In May 2023, Doug Duckworth became our first non-religious Chaplaincy Volunteer with a remit to regularly attend day care sessions.
Doug is a local humanist funeral, wedding and naming celebrant and pastoral support volunteer, trained and accredited by Humanists UK. He has previous chaplaincy experience having served as a Faith Adviser in the Lincoln University multi-faith chaplaincy from 2016 to 2018.
Talking of his new volunteer role Doug said:
“I firmly believe that people who see themselves as non-religious have as much need for spiritual care as religious believers. And now that more than a third of us in the UK identify as having no religion that need is growing. Having long been a supporter of the hospice movement I am really excited to be joining the Chaplaincy team at Beaumond House and I look forward to working alongside the religious chaplains.
My role is to listen to patients and staff who feel in need of spiritual support and provide advice and information. I’m happy to speak to anyone, regardless of their beliefs and I’m here to ‘walk alongside’ people and give support where I can. It’s most definitely not my role to judge or persuade.”
Welcome to the team Doug.