ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the context of communication in spiritual care and encourages the reader to reflect on the communication skills that can be developed and enhanced to enable the delivery of competent and good spiritual care. Communication in the context of spiritual care has two significant elements. The first element consists of the interpersonal skills, and ways of using these skills to facilitate good spiritual care. However, the second element is the uncomfortable one, where the people realise that the context for using our communication skills is bound up with what we would normally term the patient's private life. The chapter also considers the use and development of the skills in providing spiritual care. It is here that the chaplain's communication skills need to be honed and used thoughtfully and creatively. The ways in which spiritual issues surface are commonly indirect, and the people need good communication skills to get beneath the surface.
