Recovery in spirit
| Published date | 15 May 2019 |
| Date | 15 May 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-12-2018-0046 |
| Pages | 76-80 |
| Author | Kate Holmes |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
Recovery in spirit
Kate Holmes
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to introduce a programme of workshops facilitated on inpatient
wards in NSFT which promote recovery through the discussion of spiritual themes.
Design/methodology/approach –An introduction to the design principles of the workshops followed by
service user narrative.
Findings –The contributions by service users demonstrate how addressing their spirituality promotes recovery.
Originality/value –This is the first time workshops on spirituality have been given a structure in a linked
series of topics and then evaluated by service users.
Keywords Spirituality, Recovery, Service users
Paper type Case study
With the help of service users, I am writing about the Recovery in Spirit programme I run at the
Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust to report on the value of spirituality for their recovery which
they have discovered. I am sure that many chaplains and occupational therapists up and down
the country are facilitating discussion groups around recovery themes but this one explicitly
promotes spirituality as an aid to recovery. If you do not wish to reinvent the wheel but would like
to introduce a systematic programme on this subject, look no further than our Trust’s website
and you will be able to access the 12 sessions.
The Recovery in Spirit programme was started several years ago by a volunteer working with an
occupational therapist. The topics were random atfirstbutthenIlookedatspirituality workshops
from different hospital trusts and proposed a series of linked topics to the occupational therapy team.
They identified themes linked with recovery and we articulated the aim of the workshops as follows.
Aim
To explore the meaning of spirituality for you through a focus on different themes, e.g. peace,
happiness using words, pictures, poetry and music so that you can draw on your inner reserves
to help your recovery.
After an introduction to spirituality, we continued with themes such as peace, happiness, worth
and self-esteem and I added topics such as the good life and friendship.
On further reading, I came across John Swinton’s description of non-religious spiritual needs in
his book, Spirituality and Mental Health Care (2001). He listed those needs in his book under the
following headings: values/structures of meaning, relationships, transcendence, affective feeling
and communication. I then structured the workshops in a programme based on those headings,
making 12 sessions in all as follows: Spirituality; The cycle of life; Hope and suffering; Faith and
doubt; Worth and self-esteem; Sharing and friendship; Self and others; The natural world;
Beauty; Peace; Happiness; and The good life.
I have designed another session on guilt and forgiveness, which Swinton also mentions, but
which I have never used fearing that it might be too sensitive a subject to discuss in a single
short workshop. The original 12 sessions were piloted twice and suggestions from service users
incorporated particularly with regard to quotations and choice of music so there was some
co-production of the programme as well as in this paper.
Kate Holmes is based at the
Department of Spiritual and
Pastoral Care, Norfolk and
Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust,
Norwich, UK.
PAG E 76
j
MENTALHEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
VOL. 23 NO. 2 2019, pp. 76-80, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/MHSI-12-2018-0046
To continue reading
Request your trial