Heart and Soul Mental Health Chaplain - Fulbourn Hospital

Job overview

It reinforced the belief that we all play a role in creating a culture of care that mirrors the standards we would want for ourselves. When Fulbourn Hospital’s new Resource Centre opened in 2023, the Heart and Soul approach was at its core, offering public spaces, a community café, and group rooms that foster inclusion, belonging, and therapeutic social connections.

This shift has become even more crucial since the disruptions caused by COVID-19 and the opening of the new Resource Centre. There is more rebuilding of links and relationships to be done.

Main duties of the job

In this role, you will provide compassionate, pastorally-rich support to individuals in CPFT’s wards at Fulbourn Hospital and in local community settings, with a focus on holistic care that honours spirituality, religion, and the diverse beliefs and backgrounds of those you serve.

You will work closely with colleagues, accepting referrals to support individuals with their existential, spiritual, or religious needs, ensuring that spirituality is thoughtfully integrated into their overall care when appropriate. By collaborating with staff across the wards, Resource Centre, and local community, you will help foster a culture of care that respects the whole person, including their spiritual and cultural identity.

Working for our organisation

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high-calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1. In this role, you will provide compassionate, pastorally-rich support to individuals in CPFT’s wards at Fulbourn Hospital and in local community settings, with a focus on holistic care that honours spirituality, religion, and the diverse beliefs and backgrounds of those you serve.
2. You will work closely with colleagues, accepting referrals to support individuals with their existential, spiritual, or religious needs, ensuring that spirituality is thoughtfully integrated into their overall care when appropriate. By collaborating with staff across the wards, Resource Centre, and local community, you will help foster a culture of care that respects the whole person, including their spiritual and cultural identity.
3. Incorporating people’s diverse cultural and spiritual beliefs into their care plans using the Systm 1 electronic record [Spiritual Wellbeing tab] will be a key part of this role.
4. Building strong, positive relationships with colleagues across the hospital and community will help you contribute to the vibrant life of the Resource Centre and the wards.
5. You will also extend your support to families and caregivers, guiding them through the challenges of mental health care with empathy and understanding.
6. Engaging with the Heart and Soul community, you will co-produce and participate in activities like the weekly Wednesday afternoon Coffee Club and Sunday morning’s Reflection, Music, Prayer & Coffee Chat alongside the Heart and Soul Peer Worker.
7. In addition, you will attend monthly online team meetings and have regular supervision with the Heart and Soul Lead. You will also play a key role in supporting and supervising the Resource Centre Peer Support Worker, along with Heart and Soul volunteers, as they carry out their important work in and around the Resource Centre, hospital site, and local area.
8. Training will be an essential part of your contribution. You will help healthcare staff understand the value of holistic care, spirituality, and religion in mental health, working alongside CPFT’s Muslim Chaplain to provide cultural and religious literacy training.
9. While accepting referrals from across the south of the Trust, you will prioritize maintaining strong connections with the Resource Centre, Fulbourn Hospital wards, and the local community.
10. Finally, you will manage and coordinate the use of Still Point in the Resource Centre, creating a welcoming space for prayer, meditation, quiet reflection, and restorative conversations for staff and clinical teams during difficult times.

Person specification

Education

• A high-level qualification or degree in Existential or Religious Pastoral Care, Counselling, Applied Psychology, Social Work, Theology, or a field related to one of these.

• Certification in chaplaincy or pastoral care generally

Experience

• Have a minimum of 2 years of experience working with people whose mental health challenges are significantly complex, requiring secondary-level or integrated care.
• Demonstrate a significant degree of personal involvement in a faith, spiritual, and/or religious community, or a parallel values-based community, which has shaped your vocation and life of service, caring for others.
• Experience in planning, promoting, and delivering training workshops and facilitating meaningful group conversations around a theme.

• Experience of facing significant mental health challenges yourself, or in the lives of people closest to you.

Skills & Abilities

• Exhibit strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Knowledge & Understanding

• Show knowledge of how and where to find religious care for individuals when you are unable to provide it personally.

• A personal faith belief

Here at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) we are dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion. We deliver many of the NHS services that are provided outside of hospital and in the community such as physical, mental health and specialist services.

We are a health and social care organisation, offering a wide range of services, including:

• Integrated physical and mental health services for adults and older people;
• Specialist mental health and learning disability services;
• Children and young people’s mental health services;
• Children’s community services in Peterborough;
• Social care;
• Ground-breaking research

We strongly encourage applications from all sections of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people and members of our ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ communities. For further information about our positive equality, diversity and Inclusion work, please visit https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/equalityanddiversity.

CPFT is looking to build upon its pool of temporary workers with Temporary Staffing Services (TSS). You will be asked at interview if you would be willing to register with TSS. This is an excellent opportunity for those looking to take on additional hours that are flexible around your personal circumstances.

Please be advised that in line with the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List, 2020 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust currently are unable to accept applications from overseas candidates whose country of residence is classed as a ‘Red List’ country.

Applicants who require entry into the UK will be required to provide a valid police certificate from the relevant authority from each country (except the UK) where the applicant has been present for 12 months or more, 10 years before the date of visa application, while aged 18 or over.

If you are successful at interview you will be subject to pre-employment checks, including a DBS (if appropriate), references and Occupational Health. To ensure a smooth process please bring all identity documents to your interview. A list of required identity documents will be attached to your interview invitation.

All communications will be sent to you via TRAC Systems. By applying for this post you are agreeing to CPFT transferring the information contained in this application to TRAC. If you are made an offer, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.