The Pediatric Chaplain provides compassionate, family-centered spiritual care and support to pediatric patients, their parents/caregivers, and siblings. Recognizing that a serious illness affects the entire family system, the Pediatric Chaplain addresses the spiritual, emotional, cultural, and existential needs of children and their loved ones throughout the hospice journey.
The Pediatric Chaplain offers interdenominational and nonsectarian spiritual care that honors each family's unique beliefs, values, traditions, and sources of meaning. Services are individualized to support the developmental needs of children, promote family connection, assist with coping and adaptation, and foster hope, comfort, and resilience during times of illness, loss, and grief.
As a member of the interdisciplinary team, the Pediatric Chaplain collaborates with parents, caregivers, siblings, community clergy, faith leaders, schools, and other support systems to ensure coordinated, holistic care. The Chaplain provides spiritual assessment, counseling, ritual support, legacy-building opportunities, anticipatory grief support, end-of-life care, and bereavement interventions consistent with the wishes and belief systems of the child and family and in accordance with Treasure Coast Hospice policies and procedures.
Qualifications
- Demonstrate ability to support the spiritual needs of patients and families at end of life according to their faith and beliefs. Applicants must also be in good standing with their body of faith.
- Master’s degree in ministry from an accredited college, university or divinity school preferred.
- Completed at least one Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) unit with an emphasis in health care ministry in addition to applicable ministerial training and experience.
- A Bachelor’s degree in ministry, theology, or a related field will be considered alongside applicable ministerial experience.
- Must complete annual education related to pediatrics.
- Demonstrate ability to be open, sensitive, flexible, and ecumenical.
- Two years’ experience in pediatric patient care setting preferred (hospice/home care/acute care hospital/residential care).
- Knowledgeable in spiritual assessments, planning, and implementation of spiritual care and community church resources.
- Ability to attend bereavement and/or community events which support organizational mission and goals.
- Ability to provide accurate, clear and concise documentation for patient charting.
- Expertise in spiritual counseling and support, family systems, grief resolution and ministry of ecumenical settings. Experience in spiritual care for the dying and bereaved preferred. Works effectively under stress.
- Perform on-call duties and attend monthly SCC meetings, as requested.
Expectations
The successful Spiritual Care Coordinator/Chaplain provides compassionate, patient and family-centered spiritual care and assessment as part of the interdisciplinary team, offering end-of-life guidance, grief support, and crisis intervention while honoring each individual's faith, spiritual beliefs, cultural values, or personal worldview. The SCC/Chaplain is responsible for clinical documentation, healthy boundaries, and community coordination, to create spaces where patients find comfort and meaning during life's final transition.
Key Result Areas
Spiritual Assessment & Care: Conducts comprehensive initial spiritual assessments within 5 days of admission and ongoing reassessments that identify patients' beliefs, values, sources of meaning, and spiritual needs and resources. Skillfully addresses existential concerns and questions about mortality. Develops, implements, and updates goal-directed family spiritual care plans. Adapts spiritual care interventions to diverse faith traditions and to those without religious affiliation. Recognizes and responds appropriately to spiritual distress. Contacts the patient/family's preferred spiritual advisor to ensure ongoing involvement. Assists patients/families in accessing spiritual care providers in accordance with their own spiritual/religious needs. Leads spiritually focused prayer and worship services as appropriate.
End-of-Life Support Skills: Assists in conversations regarding EOL care and meeting patient's wishes.
Demonstrates comfort and presence during an active dying process. Facilitates meaningful life review and legacy work. Assists patients and families with unfinished business and reconciliation. Creates sacred space in various care environments (home, facility, inpatient unit). Facilitates appropriate rituals and ceremonies based on patient/family preferences. Assists families with funeral planning; conducts funeral services/viewings as requested. Keeps current with best practices for spiritual care for the dying and bereaved.
