Faith in Action

Major Cheryl Kinder, The Salvation Army Aged Care’s Mission and Chaplaincy Manager, says that when we talk about spirituality within the context of our Centres and Services, we’re not just referring to someone’s faith. “It’s important, when assisting residents and clients, that we find ways to support them and their faith journey, and we help them to develop and grow in that,” she confirms. However, “It's really critical for our Chaplains to be able to identify ways to support all people whether they have Christian faith, or whether they're of different faith, or no faith at all.” Spirituality is what brings life and meaning to the individual, she explains.

Each of The Salvation Army Aged Care Centres has at least one on-site permanent on-call Chaplain who also supports residents when they first move in. “When they're going through those times of feeling great loss of their independence or the community that they've known for so long, or whether it means being further away from family, losing their independence of having their own home, their car, transport, and so much more,” Major Cheryl states. “There can be a feeling of hopelessness.”

She says that it’s important to know that there is a hope that there’s more; there’s something greater. “We often find that people in the final stage of life are looking for what comes next, and they start to get very anxious and fearful,” Major Cheryl explains. “And our Chaplains are able to provide that hope and reassurance.”

For the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, the Aged Care industry’s governing body, Major Cheryl goes on to acknowledge that spirituality is what gives life meaning, purpose and connection. “When we talk about giving life meaning or purpose, we're talking about what gives people energy, what gets them up in the morning, or what gives them joy in their day,” she states.

Major Cheryl uses the example of someone who likes to garden, and determining how The Salvation Army Aged Care can support this person during their transition to an Aged Care Centre. This might be by taking them out into the garden, or bringing fresh flowers to their room, or perhaps placing images of nature around for them and bringing them a laptop so that they can watch something about nature. “You can often see the connection that people feel when you show them something that has been so much a part of their life; they light up and it changes their mood and brings joy and connection,” Major Cheryl says.

“That may be a way that we would provide some support to somebody who doesn't have a faith; to provide support for their spirituality, as opposed to somebody who has a faith that might want to go to chapel, or who might want to sit with you and share scripture, or have a conversation around God's faithfulness,” she says. The Salvation Army Aged Care Chaplains also connects with faith leaders in other communities to support people of different beliefs.

For Major Cheryl, the importance of The Salvation Army investing in Aged Care shows that the movement sees, “value in our older people.” The values of The Salvation Army underpin everything we do, she states. “We need to continue to support people at all stages, to continue to help them to live their best life. The blessing that I have found in this ministry is that I continue to learn from our older residents. I am amazed constantly at the wisdom and the knowledge that our older people have and what they still have to teach us.”