Position overview

As a Spiritual Care Practitioner, you will be an integrated member of multidisciplinary healthcare teams, providing evidence-informed spiritual care that supports the spiritual, emotional and existential wellbeing of patients, families, carers and staff across Canberra Health Services.

Canberra Health Services recognises spirituality as an important dimension of holistic healthcare. Spiritual Care contributes to person-centred care by helping people find meaning, connection, hope, identity and resilience in the context of illness, injury, recovery, loss, uncertainty and life transition. Our contemporary Spiritual Support Service provides equitable access to care for people of all faiths, beliefs, cultures and worldviews within a diverse and pluralistic healthcare environment.

Working across acute, sub-acute, critical care, trauma, palliative care and end-of-life settings, the Spiritual Care Practitioner responds to the complex spiritual and emotional needs that emerge throughout the healthcare journey. This includes supporting individuals experiencing fear, distress, grief, moral injury, loss, existential concerns and questions of meaning, as well as facilitating spiritual resources, practices and rituals that contribute to wellbeing and recovery.

The successful applicant will demonstrate a strong professional and pastoral identity, advanced interpersonal skills, cultural responsiveness and a commitment to reflective practice. They will be capable of working effectively in a fast-paced clinical environment, balancing competing priorities while maintaining compassionate, person-centred care. Practitioners are expected to maintain healthy professional boundaries, engage in ongoing self-reflection and clinical supervision, and demonstrate the self-awareness and resilience required to work sustainably within high-acuity healthcare settings.

Key Responsibilities

Under limited direction of the Manager Spiritual Support Services, you will:

1. Deliver evidence-informed, person-centred spiritual care through assessment, intervention, care planning and evaluation, supporting the spiritual, emotional and existential wellbeing of patients, families and carers from diverse faith, cultural and non-religious backgrounds.
2. Provide spiritual care across a range of healthcare settings, including acute care, critical care, trauma, palliative care, end-of-life care and bereavement support, while prioritising and managing a complex and dynamic caseload.
3. Work collaboratively as a member of multidisciplinary healthcare teams, contributing specialist spiritual care expertise to holistic, person-centred care and facilitating access to spiritual practices, rituals and community faith supports as appropriate.
4. Contribute to service development, quality improvement, reflective practice, professional supervision, and the ongoing delivery of a contemporary, inclusive and evidence-informed Spiritual Support Service, undertaking other duties appropriate to the classification level.
5. Undertaking other duties as appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of the section with the delivery of safe and high-quality patient care.

Competencies

Specific competencies include but are not limited to the following.

• Demonstrated ability to provide evidence-informed, person-centred spiritual care through assessment, intervention, care planning and evaluation of outcomes.
• Ability to engage respectfully and effectively with people from diverse faith, spiritual, cultural and non-religious backgrounds, building therapeutic relationships through strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrates a well-developed pastoral identity, emotional intelligence and commitment to reflective practice, professional supervision, self-care and ongoing professional development.
• Demonstrated capacity to prioritise workload, manage competing demands and work effectively as an integrated member of multidisciplinary teams in a fast-paced healthcare environment.
• Demonstrated professional judgement, ethical practice and commitment to patient safety, service improvement, documentation standards and evidence-informed spiritual care practice.

Qualifications

Specific qualifications include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

• Relevant tertiary qualification in Spiritual Care, Chaplaincy, Pastoral Counselling, Theology, Clinical Pastoral Education, Psychology, Social Sciences, or another discipline relevant to the delivery of professional spiritual care.
• Accreditation, or eligibility for accreditation, as a Level 2 Independent Practitioner with Spiritual Care Australia, with demonstrated experience providing professional spiritual care or pastoral care support in healthcare, community, aged care, mental health or related settings.
• Demonstrated commitment to reflective practice, professional supervision and ongoing professional development, with the ability to provide inclusive care to people from diverse faith, cultural and non-religious backgrounds.

Desirable

• Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) or equivalent supervised spiritual care training.
• Experience providing spiritual care within acute healthcare, palliative care, rehabilitation, mental health or hospital settings.
• Understanding of evidence-informed spiritual care practice, NSQHS Standards, and multidisciplinary approaches to trauma-informed care, grief and bereavement support, palliative care and end-of-life care.

Experience

Specific experience includes but is not limited to the following.

Essential

• Demonstrated experience providing spiritual care, pastoral care, counselling or psychosocial support to individuals, families and carers experiencing illness, trauma, grief, loss, bereavement or significant life transitions.
• Demonstrated experience working with people from diverse faith, cultural and non-religious backgrounds in a respectful, inclusive and culturally responsive manner.
• Demonstrated ability to build therapeutic relationships, prioritise competing demands and maintain professional effectiveness through reflective practice and self-care in a complex environment.

Desirable

• Have an understanding of how the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.
• Have an understanding of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research is applies to this role.
• Experience providing spiritual care within an acute hospital, tertiary healthcare, rehabilitation, palliative care or critical care environment.
• Experience working within multidisciplinary healthcare teams and contributing to holistic, person-centred care.
• Experience contributing to quality improvement, evidence-informed practice, staff wellbeing initiatives, or working within healthcare governance frameworks.

Prior to commencement

Appointment to this position is conditional on being granted and retaining appropriate clearances:

• Undergo a pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.
• Current registration issued under the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2011.

Important information

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct.
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.
• Be available for weekend and/or after-hours work.

Be available for weekend and/or after-hours work. CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required, which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

What you Require (Key Selection Criteria)

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé and experience.

1. Demonstrated understanding of contemporary Spiritual Care practice within an acute healthcare environment, including the provision of person-centred, evidence-informed care that supports spiritual, emotional and existential wellbeing.
2. Demonstrated competence in providing inclusive, person-centred spiritual care to people from diverse faith, cultural and non-religious backgrounds who are experiencing illness, trauma, grief, loss, bereavement or other significant life challenges.
3. Well-developed pastoral identity and commitment to reflective practice, self-care, professional supervision and ongoing professional development, enabling sustainable practice within a high-acuity healthcare environment.
4. Demonstrated communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to build therapeutic relationships and work collaboratively with patients, families, carers, staff and multidisciplinary teams.
5. Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, Work Health and Safety and the positive patient experience. Displays’ behaviour consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind.

Work environment description

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.