Mission Statement
‘Pastoral Care’ is an integral part of any church or chapel community. Here we abide by the Unitarian principle: to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Our goal is to provide a service of hope and caring so that no member of our community may feel alone. We are an empathic listening service, offering practical and other areas of help when needed:
- emotional support in a life crisis
- visiting sick or disabled members at home or in hospital
- help with transport
- maintaining contact with those members unable to attend services
- supporting members’ friends and family in their care giving
- shopping, collecting prescriptions
- advice on appropriate external support services
At all times we aim to:
- treat people with dignity and respect in a climate of love and compassion
- maintain privacy and confidentiality
We hope anyone in need of care and support will find us all equally approachable. Above all, we are all members of the same community, here for each other.
How we work
Although between us we have professional experience in areas such as health, social care and counselling, as a team of chapel members we are not as such working in any professional capacity. We are therefore not always available. In any emergency situation you should ring 999 or 111 for medical advice. For a list of other local support agencies, please click here.
Please note that we will refer to outside agencies only with your knowledge and permission, unless in the course of our discussion with you we feel you may be at risk to yourself or others.
Pastoral care is open to all regular attenders of the chapel, its worship and regular events, as well as members and friends who are unable to attend services.
Who we are
For more details about the team, please click here.
How to contact the team
The team co-ordinator (presently Janet Eldred) is a first point of contact. Janet can be reached at , or by her personal contact details as in the membership directory. However, any one of the team may be approached individually, if you prefer. Details are found in the membership directory.
Concerned about someone else?
If you are concerned about someone in the York Unitarian community and feel that the pastoral team may be able to help in some way, here’s what to do.
- First, please check with that person to see if they are happy for the team to be told about their situation. It may be that the person hadn’t thought of contacting the team and would prefer to do that themselves.
- If they want you to contact us, please email the coordinator ( ).
Finally, if they don’t wish to involve the team at this time, please respect that.
