Healing and wholeness: Dismantling the barriers to belonging

I was involved in a fascinating session on Healing, Wholeness and Holiness at the wonderful Parish Away Day for St Martin-in-the-Fields held last Saturday.

We were able to organise this session on the basis that St Martin’s has many people involved in health and wholeness in its broadest sense. The session drew on that rich diversity of experiences and perspectives to explore the holistic nature of healing ministry and how its many ‘branches’ connect to one vine. It was a rich opportunity to learn more about God and about one another, and our hope is that it will continue to grow the understanding of healing and wholeness that has been developing at St Martin’s. 

I contributed the following brief reflection and shared material on social prescribing as an approach which can encompass the range of healing that we were speaking about in the session and as another way of moving beyond the medical model of disability:
In the culture of Jesus’ time, disabled people - those with physical, sensory or mental health conditions, learning disability or neurodiversity - were actively excluded from the wider community and from worship at the Temple. Jesus’ healing ministry had the effect of re-including those who had been excluded in the wider community and in worship.

The key issue, however, was a culture which excluded others and which Jesus sought to address through his teaching about the Kingdom of God. Today, the best way to achieve this same aim within our society is by understanding and utilising the social model of disability, which recognises and seeks to dismantle the barriers to belonging that our society throws up through environment, structures and attitudes.

I see this branch of ministry connecting to the vine because when we explore and address these barriers in church and society – as we seek to do through our Disability Advisory Group and our annual conference on disability and Church together with Inclusive Church – we are doing what Jesus sought to do through his healing ministry.

Welcoming God, enable us to identify and remove the barriers to belonging which confront disabled people to ensure that all people can fully and wholly contribute to church and society. Amen.

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Van Morrison - The Healing Game.

St Christopher's Hospice

As part of researching an article on Marian Bohusz-Szyszko I recently visited St Christopher's Hospice.

Founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967 St Christopher’s Hospice was the first modern hospice, now providing the highest quality care to over 2,000 dying individuals each year on their inpatient wards and in people’s own homes. It has been a pioneer in the field of palliative medicine, which is now established worldwide. The ongoing impact of St Christopher’s clinical innovations and their extensive programmes of education and research improve care for dying people well beyond their geographical location and influence standards of healthcare throughout the world. The Education Centre provides a portfolio of palliative care courses, education and training that  improve end of life care in a range of settings.

Dame Cicely‘s vision and work transformed the care of the dying and the practice of medicine. She understood that a dying person is more than a patient with symptoms to be controlled and became convinced of the paramount importance of combining excellent medical and nursing care with “holistic” support that recognised practical, emotional, social, and spiritual need. She saw the dying person and the family as the unit of care and developed bereavement services at St Christopher's Hospice to extend support beyond the death of the patient.

Living life creatively during serious illness can also be important. Patients and carers have said that capturing their life story or gaining new possibilities through the arts can be a rewarding and meaningful experience. Nigel Hartley and Malcolm Payne, who both work at St Christopher's, have edited an excellent book The creative arts in palliative care that explores the use of creative therapies in the hospice. The use of pottery, painting, craft work, digital arts, art therapy and music and music therapy are all explored as are examples of outreach work.

St Christopher’s are currently engaged in a dynamic, annual creative arts partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts. This particular project captures the views of dying people and those who care for them through the creation of a range of artistic self-portraits using various artistic mediums including photography, quilt making, painting, drawing, creative writing and music making.

Dame Cicely‘s vision to establish her own home for the dying was underpinned by her religious faith. She had initially thought of creating an Anglican religious community but broadened her vision so that St Christopher's became a place that welcomed staff and patients of any faith or none. However, her strong Christian faith was a fundamental factor in her commitment to the dying and remained an anchor throughout her life.

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Al Green - Take Your Time.

Faith-based service providers - the ‘social glue’ that holds Britain together

The following comes from FaithAction:

"The public policy think tank Demos published a report entitled ‘Faithful Providers’, as part of the Demos Inquiry into Faith, Community and Society. The report finds that local authorities can benefit greatly from including faith-based groups in service delivery, and that there is little evidence to justify commonly-held fears of religious discrimination or proselytization. The report highlights the ‘holistic’ approach which is characteristic of faith-based organisations and the added social value that charitable and faith providers bring to service delivery.

In an accompanying statement, the author of the report said that “faith-based service providers are often long-standing pillars in their communities and the ‘social glue’ that holds Britain together”, and urges local authorities to support the commissioning of services to religious providers."

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Flying Burrito Brothers - Dark End Of The Street.