Healthcare Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care for Trans People
Envisaging the Future
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.37227Keywords:
Chaplaincy, gender transition, spiritual care, transgenderAbstract
Spiritual care has the potential to mitigate against "gaps" left when waiting lists (and times) for NHS gender identity clinics (GICs) spiral, and trans people awaiting medical interventions are at increased risk of suicide and self-harm. Healthcare chaplaincy has an explicit role to play, particularly for the sizeable number of trans people with religious faith or who struggle with finding support from faith communities. Spiritual care should be integrated within direct care provided by healthcare professionals, with additional care from specialist chaplains where desirable. Findings from the Modelling Transgender Spiritual Care project point to a need for additional training and resourcing in gender identity care for spiritual carers; a new prioritization of healthcare chaplaincy for gender identity services, which has implications for budgets and commissioning; and increased accountability for fulfilling the statutory requirement for spiritual care in the NHS.
References
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NHS England (2015) NHS Chaplaincy Guidelines 2015: Promoting Excellence in Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious Care. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/2015-03-nhs-PDF
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Simmons, David (2018) “‘Now Someone Knows My Name’: A Study of Church-led Projects in Assisting Health Outcomes”. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/2018-05-8745-PDF
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Swift, Christopher (2014) Hospital Chaplaincy in the Twenty-First Century: The Crisis of Spiritual Care on the NHS (2nd edn). Aldershot: Ashgate.
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Swinton, John, and Ewan Kelly (2015) “Contextual Issues: Health and Healing”. In A Handbook of Chaplaincy Studies: Understanding Spiritual Care in Public Places, eds Christopher Swift, Mark Cobb and Andrew Todd, 175–85. Abingdon: Routledge.
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Yarhouse, Mark (2015) Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Beardsley, Christina (2018) “A Vicar’s Story”. In Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows, ed. Christine Burns. London: Unbound.
Berry, Wendell (2002) The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.
Cambridge Festival of Ideas (2015) “Speaker Spotlight: Reverend Dr Christina Beardsley”. Available at: https://www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/speaker-spotlight-reverend-dr-christina-beardsley
Cinnamon Network (2018) The Church’s Impact on Health and Care, Version 05/18. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/2018-06-3-PDF
Clucas, Rob (2018) “The Church of England: Welcoming Transgender People?” Available at: http://modernchurch.org.uk/downloads/send/32-articles/893-cofe-welcome-trans
Davie, Grace (2012) “A European Perspective on Religion and Welfare: Contrasts and Commonalities”. Social Policy and Society 11(4): 989–99. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746412000267
—(2015) “Welfare and Religion in Europe: Making the Connections”. Theology 118(1): 10–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040571X14551678
Government Equalities Office (2018) National LGBT Survey Research Report July 2018. Manchester: Department for Education.
Haas, Ann, Philip Rodgers and Jody Herman (2014) Suicide Attempts Among Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Adults: Findings of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and University of California School of Law. Available at: http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf
Hancocks, Graeme, John Sherbourne and Christopher Swift (2008) “‘Are They Refugees?’ Why Church of England Male Clergy Enter Healthcare Chaplaincy”. Practical Theology 1(2): 163–79. https://doi.org/10.1558/prth.v1i2.163
Healthwatch (2015) “Action Needed on Gender Reassignment Surgery Delays”. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/gender-438729
House of Bishops (2018) “An Update on ‘Welcoming Transgender People’ (GS Misc 1178)”. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/2018-01-GS-PDF
Hudson-Sharp, Nathan, and Hilary Metcalf (2016) Inequality Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Groups in the UK: A Review of Evidence. London: National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
McNeil, Jay, Louis Bailey, Sonja Ellis, James Morton and Maeve Regan (2012) Trans Mental Health Study 2012. Edinburgh: Scottish Transgender Alliance. Available at: https://www.scottishtrans.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/trans_mh_study.pdf
McSherry, Wilfred (2007) The Meaning of Spirituality and Spiritual Care within Nursing and Health Care Practice. Wiltshire: Quay Books.
—(2010) “Spiritual Assessment: Definition, Categorisation and Features”. In Spiritual Assessment in Healthcare Practice, ed. Wilfred McSherry and Linda Ross, 57–78. Keswick: M&K Publishing.
NHS England (2015) NHS Chaplaincy Guidelines 2015: Promoting Excellence in Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious Care. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/2015-03-nhs-PDF
—(2018) NHS Standard Contract 2017/19 and 2018/19 Service Conditions (Full Length), May 2018 Edition. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/contract-2017-19
O’Kelly, Allison, William Fullick and Giles Richards (2015) “Out of the Closet, Into a Difficult Place in Later Life”. Journal of Dementia Care 23(3): 22–24.
Simmons, David (2018) “‘Now Someone Knows My Name’: A Study of Church-led Projects in Assisting Health Outcomes”. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/2018-05-8745-PDF
Slawson, Nicola (2018) “Faith-Based Groups ‘Increasingly Stepping in to Plug Gaps in NHS’”. The Guardian, 30 May 2018. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/2018-may-30-NHS
Sojourn Chaplaincy (2017) “Trans Spiritual Care Initiative”. Available at: http://sojournchaplaincy.org/?p=380
Swift, Christopher (2014) Hospital Chaplaincy in the Twenty-First Century: The Crisis of Spiritual Care on the NHS (2nd edn). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Swinton, John (2001) Spirituality and Mental Health Care: Rediscovering a “Forgotten” Dimension. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Swinton, John, and Ewan Kelly (2015) “Contextual Issues: Health and Healing”. In A Handbook of Chaplaincy Studies: Understanding Spiritual Care in Public Places, eds Christopher Swift, Mark Cobb and Andrew Todd, 175–85. Abingdon: Routledge.
Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust (2016) “Gender Identity Development Service Statistics”. Available at: https://tavistockandportman.nhs.uk/documents/408/gids-service-statistics.pdf
—(2017) “GIDS Referrals Increase Slows in 2016/17”. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/about-201617
Yarhouse, Mark (2015) Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Published
2019-04-26
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Cornwall, S. (2019). Healthcare Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care for Trans People: Envisaging the Future. Health and Social Care Chaplaincy, 7(1), 8-27. https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.37227
