A spirited matter
PROFILE: Recently appointed head of the Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Care Dr Bruce Stevens is excited about the growing interest in spirituality and pastoral care in ageing and aged care.
PROFILE: The recently appointed head of the Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Care, Dr Bruce Stevens is excited about the growing interest in spirituality and pastoral care in ageing and aged care.
Scottish theologian John Swinton often talks about “what the body remembers” in his reflections on spirituality and dementia; the notion of “body memory” surviving where explicit memory fades.
Dr Bruce Stevens, a clinical psychologist, researcher and academic, says he relates to this notion. In fact, he says he has witnessed it.
As a young clergyman in the 1980s, Stevens visited dementia units to give communion to people living there “who couldn’t remember anything except the Lord’s Prayer.”
“When I was new curate in an Anglican Church I would go and say the 1662 Book of Common Prayer with people in dementia wings… They would remember; they knew to take the sacrament. It was just amazing,” says Stevens.
Decades later, Stevens is veering back to ageing, with his appointment as the director for Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Care (CAPS). The centre, which is part of St Mark’s National Theological Centre in Canberra and the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University (CSU), supports research, education and policy development in ageing, pastoral studies and ethics. Stevens’ appointment also includes the role of Wicking Chair of Ageing and Practice Theology at CSU.
He comes to the position from the University of Canberra where he was an Associate Professor in Clinical and Forensic Psychology, training 60-plus clinical psychology students.
Stevens’ appointment at CAPS comes at an important time, with a growing interest in spirituality and pastoral care within the broad aged services sector.
This increasing awareness will be bolstered by the Australian-first initiative currently underway between Pastoral and Spiritual Care of Older People (PASCOP), Spiritual Health Victoria and the National Ageing Research Institute to develop national guidelines for spiritual care in residential and community aged care.
The project also aims to produce a range of tools to support the implementation of the guidelines.
Stevens, who is on the project review committee and on the board of PASCOP, says he believes the initiative will be a “wonderful support” to the growing number of organisations and individuals interested in spirituality and pastoral care in ageing and aged care.
Meanwhile, in his role at CAPS, Stevens will be heavily involved in both teaching and research. The centre has three degree programs in ageing and pastoral studies; a graduate certificate (open to those without undergraduate degrees), a graduate diploma, and a masters.
Stevens is also keen to further develop the research activities undertaken by CAPS, a program of work which was progressed by his predecessor, Adjunct Professor Elizabeth MacKinlay, as well as its conferences and events.
To that end, Stevens will be giving this year’s Elizabeth MacKinlay address (taking place on 26 August in the Wesley Centre, Sydney) where he will speak on the topic of self-compassion for carers. He argues that in our increasingly busy, competitive sector, it is all too easy to be self-critical; rather, carers need to show themselves some kindness and compassion.
“Self-compassion encourages you to relate to yourself with kindness and understanding, not harsh judgment. Bring ‘tough’ on yourself leads to psychological bruises at the least, and to self-destructive urges at worst,” he says.
Elsewhere, Stevens is keen to explore some key areas which he believes are worthy of research, such as the experience of ageing in prisons.
While there has been some research on ageing in place, it has tended to focus on settings such as residential and community aged care, he says. “What happens if you don’t choose the ‘place’ at all? What happens if you are someone who committed a crime and are ageing in prison?” he asks.
Stevens says that, across many countries, certain prisoners, particularly male sex offenders, are being imprisoned for longer periods. “Of course there is a group of people who have committed horrendous crimes and will never be released; they are facing their whole life in prison.”
He believes there is often very little provision for frail, older people in prisons.
In addition to ageing in place, Stevens says he is interested in exploring the victimisation of older prisoners. “If you have an older, frail person, they can’t defend themselves in prison, so I think they are far more vulnerable to victimisation. However, no one has done any research on it, so we don’t actually know for sure,” he says.
Along with CSU colleagues Dr Rhonda Shaw and Dr Judith Gullifer, Stevens is currently applying for research grants to fund a study into either ageing in place in prisons or the victimisation of older prisoners.
“It’s more or less noticed all across the world that the prison population is getting older,” he says, “and I think we have to be ahead of the curve on this.”
This profile appears in the current July-August issue of Australian Ageing Agenda magazine
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