May eNews - News of our death has been greatly exaggerated…
News of our death has been greatly exaggerated…
To quote or misquote the often-misquoted Mark Twain reference, it is a great pleasure to write May’s eNews message with the knowledge that the Spiritual Care in Health Care landscape in Australia will continue to have SHA as a presence for the immediate future at least. As it currently stands SHA has sufficient funding to support our health service work into the 2024/25 financial year, ensuring a continued focus on safe, quality best practice Spiritual Care in health services, and the continuation of the roll out of the National Model for Spiritual Care in Health.
This encouragement is also tempered with some sadness as we acknowledge that due to funding cuts, our mental health program and the role of Jenny Greenham will unfortunately conclude at the end of the current financial year. We will honour Jenny and her work in next month's eNews.
Our focus continues to remain on securing alternative funding sources and finalising our new membership model for Health Services which will include some great new initiatives for our members as we continue to advocate for, and support managers in the development of best practice Spiritual Care. See below for an early release snippet of our new membership model.
And so, our transition to a smaller, leaner organisation is in full flight, and like all transitions and changes it has its challenges. As Humans, we are creatures of habit and some of us tend to navigate change with some level of apprehension, and for others it's downright fear or refusal. One thing I know is that change is inevitable, and going with it, tends to work out better in the end. One of the favourite books in our household at present, is the old children’s classic… The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Many of us will be familiar with the story, but through the eyes of an almost two-year-old for whom this book is a regular read, she eagerly rushes through all the different foods the caterpillar eats before enthusiastically and joyfully proclaiming that the caterpillar has become (Spoiler alert!!!) a beautiful butterfly! Without fail the last page is met with excitement for the once hungry caterpillar’s new identity. And with that, I’m constantly reminded…
“Sometimes it’s better to embrace change with the wide-eyed wonder of a two-year-old…”
Here’s to the future of Spiritual Care!
Craig Exon, Interim CEO