Chaplaincy care – as a ministry, profession, academic discipline and corps – is clinical in nature. Chaplaincy care is not guess work. You do not impose care style on a counselee.
Like other forms of care, chaplaincy has step by step practice procedure according to acceptable standards of practice and ethical codes.
Chaplains attend to people’s issues of life through various talk therapies. They do not prescribe drugs.
Care must therefore be taken as we deal with Living Human Documents.
It is a fact that Chaplains are relevant to the recovery of patients in the health and other related sectors.
Chaplaincy care clinical procedure focuses on the step by step patterns that care is provided to the counselee, patient, care receiver, care seeker or client by the Chaplain ( therapist, counsellor, life coach, mentor, care giver).
This article will highlight an easy chaplaincy care procedure.
1. Assessment.
This is first step achieved through various assessment models to investigate or research to find out what is the issue with the counselee. Do not proceed without assessment.
2. Diagnosis or findings.
This next step is the result of assessment. It indicates what is actually the issue or issues of life affecting the counselees. It may be spiritual, psychospiritual, psychosocial, religious etc.
3. Plan of care.
In this step -also known as care plan – the Chaplain identifies an approach or a method, theory, remedy , solution or therapy to use in providing care to the counselee. It include step by step plan of action how care will be provided.
There are many talk therapies like prayer, counselling, psychotherapy and others cutting across spiritual care, religious care, psychological care , sociological care and pastoral care available for the use of the Chaplain to use one or a combination.
4. Care.
This step – also known as intervention, treatment or administration of care – is the actual attention given to the counselee. It is simply the actual care administration.
5. Evaluation.
This is the use of various evaluation methodologies to find out how effective or otherwise the care rendered was.
This stage is critical because it help the Chaplain in taking the next decision.
6. Continuation, change, end or referral of care.
After evaluation, the Chaplain determines whether to continue, change, end or make a referral of care.
Arising from the above, it is clear that chaplaincy has clinical care procedure. It is from these that quacks can be identified and a Chaplain charged for negligence of professional duty as well as incompetence.
This what has made chaplaincy care professional and clinical.
No wonder the globally accepted education curriculum is Clinical Pastoral Education ( CPE).
Chaplains are very particular about curriculum and pedagogy /andragogy of Chaplaincy.
Chaplaincy is unlimited and inexhaustible.