Soul care supports the spiritual needs of a person towards the end of their life.
Soul carers are non-medical, trained carers known around the world by different names: spiritual carers, death doulas and end-of-life companions.
The Soul Carers Network offers individualised spiritual support and companioning to a wide range of people as they navigate the inevitability of death. Our clients include the elderly and those dealing with life-limiting illness, regardless of age. We are able offer support to people who are not served by specific religious or cultural communities, or whose families are far away or unable to be by their side at this crucial time. In other instances, we will join an existing circle of care alongside other members of the person’s end-of-life and spiritual support team.
Our Soul Carers can deliver services to people ageing naturally or those with a terminal diagnosis in ‘non-traditional settings’, such as people’s homes and elder care facilities. We ‘mind the gap’ in palliative care, working alongside and supporting other medical and professional staff. By providing support to the patient, we also support their family members and other people in their circle of care.
What do we mean by spiritual care?
Many understand spirituality to be the same as religion; some may describe themselves as “spiritual and religious”, but others as “spiritual but not religious”. Soul Carers in our network share our definition of spirituality with Christina Puchalski, a leading US physician and pioneer of spiritual care in palliative care. For us, spirituality is the aspect of humanity that searches for, and expresses, meaning and purpose; it is also the way an individual experiences their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature and to the significant and sacred.
It may be appropriate for some people to receive end-of-life pastoral care from their minister, priest, imam or rabbi. Our Soul Carers may work alongside these religious practitioners, but are also able to offer spiritual support to those who are atheist or have a secular belief system.
Support for spiritual distress:
A diagnosis of a life-limiting illness may raise an existential crisis in some people – “Why this?”, “Why me?”, “Why now?”. The elderly may struggle with questions like “What was it all for?” and “Why am I still here when all my friends have gone?”.
This crisis often leads to spiritual distress and suffering as the person loses a sense of the essence of self and the meaning of life, and becomes increasingly disheartened, fragmented and disconnected.
Our Soul Carers respond to this spiritual distress by providing support and companionship in various ways, and always at the request of the person we are serving.
Help where it is needed:
Soul care all over the world is helping to transform the personal and collective experiences of dying and living within communities, by helping anyone facing the end of life to experience a tender, peaceful and conscious death. Our Network brings these services to you and your loved ones.
Soul Carers in our network offer a range of gentle therapies to soothe and reassure, including bereavement and grief counselling and by encouraging deep conversation with love and dignity. Our work may begin from the point of diagnosis and continue up to and beyond the final day of life, with encouragement and support for living life fully until the end. In some instances, we continue to support families in various ways after their bereavement if required to do so.
