With churches, religious leaders and others restricted from visiting care homes during the pandemic, organisations and individuals have been working on resources to help care staff meet the spiritual and religious needs of residents. Below are some of the resources we have come across - do tell us if you know of more - we would love to add to this list.
Our Church at Home These are freely downloadable worship resources for use by activity organisers in care homes and other situations. With themes like hope, friendship, loss, and religious festivals, these resources include a short filmed story, links to hymns and free downloadable resources to explore each theme. There are short videos with suggestions of how to use these resources which are dementia friendly and designed to be used in groups in a care home. They are spiritually nurturing and aim to be inclusive of people without a Christian faith. Produced by the team at Stories for the Soul.
Carers Guide Series These guides, produced by the Anna Chaplaincy team, offer practical help and guidance to carers who find themselves needing to provide spiritual support to older people or others in residential care. The aim of these guides is to give carers the confidence and skills to enable those in their care not only to cope emotionally and spiritually but even to thrive, despite challenging circumstances.