These diverse case studies make a compelling case for the importance of effective spiritual care in healthcare and provide unprecedented insight into the essential role of the chaplain within the healthcare team. Presented alongside critical reflections and responses from professionals within chaplaincy, psychology, psychiatry and nursing, they provide an honest and detailed look into how healthcare chaplains actually work with the people in their care and reveal the vital role of narrative and imagination in effective transformative practice. From a 16-year-old with a belief that God would enable a miraculous recovery from paralysis, to an African man with a history of psychosis and depression whose cultural belief in witches complicated his treatment, to a dying Jewish man, aggressive and isolated due to his traumatic life experiences, each case includes insight into the patient's needs and chaplain's perspectives, discussion of spiritual assessments and spiritual care interventions, and accounts of significant encounters and dialogues. The nine paediatric, psychiatric and palliative case studies and reflections in this ground-breaking book will enable chaplains to critically reflect on the spiritual care they provide and communicate their work more effectively, help healthcare professionals develop a clearer understanding of the care chaplains deliver, and provide an informed perspective for those who develop policy around spiritual care and need to make the case for chaplaincy services.

Chaplains in healthcare settings offer patients spiritual care that involves companionship, counselling and maintaining hope. This is particularly important at the point where a patient has run out of treatment possibilities. This book reflects creatively on the work that chaplains do with people who are dying and the unique quality of the relationship that palliative care professionals construct with patients at the end of life. Based on qualitative research with practising palliative care chaplains, Spiritual Care at the End of Life explores the nature of hope in its different forms at different stages of terminal illness, and asks how chaplains can help dying people to be hopeful even when facing the inevitability of their death. The book identifies key moments in this relationship, from the person's initial reaction to the chaplain, to the chaplain becoming an accompanying presence and creating the potential to provide comfort, strength and "hope in the present". This thoughtful and inquisitive book investigates the underlying theory that spiritual care is rooted in relationship. It has implications for practice in the work of chaplains, counsellors and all healthcare professionals supporting people who are dying.

Through a rich variety of case studies, this book provides insight into the patient's needs and the chaplain's perspective, as well as discussions of spiritual assessments and spiritual care interventions. Case studies such as a request to baptise a child complicated due to his admission for 'psychiatric reasons', as well as work with military veterans, such as a female transgender veteran who has been alienated from her faith, show the breadth and complexity of work that chaplains undertake daily. Each section also includes critical responses to the case studies presented from a chaplain and related healthcare professional. This book will enable chaplains to critically reflect on the spiritual care they provide, and provide an informed perspective for healthcare professionals and others involved in chaplaincy services.

In their study of religion and film, religious film analysts have tended to privilege religion. Uniquely, this study treats the two disciplines as genuine equals, by regarding both liturgy and film as representational media. Steve Nolan argues that, in each case, subjects identify with a represented 'other' which joins them into a narrative where they become participants in an ideological 'reality'. Finding many current approaches to religious film analysis lacking, Film, Lacan and the Subject of Religion explores the film theory other writers ignore, particularly that mix of psychoanalysis, Marxism and semiotics - often termed Screen theory - that attempts to understand how cinematic representation shapes spectator identity. Using translations and commentary on Lacan not originally available to Screen theorists, Nolan returns to Lacan's contribution to psychoanalytic film theory and offers a sustained application to religious practice, examining several 'priest films' and real-life case study to expose the way liturgical representation shapes religious identity. Film, Lacan and the Subject of Religion proposes an interpretive strategy by which religious film analysts can develop the kind of analysis that engages with and critiques both cultural and religious practice.

This book proposes an interpretive strategy by which religious film-analysts can develop the kind of analysis that engages with and critiques both cultural and religious practice. In their study of religion and film, religious film-analysts have tended to privilege religion. Uniquely, this study treats the two disciplines as genuine equals, by regarding both liturgy and film as representational media. Steve Nolan argues that, in each case, subjects identify with a represented 'other' which joins them into a narrative where they become participants in an ideological 'reality'. Finding many current approaches to religious film-analysis lacking, "Film, Lacan and the Subject of Film" explores the film theory other writers ignore, particularly that mix of psychoanalysis, Marxism and semiotics - often termed Screen theory - that attempts to understand how cinematic representation shapes spectator identity. Using translations and commentary on Lacan not originally available to Screen theorists, Nolan returns to Lacan's contribution to psychoanalytic film theory and offers a sustained application to religious practice, examining several 'priest films' and real-life case study to expose the way liturgical representation shapes religious identity. "Film, Lacan and the Subject of Film" proposes an interpretive strategy by which religious film-analysts can develop the kind of analysis that engages with and critiques both cultural and religious practice.

Meeting the psychological and spiritual needs of patients is vital to supporting their wellbeing in health care settings. To develop an effective, holistic and inclusive approach to care within predominantly medical health care models, practitioners across health care disciplines must work collaboratively to understand the complex, significant relationships between their patients' medical, therapeutic and spiritual requirements. Bridging the gap between care disciplines, the book presents an innovative vision of patient wellbeing enriched by a synthesis of psychological, spiritual and medical approaches. Prominent practitioners from a range of disciplines including nursing and psychiatry demonstrate how their psycho-spiritual approaches meet the individual needs of patients, adapting to their emotional, spiritual and religious requirements. Accessible and enlightening, this book offers significant practical insight into the role of psychologically informed spiritual care.