Meaning, Purpose and Connection
Our volunteer practitioners were paired with older adults from the community referred by local healthcare agencies, including Alfred Health and Connect Health, for being impacted by social isolation and loneliness. In addition to going through a vetting process and completing a six-part training program, volunteers were invited to participate in fortnightly online reflective practice sessions. Feedback for MPC by volunteers, community members, and participating healthcare agencies was 100% positive, encouraging Social Health to explore funding opportunities for expanding the project.
Meaning, Purpose and Connection (MPC)
Social Health’s inaugural project, Meaning, Purpose and Connection (MPC) was launched in early 2020 with seed funding from the City of Glen Eira, City of Bayside and Humanists Victoria. The project trained 20 volunteers from a variety of backgrounds and fields in the art of ‘walking alongside’ people in crisis, by integrating the principles of mindfulness and spiritual companioning.
'I am reminded daily of the power of social connection and its impact on mental health and wellbeing.'
– Christeen Waring, Registered Psychologist and Social Health Volunteer Practitioner
Conversation in Isolation
This year, Social Health will be formally auspicing Conservation in Isolation. We have also begun working with the project’s student leadership to expand the initiative. A new program area will launch later this year to support 18 to 25 years impacted by uncertain and/or adverse circumstances, and will involve Headspace centres in Elsternwick, Bentleigh and Syndal.
Conversation in Isolation
Created by a group of Monash Uni medical students as a response to the COVID-19 health crisis, Conversation in Isolation aims to encourage regular correspondences with people experiencing disconnectedness, via phone calls, emails, texts and letters. Several months into the project, Social Health began to run regular online sessions for these student volunteers, which provide opportunities for additional companioning training as well as for sharing about and learning from their experiences.
'I found the whole experience quite therapeutic and loved the practical elements. It really gave valuable insight into companioning, which I believe will help me engage more deeply with people, including future patients as a doctor, as well as those close to me.'
– Nisangi, 5th Year, Monash Medicine, participant of the ‘Conversation in Isolation’ initiative
Practitioner Credentialing Model
To assist the Royal Australian Navy in hiring their first practitioners providing pastoral care outside a ministerial context, Social Health created a credentialing model for assessing if candidates possess the requisite competencies and qualities. Co-designed with the assistance of a solutions architect and a national taskforce comprised of four ministers working alongside four non-religious members, the model was used to vet four people to serve in the Navy’s newly created position of Maritime Spiritual Wellbeing Officer.
We aim to make this adaptable model available to other institutions as they begin to hire practitioners who are not required to be theologically-trained/faith-community endorsed. We also intend to create a version of the model to be able to assess volunteer practitioners at the community level to support people impacted by isolation/loneliness. The envisioned model should be especially useful for growing number of medical professionals turning to community organisations via social prescribing to support patients with non-medical issues.
Practitioner Credentialing Model
To assist the Royal Australian Navy in hiring their first practitioners providing pastoral care outside a ministerial context, Social Health created a credentialing model for assessing if candidates possess the requisite competencies and qualities. Co-designed with the assistance of a solutions architect and a national taskforce comprised of four ministers working alongside four non-religious members, the model was used to vet four people to serve in the Navy’s newly created position of Maritime Spiritual Wellbeing Officer.
'Social Health Australia is proving that when we put humanity first, differences don’t have to divide us.'
– Nageen Hussain, Member, Social Health Credentialing Task Force