Page 13 - Demo

ministry. One of the initiatives of Mutual Blessings is a three year project to develop Godly Play with older people in care settings. These settings include nursing homes and retirement homes, so the older people may have dementia or physical limitations or may be living completely independently. The Godly Play with Elders project began in January 2016 with the employment of a development worker to grow and support the ministry of Godly Play in care settings in the Diocese of She eld, UK. Two Godly Play Trainers work with the development worker and with Godly Players from around the UK and internationally to develop and adapt the method in the context of care settings. We are also collaborating with experts in elds such as the spirituality of older people and dementia care. The project has been made possible by nancial support of local church bodies and a national grant making charity.
Let us re ect
Godly Play is based on good theory and practice in the disciplines of spirituality, theology, psychology, and education. The principles and structure of Godly Play are transferable to working with adults, but the details need to be adapted for each situation. The Godly Play with Elders project is using a structured set of questions in a Re ective Debrief to help improve the practice of Godly Play with older people. The purpose of re ecting after each session is threefold: to help practitioners become more skilled in the art of Godly Play; to nd what practices and adaptations best help the participants in that particular situation bene t from the Godly Play session; to share learnings with others, possibly through the Godly Play with Elders project.
The debrief involves a conversation between the storyteller and the doorperson and includes, when possible, feedback from the care sta and from the older people. An online space called Slack Elders (complete this online form to join) is where people can share their stories and experiences, view resources, nd all the latest updates on this work, ask questions, and interact with other team members. Here I o er ve questions for re ective practice, with some thoughts for starters:
How can Godly Play be a ministry of presence to older people?
Lois Howard from Kentucky, USA, who has been using Godly Play with people living with dementia for over eleven years asserts that ‘this is a ministry of presence’. I think that we do well to remember this in all we do in Godly Play, with people of all ages, but especially with those older people
who are living with dementia.
After the story of the Baptism, the doorperson offers hand
massages to the elders during the response time.
How does Godly Play offer spiritual accompaniment?
Emotional connection and thinking about big issues are sometimes avoided in care settings, partly because of the pressures of time and sta ng and partly because we try to keep everything nice and happy. After the story of Jesus and Jerusalem, the older people wondered about how terrible Judas must have felt and the forgiveness received both by Peter after his denial of Jesus and by the thief on the cross. A visiting sister of one of the residents with dementia had joined us and, whilst holding the hand of her brother, wondered about the hope that comes from the forgiveness demonstrated by the cross and by the washing of feet. Later, after his sister had left, the resident talked to me about the wrong he had done which had caused a breaking of the family relationships, and we were able to continue wondering about grace, love, and forgiveness. We are hoping to develop a liturgical story on funerals in the style of Godly Play as well as more parables for people who are experiencing loss, decline, death, and mourning.
How is Godly Play adapted for the needs of the older people?
Godly Play is based on the work of Maria Montessori, who put the child in the centre: clearly we need to put the older person in the centre and ask whether what we are doing is appropriate for the older people in our particular settings. We need to adapt all aspects of the Godly Play session: the threshold, building the circle, the story, the wondering, the
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