Care in
Chaplaincy Practice and Service Delivery
The statement that all about chaplaincy is about care,
is a fact and true with all intents and purposes; yet care is a complicated and
pregnant word which makes its appropriation difficult for untrained
professionals.
Providing chaplaincy care and service delivery is a
complex, highly technical assignment or duty that only trained professionals
and experts can handle it competently and confidently too.
Providing care and service delivery in chaplaincy
practice has become a comprehensive and all-encompassing assignment and duty,
for which only trained and equipped care-givers can attempt to offer with
appreciable results.
Professional care providers will be expected to offer
care services to:
1.
Grieving: people who are grieving because of;
a.
The sudden loss
of their loved one to sudden death, loss of job, divorce, separation etc.
b.
Sudden
deterioration of health.
c.
Sudden
development of terminal illness.
d.
Sudden loss of
valuables, money, properties etc.
e.
Huge financial
indebtedness.
The care for this categories of grieving are not the
same and they require different approaches. Only professionally trained and
equipped care providers can understand the type of care to offer people who are
grieving for different reasons.
This makes it mandatory for chaplains who are
interested to become care providers or offer care services to people in need of
such to be adequately trained and equipped for the assignment. Faking the
practice and profession will be counterproductive.
2.
In providing
chaplaincy care and service delivery to people, chaplains have the
responsibility and mandate to pay particular attention to the sorrowful. This
set of people may become sorrowful in life because of so many factors and such
factor unleashes sorrows upon people stand as a negation of God’s principle to
make people joyful.
It therefore becomes the responsibility of
professional chaplains or care providers to tactfully and professionally intervene
in the situation of those who are sorrowful, bringing them to a point of
rejoicing in life. Our assignments as chaplains and care providers is to make
life much better for those we are called to serve.
3.
Providing
chaplaincy care an service delivery include paying close attention to people,
things, situations and conditions working against the wholeness, wellness and
wellbeing of people and the societies of our world.
It also entails having concern for the ways things
are, the condition and situation the society is and better condition of the
people of our world; striving therefore to bring a positive change to such
conditions with the views of ensuring better living condition to the people by
the care and services we offer as professional care providers or chaplains.
Care is not as simple as it looks on the surface.
4.
In providing
chaplaincy care and service delivery to people appropriately entails that the
care provider or chaplain have some worry about what is happening in our
societies and world, that he/she becomes worried about the condition of the society
and the conditions of the generality of the people; such as wanton destruction
of lives and properties, gruesome murders of innocent people, tyrannical rule,
unholy spread of corruption and other societal vices.
With such worries, professional care providers and
chaplains tactfully must come out with a solution based approached to the
problems and help find the needed solutions to.
5.
Proper
maintenance and upkeep. Care provision and service delivery in professional
chaplaincy practice extends to cover proper maintenance and upkeep of the
people we offer professional care as chaplains; this may be by advocating or
seeking from governments, government agencies and well-meaning spirit gifted individuals
or corporate entities, as chaplaincy profession is yet to benefit from government
grants, allocations or sectoral budgets in Nigeria and continent of Africa.
6.
Treatment of
those who need such services as professionals. Care provision and service
delivery extends to cover professional activities of professional care
providers, care givers and health care chaplains in offering chaplaincy care
services to people who require such treatment and care giving activities.
Such people may be patients in the hospitals, in and
out patients, people in the comfort of their homes, the older people or senior
citizens, the terminally ill, the traumatized and the dying in the society.
NB: While medical professionals take responsibilities
to provide needed care and treatment to patients in the health care sector with
the intention of curing diseases that make life difficult for people and such
care is terminated when there is no cure in sight or the progress of the
patient begins to retard, professional chaplains offer chaplaincy care services
even when there is no cure in sight or when it is certain death is very much
approaching and sure.
Chaplains are mandated to provide needed care even at the end of life,
and to make clients/patients as comfortable as possible. Professional chaplains
are expected to extend such care to the relations of the clients/patients, even
when such clients have gone to the world beyond.
Palliative care and hospice care service is very ideal in this situation.
Care-giving is not as simple as it looks.
7.
The state of
being cared for by others. Care provision in chaplaincy practice and services
delivery extends to the state of being cared for by others. Chaplains have the
responsibility of providing an enabling environment for people to be cared for
by others.
8.
Object of
watchful attention and anxiety. Care provision in chaplaincy practice and
service delivery entails the object of watchful attention and anxiety.
Professional chaplains who have been adequately prepared to offer care services
to the general public will be able to pay watchful attention to the people who
need such services.
They also have the professional mandate to find the
needed solution based approached to those who have developed anxiety in life
professionally.
In conclusion, I wish to state at this juncture that
providing professional care and service delivery to the people in various
societies of our world goes much deeper than can be phantom. All care providers
and care-givers are called upon to rise up to their responsibilities as they
begin to offer professional care services to the people in need of such.
Long live chaplaincy
profession!
Long live professional
chaplains!
Long live Association of
professional chaplains!
Long live Federal Republic
of Nigeria!
Chap. Prof.
Mike-Jacobs
Professional
Counselor, Clinical Spirituotherapist and
Certified
Chaplaincy Educator in Private Practice