Grief and Bereavement Support: Accurately assesses grief responses and identifies complicated grief risk factors. Provides appropriate bereavement support tailored to individual needs. Facilitates healthy grieving through various cultural and spiritual frameworks. Makes appropriate referrals for complex grief situations. Conducts bereavement follow-up to assess the bereaved and evaluate earlier grief support. Supports interdisciplinary team members with their own grief. Demonstrates expertise in grief resolution. Attends bereavement and community events that support organizational mission and goals.
Interdisciplinary Team Collaboration: Communicates spiritual care findings effectively to team members.
Contributes meaningfully to care planning from spiritual perspective. Responds promptly to team referrals. Observes, evaluates, and brings to team meetings information regarding spiritual beliefs that may impact physical and/or psychosocial care. Collaborates with the team to create a therapeutic environment providing comfort and support to patients, families, and visitors. Provides spiritual care education to team members. Supports team through difficult cases and compassion fatigue. Works collaboratively with other departments, demonstrating leadership for a comprehensive approach.
Cultural and Religious Competence: Demonstrates knowledge of diverse religious traditions and cultural practices. Demonstrates the ability to be open, sensitive, flexible, and ecumenical. Accesses appropriate resources for unfamiliar traditions. Provides culturally sensitive support without imposing personal beliefs. Facilitates connections with community religious leaders appropriate to patients’ preferences. Partners with community outreach to facilitate clergy representation specific to religious preference. Establishes therapeutic relationships with patients and families from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Communicates with patients and families with concern, empathy, courtesy, and respect. Respects confidentiality and privacy in all interactions.
Self-Care and Professional Development: Functions within Treasure Coast Hospice's Code of Ethics. Maintains healthy boundaries between professional and personal life. Establishes healthy interpersonal boundaries with patients and families from diverse backgrounds. Engages in regular reflection and supervision. Pursues continuing education in hospice and palliative care. Demonstrates awareness of personal grief responses. Participates in professional chaplaincy organizations. Shows professionalism, treating others with dignity and respect. Works effectively under stress. Embraces flexible work schedules to meet patient/family and organizational on-call needs.
Documentation Excellence: Creates clear, concise, and meaningful spiritual care notes. Documents measurable outcomes from spiritual interventions. Records all patient/family visits and telephone contacts in the medical record within 24 hours. Integrates spiritual assessment with psychosocial components. Maintains appropriate confidentiality in documentation and adheres to HIPAA regulations. Upholds Treasure Coast Hospice standards for patient visits and compliant documentation. Reports findings to immediate supervisor within one hour of an immediate or crisis visit.
Crisis Response: Responds effectively to spiritual crises at end of life. Provides appropriate support during medical crises. Assists families through difficult decision-making processes. Demonstrates calm presence during emotional intensity. Facilitates meaning making in crisis situations. Contacts patient/family within one hour when an immediate need/crisis is indicated. Demonstrates expertise in crisis intervention and family systems. Accepts on-call responsibility on a rotation basis. Maintains a high level of urgency and service excellence during crisis situations.
Administrative Responsibilities: Coordinates Spiritual Care with Community Clergy to provide for needs of patients, family, and staff. Develops and maintains contact with community agencies and services to promote cooperation and facilitate referrals. Educates spiritual volunteers to be more effective with patients and families. Assists with coordination of future strategic education programs. Participates as an active supporter of the organization's compliance program. Assists in developing and providing education to patients, families, and community on end-of-life care and cultural issues.
Fulfill all responsibilities related to the success of the strategic plan of the organization, as requested and assigned.
OSHA Category
Position will be categorized as Category III (involves no routine or potential exposure to blood, body fluids/tissues).
Working Conditions
- Typing – working primarily with fingers rather than with the whole hand as in handling.
• Sedentary – Exerting up to ten pounds of force occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria met. • The work is required to have close visual acuity such as/preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing, viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading.
Additional Information
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Incumbent may be required to perform emergency duty before, during and/or beyond normal work hours or days in the event of an emergency, crisis situation or disaster (man-made or natural) including evacuation sites. The person in the position will work in a smoke-free location and is expected to adhere to all smoking restrictions.
EEO/Drug Free Workplace
