Spiritual Health
At Deer Lodge Centre, we recognize the importance of caring for spiritual and emotional needs as an important part of the whole person. Spiritual Health Care is provided by clinically trained Spiritual Health Practitioners (SHPs) who serve and support people of all faiths and non-faith backgrounds. SHPs can assist in accessing religious/ spiritual resources and facilitating a connection to your own minister, priest, rabbi, imam or other religious leader. SHPs are here to support patients/ residents, families and staff. The second floor Worship Centre is open 24 hours a day for quiet reflection and specific religious services as advertised.
Monthly Worship Centre Calendar
Indigenous Ceremonies
The Spirit Room in the Worship Centre at Deer Lodge was specially designed to accommodate smudging. Indigenous ceremonies are facilitated at the solstices and equinoxes and led by Indigenous Health Services. Patients, residents and families may also invite their own elder to lead a smudge. The Spirit Room is open 24 hours a day with specific instructions onsite. More information about Indigenous Health is available here.
“Illnesses are deeply meaningful events within people’s lives, events that often challenge people to think about their lives quite differently. Spirituality sits at the heart of such experiences.”
John Swinton
Connect with us
If you think a Spiritual Health Practitioner can help you or someone you care for, speak with your health care provider or connect directly.
Deer Lodge Centre
Spiritual Health, Worship Centre & Spirit Room
2nd Floor – Main St (Tower Building)
Spiritual Health Practitioners…
Listen with compassion and understanding.
Counsel patients, residents and families to find or develop sources of hope, resilience and stress management.
Provide grief support at stressful times such as time of diagnosis or end of life.
Assist patients, residents and their families as they make difficult health care decisions.
Offer prayer, inspirational readings, mindfulness practices, etc. with sensitivity to the individual spiritual or religious preferences.
Arrange services, rituals, sacraments and ceremonies respecting peoples’ beliefs, values and cultures.
Provide sacred spaces for medication, prayer, rituals and services.
Facilitate significant life events
Spiritual Health Practitioners Listen and Respond to your Needs by:
Responding to questions of meaning and purpose in life.
Offering support during times of grief and loss.
Facilitating connections with faith or spiritual leaders, communities and resources.
Supporting people as they make challenging health care decisions.
Building awareness of stress management and self-care practices.
Spiritual Heath Professionals Work as Part of the Inter-professional Care Team
They provide emotional and spiritual support to patients, residents, families, staff and volunteers in moments of need, based on the person’s beliefs, cultural background, values, traditions and practices.
Benefits of Compassionate Spiritual Health Care
We share your burdens and lighten your suffering.
We help you connect with inner resources of hope and resilience.
We help you come to terms with suffering and loss.
Benefits of Healthy Spirituality
Decreased feelings of anxiety, depression, loneliness and anger.
Reduced risk for problematic substance abuse.
Increased ability to cope with physical and emotional pain.
Shorter hospital stays.