Who is the spiritual caregiver? Spiritual competence in intercultural and interprofessional care, counselling and education

This course will be given in Dutch

Continuously developing their dedication and competence is a central challenge for spiritual caregivers. This challenge is situated at least at the following four levels. At the individual level, it involves developing a lived spirituality based on one’s own spiritual biography. At the individual and group counseling level, it involves the intercultural skill of connecting the other person’s story with cultural narratives of meaning. At the professional identity level, it involves interprofessional learning regarding existential themes. At the organizational and societal level, it involves legitimization through network communication and prophetic action.

During the study week, we will elaborate on these elements based on recent literature, personal reflection and group work, with a focus on body and gender. As examples, we will highlight contexts such as care (e.g., palliative care), spiritual care in people’s homes and communities  and  also in justice institutions.

By

DR. WIM SMEETS (Radboudumc)

Wim Smeets is Associate professor ‘innovation in spiritual care’ at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (NL), spiritual caregiver and supervisor, president of the European Council on Pastoral Care and Counselling.