Toolkit

The WELLHEAD Toolkit:

supporting spiritual assessment and growth

The Toolkit is designed to be used in a one-to-one interview between a facilitator and a participant, acting like a spiritual health life review, in a safeguarded environment. It focuses on finding ‘meaning and purpose’ (one definition of spirituality).

Facilitators need to be good listeners with at least a basic knowledge of spirituality, and with access to the detailed Manual. The interview is structured by offering choices from Picture Resources and Word Resources (including Starter Questions) to help explore spirituality in a non-judgmental supportive way, irrespective of religious background.

Participants are guided through four neutrally named dimensions: ‘WIDE LONG HIGH and DEEP’ (see model). They assign self-scores and agree a summary for each dimension, and they set practical goals for their next steps. The goals and the scores may be reviewed after, say six months, to see what may have changed. Research so far suggests that participants find the Toolkit is triggering change, and some people describe it as a turning point.

Buy the Toolkit More about the research

Purpose

Enabling dialogue about spirituality.
Measuring change.
Stimulating spiritual growth.
Crystallising Next Steps
Providing outcome measures.
Offering transparency and replicability, suitable for team use (see the Applications page).
Not intended to replace standardised assessments, but to be a vehicle for promoting awareness and change, and framing goals.

Background

Bringing a fresh perspective to exploring and assessing spirituality.
Coproduced with people with aphasia (acquired language impairment, following brain damage), some of whom had additional difficulty with vision, attention and memory. This gives the Toolkit accessibility and cuts down on jargon.
Based on a program of academic research by a speech and language therapist with specialist skills in spirituality.

Practical –assessment leads naturally into ‘Next Steps’ (goal-setting) making it suitable for use alongside therapy, support or interventions.
Structured – offers a clear framework, resources and detailed Manual, and Score Forms which can capture change visually.
Flexible – the Toolkit offers participant choices throughout, to ensure their perspective is respected. The structure starts with easy topics before considering more personal ones, offering sensitive sharing.

Adaptability

• Online versions - The Toolkit comes with a link for downloadable online versions, ideal for using via videoconferencing (telehealth) or hybrid working. These are available as pdfs, with editable versions of the Score Form and Recording Form.

• Scope - Appropriate for a variety of safeguarded settings, for health and care professionals, chaplaincy teams, counsellors, trained volunteers in charitable or faith-based organisations. Recommended by a wide range of professionals.

What's included:

The package comes in its own box that can sit on a bookshelf, containing the spiral-bound laminated Word Resources and Picture Resources, with a comprehensive (136 page) Manual providing detailed instructions, guidance, examples, and research evidence. Also included are Score Forms and ready-populated Recording Forms to save you time if you need detailed notes (such as sharing with a team). The purchase price includes online versions of all the resources (except the Manual) via a free download.