October 22, 2025This week, we celebrate 100 years of Spiritual Care Week in Australia, a time to honour the boundless compassion of spiritual care providers who offer solace, empathy, and support to individuals and families navigating the complexities of life in its many hardships and celebrations.
Join us in honouring this milestone, celebrating the profound impact of spiritual care, and envisioning a future where deep and genuine support remains at the core of compassionate care.
Here at Northern Health, our Spiritual Care practitioners are highly skilled in providing support across cultures, faith traditions, and belief systems, including those with no religious affiliation. We offer person-centred care and a calm, compassionate presence in the hospital setting, where many patients and families are facing grief, loss, and distress.
Our Spiritual Care team also provides valuable emotional and spiritual support to Northern Health staff, helping them navigate the challenges of healthcare work with resilience and wellbeing.
Spiritual care supports individuals in finding meaning, hope, and connection during times of deep vulnerability. It can help people transcend their suffering – not by removing it, but by accompanying them through it with empathy and presence. In this way, spiritual care fosters resilience, dignity, and inner peace, even in the midst of profound challenges.
The Spiritual Care team includes Penelope Vye, Associate Director of Social Work and Spiritual Care, Natalia Dewiyani as Spiritual Care Coordinator (NHE), Melanie Moore (PCU), Sebastian Antony (NHE), Kelly Pinto (NHE & BC), and John Davies (BH). As an extension of the in-house team, we work with more than 30 faith representatives who are called in to provide services from particular religious/faith/cultural traditions.
Natalia Dewiyani, Spiritual Care Coordinator said she was proud to lead such a dedicated and passionate team.
“The Northern Health Spiritual Care Team was recently recognised as runner-up in both the 2025 Spiritual Care Australia Best of Care Award and the Northern Health Allied Health Excellence Awards. These honours reflect the outstanding care they provide every day. I’m also grateful to our Northern Health leaders and advocates for their continued support of spiritual wellbeing as an essential part of holistic care,” she said.
Penelope Vye, Associate Director of Social Work and Spiritual Care, said the team provides extraordinary care and support to patients and staff at Northern Health who are experiencing challenges to their health and wellbeing.
“It is my very great pleasure to lead the Spiritual Care team at Northern Health,” she said.
“The team provides a deep listening presence and a sense of calmness amid often traumatic circumstances. I congratulate the team on their service to others at Northern Health recognising the value of their work throughout the year and especially during Spiritual Care Week.”
Alison Giles, Medical Director of Palliative Care, said she couldn’t speak more highly of the wonderful work that the Spiritual Care team do every day.
“Their incredible warmth, compassion and dedication to supporting patients, families and staff is valued by all who they encounter, many of whom are facing some of life’s biggest challenges,” she said.
“Their skill, energy and commitment is evidenced by the breadth of work which they are involved in. This includes marriage ceremonies on the wards, health service podcasts, regular staff wellbeing sessions, art therapy providing a legacy for loved ones, bereavement support, end of life rituals and religious prayers, research projects exploring provision of bereavement services in Emergency and Intensive Care Units, and involvement in quality work through the End of Life Committee.”
Our Patient Experience team receive many compliments about our health service, with many of the compliments directed to our Spiritual Care Team:
“Thank you, Natalia and Melanie, for your kindness and spiritual support during my father’s last weeks, we are looking forward to the memorial service.”
“Sending thanks for the invitation to the memorial service to honour the passing of our father, we think that this is a truly wonderful way to say thank you to all the doctors, nurses and other health carers for the care and support we and our loved ones received at your hospital.”
“We came to the memorial last week and wanted to thank Northern Health for providing us a chance to remember our loved ones. It was great to see so many staff present to support it and you could see how well they work as a team. Even the CEO was there, and she seemed so proud of her team. Well done Northern Health.”
The next Northern Health Memorial Service is on Thursday, 13 November. Click here for registrations.
