Embedding spirituality in person centred care

What are People For? Consumerism: People as consumers and units of consumption Economics: People as commodities Medicine: People as bodies or minds Evolution: Prioritising strong people

People are for love Love Relationships Meaningful existence Hopeful existence Godly existence

“Its good that you exist; I’m glad that you are here”

Spirituality as presence and absence There is s real sense in which spirituality doesn’t exist! Spirituality names something missing from the ways in which we care.

People are made for spiritual experience Andrew Newburgh and the neurological Basis of God! David Hay and relational consciousness

The biological roots of mysticism

God in our brains?

Relational consciousness

De-spiritualising institutions

Communities can have mental health problems It is possible for a community to be neurotic, depressed or psychotic. A neurotic community is on which is nervous, anxious to preserve its current shape and yet insecure about exactly what its shape should be. A depressed community is one which has become dispirited. A psychotic community is one which no longer has a grasp on what is real what is unreal; what is inside of it and what is outside of it.

Check out the mental health of your community!

The relational context in which you experience mental health and illness is deeply influenced by the places that you experience it in.

Could your own organisation be spiritually inhibiting even if it seems to be functioning well according to standard indicators?

Spiritual care has to do with helping people to be people

Mental Health & Recovery The measure of mental health is not simply (or even) an absence of symptoms or reduction in inpatient admissions. In spiritual/relational mode mental health is also measured by how well a person is able to pursue the things that give their lives purpose and meaning even in the midst of symptoms.

Good Poor MildSevere Degree of Pathology Degree of Mental Health

Why bother with spirituality? If people are for love, then a focus on spirituality makes perfect sense Spirituality in mental health care means recognising, respecting and responding to the essential spirituality in all people. Spirituality in a mental health context means recognising who and what people are (the essence of person centred care?) and acting accordingly. A focus on spirituality helps keep us focused on positive mental health Genuinely person centred care cannot do anything other than notice the spiritual

Is there an evidence base for all of this? Yes....its called life! Very little evidence for generic spirituality. More evidence for religious spirituality But, there is a solid evidence base for the constituent parts of what we have come to describe as “spirituality.” The word “spirituality” marks out the area of human experience we are interested in; the various component parts are observable and measurable.

So, if you want to prove it, you can. But, it might be better to try to live it first?