Wellbeing menu

You can be sure that all wellbeing resources on our menu have a proven track record,
with very positive feedback from clergy

Workshops:

St Luke's Resilience Workshop

Half-day session: up to 25 clergy

‘A superb course in every way. Clear explanations related to concrete examples. I wouldn’t change a thing’

How does this session work?

  • This workshop is designed to improve participants’ resilience in their role, which then boosts their health and wellbeing.
  • This training is specifically devised for clergy. It’s run by clinical psychologists who are experienced in working with clergy.
  • Participants are equipped with skills and techniques to manage stress and pressure more effectively. These include:
    • how the human mind functions under pressure
    • ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ stress
    • what resilience is and what it isn’t
    • four-point plan to develop resilience under pressure
  • Participants leave with individually tailored action plans, with a 21-day challenge to embed learning.

‘It’s a must for the clergy. Some of the most useful training I have ever attended’

For more information and to book workshop, please email our wellbeing manager Contact us

Developing resilience post-pandemic

Half-day Zoom session: 12 participants maximum

Why is this course needed?

Resilience is a foundation stone of wellbeing, supporting us to navigate the often-choppy waters of life, work and calling. Paying attention to resilience and wellbeing  is not a luxury or an option and turning focused attention to this can be the difference between thriving and surviving.

‘Absolutely everything was so informative and useful’

This workshop aims to provide an:

  • Overview of how resilience can help when things get challenging or difficult
  • Invitation to consider your unique prescription for resilience
  • Introduction to some models, tools, and techniques to support a resilient approach
  • Exploration of the importance and value of boundaries

How it works

This facilitated workshop gives opportunity for discussion, individual reflection and sharing of ideas and good practice. The  framework draws on principles of positive psychology, as well as some well-known and easy-to-implement models and practices.

About the trainer

This workshop  will be facilitated by Nicola Willocks, an accredited and experienced coach and facilitator who is interested in working with people who are committed to their personal and professional development..

For more information and to book course, please email our wellbeing manager Contact us

Trauma-informed ministry: Reflecting on Covid and moving forward in a changed world

Full day face-to-face sessions: 12-25 participants

1/2 day sessions: Delivered online

This session offers:

  • An opportunity to explore the impact of the pandemic on clergy and their congregations
  • A chance to process what happened during the pandemic and the effect it had on their wellbeing, ministry and vocation
  • Drawing on neurobiology and trauma theory alongside biblical and faith resources, it considers ‘where we are now’ – living in a time of uncertainty and change within the Church as we emerge from the pandemic
  • It also looks to the future, at our human need for connection and relationship with others and what helps to connect and sustain us for the challengea we face in pastoral ministry and church leadership

‘I rate the training as some of the best I have experienced in my 22 years of ministry’

Since 2017, the ‘Tragedy and Congregations’ Team has delivered numerous training days in various settings for Anglican and URC groups.

‘It was the most insightful thing the Church has provided and helped me to understand the psychology of what I and others are feeling in the “disillusionment” phase of the Covid epidemic: to adjust my expectations of myself and others and prayerfully approach the unknowns of the months ahead’

About the trainer

Revd Hilary Ison: After initial theological training and ordination, Hilary gained further training and experience in Organisational Consultancy, Systems Leadership and Systems Constellations. Member of a research team on Tragedy and Constellations 2017-21 and ongoing delivery of training. Trustee of St Luke’s for Clergy Wellbeing.

For more information or to book course, please email our wellbeing manager Contact us

To read Revd Hilary Ison’s blog – Trauma Informed Ministry Series: Moving on from the Pandemic The Revd Hilary Ison discusses her Trauma Informed Ministry Series: Moving on from the Pandemic

Negotiating relationships and expectations post-pandemic

Half-day session: 12 participants maximum

‘So helpful, really well structured, wish we could have gone on longer. The best Zoom session for any workshop I have attended’

This workshop offers support for clergy to navigate complex relationships more effectively at a time of unprecedented challenge. Learning objectives include:

  • To listen and learn from each other
  • To reflect on one’s own approach to conflict and disagreement
  • To be able to have a needs-based conversation and to have those needs met

About the trainer

Owen is passionate about supporting communities to access the power of reconciliation and mediation. As well as being an experienced workplace mediator, trainer and conflict-consultant, Owen has grown up in the church. As a chorister, he sang in the choir of Westminster Abbey, and spent his teenage and early adult years as organist and musical director at various churches in the United Reformed, Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical and Central Anglican traditions.

For more information and to book course, please email our wellbeing manager Contact us

Ongoing wellbeing training:

Reflective practice groups
What are St Luke’s Reflective Practice Groups?
  • Our Reflective Practice Groups (RPGs) are small groups of clergy who commit to meet monthly for two years.
  • RPG sessions are entirely confidential to the group and are run by a professional facilitator, who is independent of the diocese.
  • Clergy develop skills which improve their emotional wellbeing and reduce stress, enabling them to minister more effectively.

