Prof. S G Wright FRCN MBE
St. Martin’s College, Lancaster
Chair, The Sacred Space Foundation
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Most healthcare workers in Britain would understand how Sisyphus
felt. Condemned by the gods, his task was to eternally roll a huge
boulder uphill. Labouring to the point of collapse, he would
complete his struggle, only to see the boulder roll downhill again,
and for him once more to repeat his labour. It doesn’t have to be
like this, and it’s not just about pay and conditions.
There is a growing body of evidence to indicate that the failure
to attend to the spiritual needs not just of patients, but of those
who care for them as well, is producing serious difficulties for
individuals and the organisations that seek to support them.
Recently, a plethora of studies has indicated high levels of stress
and burnout among health care professionals, especially nurses and
doctors. Furthermore, many of these studies point to factors other
than just workloads and low pay as the only or even the principal
causes. Even the best pay and employment conditions it seems will
not necessarily reduce, in the long term, the exodus of NHS staff,
the high levels of sickness and absenteeism, the regular reports of
low morale. While pay is the issue that grabs the headlines, it
seems that there may be other powerful forces at work that we have
yet to tackle effectively.
- The crisis is also a spiritual one - of meaning, purpose and
relationships (with the organisation, each other, ourselves and the
greater realm of being whatever we perceive that to be). There are
some specific reasons why many health care staff are having
difficulty.
- We identify ourselves so closely with our roles that we find it
difficult let go of them. Constantly playing the part, like an
actor in a soap opera, we can lose the sense of who we really are
(which is infinitely greater than any role we play). And, like
actors condemned to always playing the same part, we burn out.
- Trapped in the role of helping others, we tend to neglect our
own needs.
- Many organisations are like dysfunctional families, energised
by issues of power, control, threat and anger, rather than positive
nurturing relationships. Professionals spend as much time in power
struggles with each other or shoring up traditional roles and
boundaries as they do caring for each other. Professionals and
patients can exhibit similar power struggles
- Lost in definitions by others of who we are and how we should
behave, many carers endure fundamentally unhappy relationships with
colleagues and patients. Studies have found between 50 and 80% of
carers were struggling in relationships at work and showed higher
levels of stress than comparable groups. They had literally lost
‘faith’ in their work, being caught in inhospitable cultures and
the feeling that they should always be giving of themselves. Under
such circumstances they may become indifferent, sick or medicate
the pain of their disease with alcohol, drugs, food, sex, spending,
serial unhappy relationships and more.
A spiritual crisis needs spiritual solutions, and the Sacred
Space foundation was set up almost 20 years ago to offer some
support. Nurses and doctors and other therapists arrive burned out
and exhausted, at the end of their tether, hopeless and lost by
what they have endured. Our work focuses on providing retreat and
recuperation facilities, on methods of self-discovery and renewal
of meaning in work. We teach meditation and offer various therapies
and forms of (non-denominational) spiritual guidance. Courses on
various aspects of healing, such as Therapeutic Touch, are also
offered to reinvigorate the professional’s faith in their practice.
Self-care strategies for the return to work are encouraged, and we
work with teams and organisations to develop caring cultures,
practices and relationships. Sacred Space is not just the safe
place of retreat; it is also an invitation to take a journey deep
into ourselves - our own sacred space - to discover who we really
are and why we are here.
With one NHS Trust, we have established an extensive programme
of staff support - not only reviewing workloads and management
cultures, but also teambuilding days, meditation training, access
to complementary therapies, setting up a quiet sanctuary and a
labyrinth in the workplace and so on. But we are dealing with the
tip of the iceberg. If the problem is to be dealt with effectively,
it is going to need much attention focused on it by all concerned -
governments, unions, employers and individual professionals.
We have two sites in rural Cumbria where "outward bound" places
are two a penny. However, what we offer is "inward" bound - a
chance to reflect upon our own situations, deepen our awareness of
what has gone wrong and find solutions. People come to us in groups
or individuals, staying a few hours or many days according to need,
and we do much outreach work in NHS Trusts.
There is an economic side to this too. Caring for staff,
especially attending to spiritual needs through programmes of
meditation, team support, developing a sense of meaning and purpose
in the workplace, connectedness and right relationships among
colleagues - these and other factors seem to be instrumental not
only in making work a "great place to be", but also a cost
effective one. A recent study found that organisations that paid
attention to these issues were not only happier places to work;
they were also more effective and profitable as well. Perhaps the
message will someday percolate throughout our health services.
There’s an old joke about Tonto and the Lone Ranger. Surrounded
by hostile tribes, moving in for the kill, the Lone Ranger turns to
Tonto and says, "Well, looks like we’ve had it this time Tonto." To
which his faithful sidekick replies, "What’s this ‘we’ business?"
Many people at work sometimes feel their teams function like this.
Relationships are not always as supportive as they might be. A
dispirited workforce offers ultimately a dis-spirited service. The
re-consecration of our mainstream health service through a
restoration of a sense of the sacred, a spirited connection in
health care, is long overdue.
For more information and supporting references please
see:
Wright S G and Sayre- Adams J (2001)
Sacred Space - right relationship and spirituality in health
care
Churchill Livingstone Edinburgh
Extensive coverage of the topic of spirituality and health can
be found in the scholarly and research based journal "Sacred Space
- the international journal of spirituality and health".
For more details please contact:
The Sacred Space Foundation
Highland Hall,
Renwick
Cumbria, CA10 1JL
Tel 01768 898375
Email: Jeannie@sacredspace.org.uk
Or visit our website at http://www.sacredspace.org.uk/
Aims and Scope of the Journal Sacred Space ISSN
1467-9078
Sacred Space seeks to publish papers, reports and other material
of concern to all those involved in health care. From the place of
sacred architecture in healing to ecopraxis and the health of the
environment, from religion to ‘new age’ spirituality, from prayer
and meditation to labyrinth walking and psychotherapy...diverse
themes such as these, and more, will be included to look at many
possible facets of spirituality; what it means to the healers and
carers and those they wish to help.
Using a double blind referee system, we publish high quality
material that is scholarly and authoritative, yet accessible and
relevant. In offering a forum for debate, the presentation of
research findings and other issues for thought and discussion, the
journal seeks to explore the heart and soul of health care. So much
of our current health care system has become dispirited and inhuman
- often technically brilliant, yet lacking in both context and
opportunity for healing relationships to emerge. The journal is
committed to the view that spirituality is not peripheral, but
central to, and pervades every of, health care.
The journal is non-denominational, and seeks to explore the
nature and meaning of spirituality as it affects those who work in
healing and caring ways. Knowledge and evidence as well as beliefs,
experiences, values, hopes and dreams are explored which illuminate
the meaning and purpose in caring and curing relationships. In so
doing, the journal aims to provide an opportunity for a wide range
of views that will bring the art and science of health care
together, examine holistic approaches and illustrate the nature of
the spiritual in healing work in all its many manifestations and
possibilities. Thus, the journal seeks to challenge, inspire and
nourish the seeker of the spirit of health care along their chosen
path, providing windows of knowledge through which better health
for all can be glimpsed and pursued.
All proceeds raised from the sale of Sacred Space support the
Sacred Space Foundation, a non-denominational UK based charity
which provided rest, retreat and recuperation facilities to carers
who have become exhausted and burned out in their work. The
publication of the journal and it’s content, however, is entirely
independent of the charity.