The Association for Spiritual Care in Israel
Mission
To ensure that all Israelis, experiencing a wide variety of life’s crises, can receive accessible, professional spiritual care.
Main activities
The Association for Spiritual Care in Israel is the primary professional body overseeing the standards for care provision, working to develop service provision in the field, and bringing professionals together for peer learning and support.
Professional oversight:
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Ongoing development of standards for training, clinical work, and supervision
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Accreditation process for training programs
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Providing professional certification for graduates found to be at the necessary level of competencies
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Ethics committee
Developing service provision in the field:
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Working with governmental and nonprofit service providers to introduce and ensure ongoing spiritual care provision for populations with diverse needs
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For example: patients and family members during illness and at the end of life; bereaved families; support for health care providers; elderly individuals in their homes and in nursing facilities
Professional development
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Platform for offering opportunities for continuing education
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Ongoing groups for study and clinical supervision
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Developing formal and informal relationships with parallel organizations around the world
Vision
We are taking the lead on advancing professional spiritual care. We are working to strengthen the public’s recognition of spiritual care as a vital service and to gain formal governmental recognition as a profession, in order to enable all of Israel’s diverse populations to benefit from high-level care. The Association for Spiritual Care in Israel operates with transparency, mutual respect, and openness. We aim to see spiritual care integrated widely into medical institutions and community-based services, freely available for all. We work to create a supportive learning community for spiritual care providers to strengthen them in their important and challenging work.
Main achievements and relevant experience
In the 8 years since its founding (2014), the Association’s main focus and most significant achievements have been in establishing a strong foundation for the profession, in order to ensure that everyone who receives spiritual care from a certified provider can be sure to receive the professional care they deserve. This has included establishing standards for training, competencies for clinical care provision, for clinical supervision, and a code of ethics. On that basis we created an accreditation process for training programs (there are 7 accredited sites today) and a certification process for spiritual care providers, to provide an additional external review for the graduates of the recognized training programs. Today (end of 2023) there are 230 certified professionals, working in over 15 hospitals, in facilities for care of the elderly, and in bereavement support. Now that we have established this strong professional foundation, the Association has begun working to help expand access to spiritual care for diverse populations experiencing different kinds of crises. One of our most significant projects, funded by the New Israel Fund, was to provide spiritual care support for research studies assessing the need for spiritual care medical staff, Jews and Arabs together, who do very demanding work in a variety of
settings: a nursing home, an internal medicine department (HaEmek Medical Center), and the home
hospice unit of Clalit-HMO's northern district. The workshops were facilitated by Hebrew and Arabic speaking spiritual care providers. Emphasis was given on respecting participants’ cultures and traditions, using texts, poems, and stories. Additional ongoing projects include home visits to sick and lonesome elderly who are patients of the geriatric clinics in Sharon and Haifa’s districts of Clalit-HMO. We are working to help expand government-funded access to spiritual care for bereavement in order to support families after sudden loss (car accidents, suicide, murder), which has been funded for 5 years now, supporting families of fallen soldiers. The Association and its members have played key roles throughout the years in developing pilot projects as part of the integration of spiritual care into a variety of new settings, from mental health to community-based care for the elderly, and in reaching out to ensure that Arabs and Russian speakers enroll in the training programs, so that language and culture need not be barriers to receiving spiritual care. Mike Schultz, one of the project’s leading staff members, has led half a dozen evaluation and research studies assessing the need for spiritual care and its impact at the end of life.
Board members
Yael Mass
SCP-C and co-chairperson of the Association. Serves on the Association board since 2020. Works as an internal organizational consultant in kibbutz Mishmar Ha-Emek, and founding member of Bait-La-Ruach. Yael is also a personal coach, group facilitator and a savvy organizational consultant. She used to be the community manager of Mishmar HaEmek.
Nirit Ulitzur
SCP-C and Association board member since 2022. Academic background in biology research (PhD from Life Sciences Institute at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and postdoc studies at the Biochemistry Department in Stanford Medical School). Over 20 years experience in environmental monitoring entrepreneurship. Cofounder and member of Bait-La-Ruach - a center for spiritual care. Works part time at the spiritual care service in Rambam Hospital.
Gal Sadot
SCP-C and co-chairperson of the Association. Member of the board since 2021. Works as SCP in the hospice of Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital. In parallel, works as the head of customer service and training supervisor at Dada Coffee.
Irit Bratman
SCP-C and Association board member since 2023. Holds an BA degree in Organizational Behavior Studies. A certified coach. Previously served as a member of the management team and as Head of Human Resources in Hazera- Seeds Co. Today serves as chairperson of Gderot elderly daycare center.
Nir Golan
SCP-C and member of the Association board since 2021. Works as spiritual caregiver in “healthy aging”. Expert in Leading Tech Developers, Architects and Organization changes. A facilitator & trainer of managers and leaders for over 30 years.
Gali Gindin
Administration manager. The only paid (part time) member in the Association. Holds an MBA in business management. Served for many years as the head of the business department and as district operations manager in Bank Leumi.