Spiritual Care

Learning that you or a loved one has a terminal illness presents many challenges.  It can also present opportunities for life review, realized potential, celebration of accomplishments, connection with loved ones, and reconciliation. The Spiritual Care Team at Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island is available to assist you with the challenges and opportunities that may arise.

What is Spiritual Care? 
Spirituality can be described as that which gives meaning to life.  It refers to the universal human need for love, hope, relatedness, value, and dignity.  Spirituality may or may not involve religious beliefs and practices.  

How can Spiritual Care Coordinators Help You?
As a member of the hospice team, a Spiritual Care Coordinator can be present with you or your loved one as important decisions are made at the end of life.  Each Care Coordinator is trained to create safe environments in which an exploration of concerns and expression of feelings can be shared without judgment.  Fear, anxiety, despair, and even physical pain diminish when one feels heard and accepted in the process of coming to terms or coping with a terminal illness.  Spiritual Care Coordinators affirm personhood, self-worth, and dignity while allowing you to find your own answers.

A Spiritual Care Coordinator can provide support and an objective, listening presence as one considers questions about the purpose of life, suffering, self-worth, need for forgiveness, and the progressive losses that accompany a life-limiting illness.  Contemplating one's life can help establish a person's legacy, how one lives on in the future, or how one would like to be remembered.  A Spiritual Care Coordinator may also provide an honoring and caring presence for those unable to verbally express their thoughts and feelings.

Spiritual Care Coordinators provide the following:
Calming presence; prayer, ritual, and observance of religious practices; empathetic listening; liaison to community clergy; exploration of hope and meaning; pre-bereavement counseling; life review; funeral and memorial services; affirmation of strengths; support to family, staff and others; spiritual counseling

Who are Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island's Spiritual Care Coordinators?
Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island's Spiritual Care Coordinators are highly trained professionals with advanced training in cultural and religious diversity as well as perspectives on health, disease, and death and dying. 

For more information about Spiritual Care services, please contact (401) 415-4200 and ask for the Spiritual Care Department Supervisor.