As a new incumbent, having help to think about boundaries and my own wellbeing, as well as tackling my job efficiently and effectively, was brilliant.Group member

  • The groups consist of 5-7 clergy, drawn where possible from different deaneries.
  • Prior to joining, clergy are invited to attend a half-day ‘taster’ session to ensure that they are clear about the commitment they will make.
  • Members agree to a statement of commitment concerning attendance, confidentiality and active participation.
  • Members meet for ten monthly 2.5-hour sessions, annually for two years.

I’m feeling valued by the diocese for allowing this time and facility.Group member

  • These groups are confidential meetings which enable clergy to share and discuss issues.
  • The RPG is a closed group, led by a professional facilitator, whose role is to promote in-depth reflection and discussion on all aspects of participants’ ministry and life.
  • The facilitator is appointed by St Luke’s and not by the diocese.
  • What happens in the group is entirely confidential to that group and is not relayed to the diocese.
  • RPGs’ objectives include developing clergy’s skills which improve their emotional wellbeing and reduce stress. These include:
    • boundary setting
    • sustaining creative relationships
    • managing conflict
Can my diocese run St Luke’s Reflective Practice Groups?
  • RPGs are available to any diocese which wishes to run them.
  • Dioceses are invited to contact St Luke’s to set up RPGs.

Challenge has been possible without it becoming personal.Group member

For more information and to book course, please email our wellbeing manager Contact us

Learning from other dioceses:

Support in your Ministry (SIM), from St Albans

Support in your Ministry (SIM) is the free scheme sponsored by the Diocese of St Albans for the pastoral support of its clergy, readers, churchwardens and their partners. Established in 1990, it aims to support and encourage ministers in their vocation by helping and challenging them to use their gifts creatively and effectively.

SIM recruits volunteers, both lay and clerical, who are trained and selected by the Management Group to be Assistants.

Assistants meet with each of their Users several times a year, in complete confidence, to provide support, challenge, time for reflection and encouragement. The agenda for each meeting is established by the User. In practice,

SIM is voluntary and entirely confidential; it complements mentoring, counselling and spiritual direction schemes.

Click here to find out more about SIM, including free downloadable User’s and Assistant’s booklets

Flourishing in Ministry, from the Diocese of Oxford

Flourishing in Ministry is a booklet produced by the Diocese of Oxford as a practical resource to support clergy by encouraging them to care for their own wellbeing in a variety of ways. This is offered alongside other wellbeing resources and is designed as a guide to return to more than once.

You can download the free booklet here

How Clergy Thrive, from the Church of England

Find free resources emerging from the Church’s Living Ministry research to use for personal reflection and in discussion with others. Designed specifically for ordinands, clergy, senior clergy and diocesan officers, they are designed to enable clergy to consider their own wellbeing and how they support the wellbeing of others, as well as signposting to further sources of support.

Find Thrive resources here

Ideas for the Big Conversation, from the Diocese of Norwich

The Covenant for Clergy Care and Wellbeing calls for the ‘Big Conversation’, one section of the Big conversation suggests laity can consider how they can support their clergy. The Diocese of Norwich has developed a framework of questions to kickstart this process. Click on the link for a pdf download.

Big Conversation questions, Diocese of Norwich

Setting up pastoral supervision, from the Diocese of Sheffield

When a clergy wellbeing survey revealed high levels of stress, Bishop’s Advisor for Pastoral Care Patricia Hunt launched a pastoral supervision scheme.

Find out more about the diocese’s journey here

Read some of the feedback from those impacted by the pastoral supervision scheme:

From clergy:

Pastoral supervision provides me with a regular opportunity to discuss ministry-related challenges and share burdens with others who understand the situation, and thus helps to reduce stress and isolation, and sometimes provides a practical way forward. I really value these short but regular interventions which seem to increase my resilience and enable ministry.” Member of Pastoral Supervision Group, Pastoral Supervision Scheme, September 2020
My last pastoral supervision session left me buzzing. I managed to put into words a number of issues before me, and simply saying them among trusted colleagues was such a help. It would go no further, but they would pray. Some were facing similar issues – so I wasn’t alone. One had a word that was very affirming. Another gave a new perspective for me to ponder. Through the year we care and share in confidence with one another, and our pastoral supervisor keeps us on track; notes connections; and asks us “what next?” I will be buzzing throughout the coming week.’ Member of Pastoral Supervision Group, Pastoral Supervision Scheme, May 2021
Comments to Bishop’s Advisor: 
Thank you, Pat, for your facilitation of this process. Your oversight of this is a gift to the Diocese.’ Revd Malcolm Chamberlain, Archdeacon
‘Thank you for all you are doing to assist our diocesan journey of transformation.’ Bishop Sophie Jelly, Bishop of Doncaster

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