Spiritual Care Practitioner

**Title**:Spiritual Care Practitioner - Residential Aged Care Service**:

- Location: Eastern Health, VIC, AU, 3128- Job Posting Date: 31 Oct 2024Do you work for Eastern Health currently? If so, please log in to Eastern Health Careers Employee Login using your network login details to see the full range of jobs available to you

**Spiritual Care practitioner**
- Permanent Part Time | Monday to Friday | Partner in care
- Residential Aged Care Service | Car-parking | Be valued for what you do
- Excellent team with purpose and soul | Work-life balance
- Are you looking to live and work in a world city like Melbourne?_
- Join an organisation with real purpose and values in the health sector_

**Eastern Health**
Eastern Health is one of Melbourne's largest public health services. We provide a range of emergency, surgical, medical and general healthcare services and have a proud history of serving a diverse community.
Our Healthier Together promise underpins our strategic plan - which is to serve the growing and changing needs of our community and to care about and develop our staff. We believe our people make the difference.

**About the role**

This role is all about being with people and working with them to elicit what gives them meaning, purpose and social connectivity. An opportunity to make a difference to those who are vulnerable and are presented with complex health challenges. Each time you arrive to work your day will be different and full of variety.

As a self-motivated individual, you have a work history of experience combined with qualifications in spiritual-pastoral care. The majority of your time will be spent by the bedside supporting inpatients, primary carers, family members, consumers and staff. You will do this through compassionate active listening, being attentive to the individuals needs as they present, within the spiritual-pastoral context and scope of practice.

Working collaboratively within the interdisciplinary teams, you are a sole practitioner on site, which presents its own challenges. You are however, supported by the Eastern Health Spiritual -pastoral care team of which you become a valued and respected member. An ongoing part of this role is promoting the profession by providing constant and 'on the run' insight to the greater healthcare team about your work, and what it is that you bring to the patients' holistic wellbeing.

A typical day in may include: arriving at work to immediately attend a referral for a dying patient with the family requesting a Hindu farewell ritual, next onto support a patient (and family) admitted after falling in the shower, fracturing a hip and now anxious prior to surgery and requesting a Priest for reconciliation, to then lead group meditation with eating disorder inpatients, followed by arranging for a Buddhist Monk to provide the final blessings for a deceased patient with no family, to then attend a staff member wanting self-care strategies as they are not coping and have fatigue. Each day is extremely busy and unpredictable.

Governance and compliance is part of best practice and transparency, and in order for this to occur there is a significant level of administration required in this role along with a high level of attention to detail and accurate recording of activity and patient encounter data.

Arranging and leading public ceremonies, services, memorials and mindfulness meditations will come naturally to you.

This work exposes you to vulnerable people's emotions at a spiritual level and how these feelings affect their holistic wellbeing. You have capacity and are comfortable with death and dying and holding those in grief and loss. To be successful in this role you need to practice work life balance through individual self-care strategies, tools, therapies and practices. Eastern Health promotes employee wellbeing and self-care, however you are required to have regular external supervision.

As an employee of Eastern Health, you may be required to work at any of our sites / campuses.

**About you**
To be successful in this role you will possess:

- Two units of Clinical Pastoral Education
- Under Graduate qualifications in Theology or a Social Science at Director's discretion
- Highly developed interpersonal and listening skills
- Exceptional time management skills
- The ability to work as part of a diverse team and as a sole practitioner
- Excellent communication and organisational skills
- Residential Aged Care experience is desirable
- High level of computer competency skills
- A strong commitment to high quality care
- The ability to work as part of a diverse team
- Excellent communication and organisational skills

Vaccination against infectious disease is a mandatory requirement of this role. An offer of employment is conditional on you providing evidence that you are currently vaccinated against COVID-19 with booster & Influenza, prior to commencing employment.

**What we offer**

Eastern Health offers a variety of fan