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response time, the feast, and the blessing. In our online Slack community, people are invited to share how they have tried adaptations. As an example, one possible adaptation of the parable of the mustard seed is with woollen nests and felt birds. You can hold and feel the homes that the birds built rather than just see and hear about them.
How is Godly Play adapted to the environment of a care setting?
The Godly Play with Elders project has been addressing lots of questions related to taking Godly Play into care settings. Here are some of them: How do you make Godly Play attractive and ensure ongoing favour from the manager, the activities co-ordinator, and the care sta ? How do you train the sta who are involved in the sessions? How do you manage the situation when the tea trolley is wheeled into the centre of the circle during the story? How do you raise nancial support for the Godly Play sessions? The solutions to these questions, for each particular situation, will determine whether Godly Play takes place and the quality of spiritual care that the Godly Play program can o er.
How can Godly Play help change the ethos and culture in care settings?
In a care system that is under-resourced, treating people (the carers and those being cared for) with love is not always the priority. There is the potential for Godly Play to help bring a change in the culture and ethos of care.
By the way in which Godly Play models person-centred care, all those who work in the setting might be introduced to and given new tools for a new way of being with people. In the project we have asked care sta to be present in the Re ective Debriefs, which we hope will encourage and enable re ection amongst care sta at other times and
situations. There has been interest in using the Godly Play sessions to help train sta in person-centred care, and we are prioritising a method we have learned called Deep Talk to help sta think through purpose, value, hope, and meaning in their work place. The creator of Deep Talk, Tuula Valkonnen, has visited She eld on three occasions and has trained us in this adaptation of Godly Play which helps work communities to develop in creative ways.
Making the circle wider
So how does this important work move forward? One of my favourite Godly Play stories is the “Parable of the Deep Well” in which a person crosses the desert and nds a well, but the water is so deep that there seems no way to get to the water. The person takes time and discovers golden strands and a rusty object like a big cup, eventually walking around picking up the golden strands and tying them together. The person lowers the bucket into the well and draws forth the refreshing water. The person tastes the water and is changed. There are two alternative endings given for the story. In one ending, when the person went on their way, the bucket and the many strands tied together were left so that the next person could also taste the water. In the second, the golden strands were untied and scattered again so the next person could gure out for themselves how to reach the water. I think both endings are necessary. We can learn from what others have done before but we have to discover things for ourselves and for our unique situations. I think for this project there is also a third way: a circle of people working things out together. I wonder what the water that changes everything could be?
If you wish to nd out more about the project and how you might be part of the circle, including an invitation to join the online forum called Slack please go to godlyplaymutualblessings.wordpress.com. You are also invited to join the Godly Play Elders Facebook group. In writing this article, I have used extracts from a book chapter I recently wrote. The book will soon be published and available for all: Martin Steinhäuser, Rune Oystese (Ed./Hg.): Godly Play - European perspectives on practice and research. Gott im Spiel - europäische Perspektiven auf Praxis und Forschung. Münster: Waxmann 2017.
Kathryn Lord is a Trainer for Godly Play UK and co-lead for Mutual Blessings, Shef eld. She is committed to helping change the culture and ethos in communities such as schools, religious organisations, care settings, and work places through Godly Play and Deep Talk.
kathrynlord22@gmail.com
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the CIRCLE | SEPTEMBER 2017