Chaplain Jane Mather on knowing when to turn off the chaplaincy switch

Inferring and Assessing our Friends and Family

Assessment skills are basic to professional chaplaincy. Reflective listening, discernment and carefully worded, open- ended questions yield chaplains rich assessment content when we interact with patients and their families. Professional chaplains are paid to put that content to use on behalf of patients. Chaplaincy invites us, within certain boundaries, to develop images and inferences about those with whom we interact. Like well-exercised muscles, the skills used to make assessments and develop plans of care ‘work’ naturally in most of our interactions, whether we’re acting in a professional capacity or not.

What happens when, uninvited, we ‘listen reflectively’ and infer and assess our friends and families? While it’s unlikely that chaplains will be required to take an oath promising to refrain from plying their professional skills unless requested, the question remains whether chaplains ever breach subtle boundaries when ‘off duty.’ Reflective listening can be a relationship-enhancing skill, expressive of respect and dignity. And discernment implies that the listener has an internal means of evaluating incoming messages thoughtfully – and in our business, prayerfully. But in our professional role as chaplains we are called to take the next step – assessment – and formulate guiding questions or counsel based on our evaluation of what is heard. When we take this next step with friends and family, this evaluative process may be perceived as judgment. Are there boundaries of which we should be mindful? Should assessment skills be part of all interactions, or are there times when they might become intrusive? Can assessment cross a line into judgment?

These are questions I have posed to many colleagues. Answers vary without consensus. Some believe that discernment and assessment are at least parallel if not synonymous and can only be thought of in positive terms – the tools of our professional trade and useful skills for daily living. Others suggest that the lines between discernment, assessment and judgment are fine and set not in the listening and the gathering of information but rather what use is made of what is heard. Still others question whether intention dictates the shift from discernment to assessment into judgment. For instance, when acting in the capacity of chaplain, conclusions drawn are intended to be used on behalf of a patient and are part of our acceptable professional judgment. However, in our daily lives when the conclusions drawn from non-professional conversations are used to “assess” (evaluate) anyone other than the listener him/herself, the result becomes judgment. Discernment, on the other hand, listens and evaluates information with the intention of learning something for or about oneself.

These variations raise interesting questions that seem to have moral overtones. As spiritual care professionals hired to listen – sometimes with intent to draw inferences and with them, support the healing growth of patients and their families -- we are first bound by the doctrines of the religious groups that endorse us. Indiscriminate or unsolicited judgment of others is not advocated by any major religious teaching but they all invite discernment. The thin lines that separate and define these concepts might be important explorations for clinical pastoral education and the professional practice of certified chaplains.

Do you have thoughts about advocacy you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail to info@PlainViews.org.