitator reads from the selected journal [10 mins]
C. Facilitator leads personal reflection using questions provided [allow 40 mins]
D. Facilitator reads the conclusion, with the option of inviting comments on Luke 10 [10 mins]
Timing: Overall allow 60 minutes
This is a whole group exercise where the facilitator reads the case study from the journal and then opens up the discussion using the questions below. It is important not to be too controlling of the group forum, allow it to flow. Nonetheless, pay particular attention to quieter members and help
‘over talkers’ to say less!
1. Can you identify with that feeling of being overwhelmed and vulnerable?
Talk about an encounter when you felt that way.2. Is it important to place oneself ‘on the person’s level?’ Can you identify with the ‘intimidation of a ward round.’ Not just as a patient but also as chaplain?
3. Do you ever see yourself as a ‘quiet comfortable presence?’ (Journal page 198)
4. Have you learnt to allow silence? Can you identify with the temptation to break it (the silence) and ‘offer something’…. like ‘well-meaning platitudes?’
5. ‘Comfortable with my own discomfort’ – discuss.
6. I did not see him again (journal pg 199). How do you react to ‘unfinished conversations.’ Spirituality not properly discussed – not going the way you hoped.
7. Reflect on a spiritual care encounter of your own.
8. In Journal page 201 “small and overwhelmed,” it seemed almost as if I had ‘to take this feeling on so that Craig could shrug it off'.’ Share as a group.
9. Can you hear echoes of Christ taking on our weakness, our sin and our vulnerability so that we can be risen in him. - Share as a group.10. Can you relate to ways in which the Chaplain can give control? Is that important to patients? - Discuss
Conclusion
Our own vulnerability can aid empathy and affirm personhood with those we visit.
In the case study, Craig was, in the end, given back control, facilitated by the chaplain just before his death. When we used this material in the Isle of Wight NHS Trust discussion flowed freely in our reflective meeting and veered into possible unfinished business, and chaplains grieving and feeling helpless. There is a great temptation in healthcare chaplaincy to be the fixer of all things and all people but just being ‘present with’ is enough, indeed, is usually what is required.
Thinking theologically beyond questions 9 and 10, the names Mary and Martha come to mind (Luke Chapter 10).
Music to close, Crystal Gayle music and lyrics on YouTube, ‘Till I Gain Control Again’
Footnote: George Fitchett and Steve Nolan, eds, 'Spiritual Care in Practice: Case Studies in Healthcare Chaplaincy'. London and Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2015, 318 pp. (Pbk). ISBN: 978-1-84905-976-3, eISBN: 978-0-85700-87-3, £18.99.
