Spiritual Care

What we do

Our Spiritual Care service provides confidential emotional and spiritual support to patients, consumers and their loved ones during illness, surgery, and hospitalisation.

We also provide support for staff and volunteers of the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH). 

Our service is provided by trained spiritual care practitioners and faith community chaplains.

What is spiritual care?

Spiritual Care is concerned with, and upholds, the importance of the holistic care of individuals by addressing the connections between physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions of well being. The spiritual and pastoral care team support people as they journey through times of illness and associated uncertainty. 

We assist people to draw on their own spiritual resources, those things that provide meaning, purpose and a sense of belonging. For some people, the spiritual is expressed through formal religious belief, practice and community. For others, it is realised through informal beliefs and practice, often connected to meaning drawn from culture, relationships and life experiences. 

Mindfulness and meditation

Mindfulness and meditation practices offered bedside provide a safe space for patients to be in the present moment. This enhances healing through focusing on breathing, bodily awareness and use of therapeutic sound which results in a sense of peacefulness, calm, clarity of mind, self-awareness and grounding.

Art therapy

In art therapy, trained art therapists bring a person-centred approach to explore thoughts and feelings through creative self-expression. Creativity enhances wellbeing and is a natural aspect of all cultures and human experience. Art therapists use a range of arts tools (for example, collage, painting, drawing or clay), attending to emotional, cognitive, physical and spiritual wellbeing. Art therapy is known to facilitate relaxation, reduce stress, anxiety and pain. No prior art experience is required to participate.

Service times

The RMH Parkville

There is a multi-faith Sacred Space available for all to visit for meditation, prayer, or just a quiet space away from the hospital. The Sacred Space is located in the retail precinct, on the ground level between the Royal Melbourne Hopsital and The Women’s. For Muslims, there is an ablutions and prayer room. Each week there is a variety of religious services, meditation sessions and reflective services, which are listed on the noticeboard at the entrance to the Sacred Space. 

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which the Sacred Space is located: the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation.