Pastoral Care Team

In October 2023 the Brechin and Farnell pastoral care team started an eight session spiritual care learning course to help us deepen our understanding and give us additional skills and confidence to support older people in our congregation and in our communities.

The Spiritual Care Series is a highly effective course developed by leading practitioners in the care of older people, including Professor John Swinton from Aberdeen University. The course is licensed by Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF) and Anna Chaplaincy for older people in the UK, who are taking a lead nationally in quality of support for older peoples’ ministry

The ministry recognises that ‘a person is not truly healthy if he or she is struggling to understand the meaning and purpose for their life’

The group met every two weeks for two hours and we worked our way through the eight modules, we had reading to complete before each session and there was an assessment to be passed on completion of the module. Areas that were covered included understanding the ageing process, communication and the power of storytelling, dementia and end of life and bereavement.

These sessions gave us the opportunity to gain insights and understanding across a range of areas which can be challenging to talk about, while getting to know each other better and share our stories of caring and ageing.

We have now developed a flyer for the pastoral care group and if you would like to talk to one of our team please get in touch. Three members of the team have also completed the NHS Tayside community listening training. The pastoral care team is a team with both Brechin and Farnell members and will work across both churches, wherever we are needed.