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What is spiritual support?How Spiritual Support HelpsSupport at LTC Facilities

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What is spiritual support?

Spirituality is unique to each person. It may include our thoughts about meaning, purpose, beliefs and values, as well as our relationship with self, others, nature, the universe and God or a higher power. During a serious or life-limiting illness, you may want to talk with someone you can trust about your spirituality—your questions, feelings, hopes and worries.

Agrace offers spiritual support to both our hospice and palliative care patients.

  • Each Agrace Hospice Care team includes an experienced counselor who provides both spiritual care and grief support to our hospice patients and their family and friends, as requested.
  • Agrace Palliative Care patients also have the option to visit with one of our spiritual & grief counselors. If a patient dies while they are still being served by Agrace, we offer grief support to their family through the Agrace Grief Support Center.

Agrace’s spiritual & grief counselors serve people of all faith traditions and spiritual practices, including those who are not religious. We do not promote any specific faith tradition or religious beliefs. Our care is guided by the patient’s and their family’s beliefs, needs and requests. We strive to offer support that is meaningful and comforting to the person who is receiving it.

 

How does spiritual support help?

When an Agrace spiritual & grief counselor visits, here are a few ways they can help:

  • Listen to your feelings and experiences related to your illness.
  • Talk with you about spiritual or religious questions and beliefs.
  • Offer rituals, blessings and prayers, from a spiritual, religious or humanist perspective.
  • Connect you and your family with your faith community or spiritual leader.

To support the families of our hospice patients, we can also:

  • Offer spiritual and emotional support while the patient is actively dying.
  • Lead a memorial service for the patient, if we are asked and are available.
  • Offer grief support, without cost, for a year after the death, including phone calls, short-term 1:1 support, mailings of helpful resources and grief support groups.

Please also see what is offered through the Agrace Grief Support Center.

 

Spiritual Support for Agrace’s Long-term Care Partners

Agrace partners with hundreds of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in our service area, where we provide hospice and palliative care to their residents. These patients or their families can request a visit from an Agrace spiritual & grief counselor by asking their hospice nurse or social worker, or the Palliative Care nurse practitioner or social worker. We encourage you to call on us for support!

We can also be a resource when a LTC facility’s staff are grieving.

  • Memorial services aid healing: Facility leaders can ask the Agrace team or account manager if a counselor is available to hold a memorial service. A gathering like this lets people come together and share memories of the person/people whose absence they are grieving.
  • Educational in-services about grief:Agrace grief counselors can meet with an LTC partner facility’s staff and/or residents to teach about healthy ways to cope with grief. Ask your Agrace account manager for information or help scheduling a speaker.