Pastoral Care

Steve Sturman, Associate Head of Doctors’ Ministries
We presented data at last November’s conference from the 2019 CMF Pastoral Care Survey. This highlighted the impact of overwork and high expectations in clinical care. The Survey also identified the presence of a perceived ‘Church-Clinical Gap’ – the difficulty clinicians encounter in accessing pastoral care in local churches.
Pastoral care is not just about solving people’s problems but also helping them flourish.

Next Steps

The program is now known as ‘CMF Pastoral Care and Wellbeing’ (PCW), reflecting the emphasis on growth and prevention and not just focusing on problems and challenges.

Our focus will be on three workstreams:

  • Governance – ensuring we have safe structures to deliver care
  • Engagement – helping people get involved in Pastoral Care
  • Pilots – setting up schemes to deliver care

Governance We have now completed a Code of Practice for Pastoral Care. This forms a foundation for safe practise. We will soon be appointing a Pastoral Care Advisory Group to oversee the development of the program.
Engagement We have drawn up a Role Description for Pastoral Care Partners (PCPs) who will be recognised and accredited to deliver care through CMF. We are putting together a training program for them.
Pilots Developing pastoral care is going to take time; it is a huge undertaking. However, we want to launch pilot projects this year to identify what will work best. Peer-to-peer support has been identified as a priority, and we will be aiming to start this program as soon as possible. We are working on a Pastoral Care and Wellbeing page for the CMF website to appear over the next few months – see cmf.li/PCWP. Please consider how you might get involved. Watch out for our call for applications or register your interest now by emailing us directly on wellbeing@cmf.org.uk