Hope is a central topic in spiritual care. This short book explores what hope can mean for patients who are at the end of life, beyond hoping that a treatment will be effective. It suggests ways in which creative spiritual care can enable patients and those who care for them to develop different kinds of hope and move past despair. The author identifies four dimensions of hope and suggests ways in they can be nurtured and cultivated through theological reflection, connectivity, meditation and the arts. These dimensions of hope provide a framework for thorough spiritual assessment and for the development of a plan of care. In turn, being prepared for death removes feelings of hopelessness and despair. This book will inspire new ways to feed the human spirit when a cure is no longer an option.

Spirituality has long been regarded as "off-limits" in family therapy, leaving therapists and counselors uncertain how to approach it. Filling a crucial void, this valuable sourcebook explores the influences of faith beliefs and practices on suffering, healing, and health. Leading family therapists describe how attending to this vital dimension of human experience can inform and enrich therapy, illuminate spiritual sources of distress, and help clients tap into wellsprings for resilience and growth. Chapters address spirituality not just as a special topic, but as it is interwoven in all aspects of people's lives; from family heritage and congregational affiliations, to belief systems, rituals, and practices. Throughout, therapists are encouraged to examine their own spiritual views and to gain awareness of the diverse faith orientations of clients.

The church's relationship with depression has been fraught, and we still have a long way to go. Drawing on her own experience with depression, Diana Gruver looks back into church history and finds depression in the lives of some of our most beloved saints, telling their stories in fresh ways and offering practical wisdom both for those in the darkness and those who care for them.

This book examines the services that chaplains provide to dying patients and the unique relationship that palliative care staff construct with people at the end of life. It explores the nature of hope when faced with the inevitable and develops a theory of spiritual care rooted in relationship that has implications for all healthcare professionals.

Research literacy is now a requirement for Board-Certified chaplains in the US and a growing field in the UK. This reader gives an overview and introduction to the field of healthcare chaplaincy research. The 21 carefully chosen articles in this book illustrate techniques critical to chaplaincy research: case studies; qualitative research; cross-sectional and longitudinal quantitative research, and randomized clinical trials. The selected articles also address wide-ranging topics in chaplaincy research for a comprehensive overview of the field. To help readers engage with the research, each article includes a discussion guide highlighting crucial content, as well as important background information and implications for further research. This book is the perfect primary text for healthcare chaplaincy research courses, bringing together key articles from peer-reviewed journals in one student-friendly format.

Where have all the prophets gone? And why do preachers seem to shy away from prophetic witness? Astute preacher Leonora Tisdale considers these vexing questions while providing guidance and encouragement to pastors who want to recommit themselves to the task of prophetic witness. With a keen sensitivity to pastoral contexts, Tisdale's work is full of helpful suggestions and examples to help pastors structure and preach prophetic sermons, considered by many to be one of the most difficult tasks pastors are called to undertake.

"Contemporary medical models focus predominantly on the technical and financial aspects of care. While these are important aspects of care, they fail to include what may be the most critical need of patients and families - that is, the whole-person approach to care where psychosocial and spiritual needs are viewed as essential and just as important as the physical. Cecily Saunders, the founder of hospice, was one of the first to describe the concept of 'total pain', which led to the biopsychosocial and spiritual model of care. In 2014, the World Health Assembly for the WHO passed a resolution which included spiritual care as an essential domain of palliative care, stating that Palliative Care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients "through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and correct assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual." WHO also noted that "it is the ethical duty of health care professionals" to alleviate pain and suffering, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual and further supported an interdisciplinary model by noting the need for collaboration between professional palliative care providers and support care providers, including spiritual support and counseling"--