Pastoral Immersion Experience for Notre Dame Students

30 Jan 2018

30 January 2018

The partnership enables students studying a Graduate Certificate in Liberal Arts (Pastoral Placement) to complete their practicum placement, also known as an immersion experience, at any St John of God Health Care hospital in Western Australia or New South Wales.

The Graduate Certificate Liberal Arts (Pastoral Placement) started in February 2017. St John of God Health Care Group Manager Pastoral Services Eleanor Roderick said the Graduate Certificate in Liberal Arts provided a great opportunity to build awareness of pastoral care as a professional calling.

“The Graduate Certificate also offers current caregivers and potential future caregivers an opportunity to obtain tertiary qualifications in this area,” Eleanor said.

“The Pastoral Placement unit within the certificate gives students the opportunity to experience the depth and diversity of pastoral ministry in a Catholic health care setting, develop their pastoral awareness and engage in the experience of reflective practice to support their skill development.”

One of The University of Notre Dame’s founding students of the Graduate Certificate is St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals’ Pastoral Care Associate Sarah Simpson.

Sarah, who has also completed the Clinical Pastoral Education program also offered by St John of God Health Care, started at St John of God Midland Private and Public Hospitals in November 2015 after being drawn to the role by her desire to make a difference.

She said her experiences so far had helped her gain a deeper appreciation of the role pastoral practitioners in hospitals and was already starting to influence her role on an everyday level.

“One of the joys of working in this hospital is the sheer diversity of situations – the Emergency Department is very different to a medical ward, surgical is different to chemotherapy,” she said.

“As pastoral practitioners, we often don’t know what specific impact we have on people’s lives. Our role is to stand with the person in the suffering, acknowledging the pain and allowing them a safe space to vent, mourn, or just to be, as well as providing practical support if required, and often we don’t get to see them past that.

“However, sometimes people come back and share. One such instance was when a couple experienced a miscarriage at 18 weeks gestation. I was able to facilitate them to have some time with their daughter at home and the mother ended up coming back to the hospital to express her gratitude.”