The Retreat Lecture: Spirituality, hope and community
George Osgerby reports on The Retreat Lecture 2017
The title of The Retreat Lecture 2017, delivered on 1 August at Yearly Meeting Gathering by Bronwen Gray, who has been chaplain at The Retreat in York since 2010, was ‘Spirituality, Hope and Community’. She began her talk with a very apposite quotation from George Fox:
Hold fast the hope which anchors the soul, which is sure and steadfast, that you may float above the world’s sea.
William Tuke, the Quaker businessman and philanthropist who founded The Retreat in 1796, was horrified by conditions in asylums at the time. As an alternative he envisaged ‘kindness practised in a quiet haven’. He wanted to offer ‘hope for the mentally ill’. This was not a passive position. He saw ‘potential in the present or future… an orientation of the spirit’.
Bronwen Gray described a little of her own background, which has encouraged her to ‘hold on to hope’. She has worked in Bosnia and with refugees in the Midlands. She discovered that ‘being a presence, just being there, can make a difference’. Among refugees she has seen ‘extraordinary beacons in their communities’.
Addressing spirituality within mental health provision, she said that religion can be a core part of spirituality but, equally, it may not be. Spirituality, she said, is ‘what uplifts us, what makes us whole, what connects us’.
The Retreat is still innovative and seeks to encourage peace of mind among its guests, to help them make changes to their lives, or perhaps to better accept their situation. Mindfulness, yoga and cognitive behavioural therapy are also used in a compassion-based approach. In care for the spirit, ‘hope is integral’. As a young visitor to The Retreat observed to the chaplain: ‘Hope is rooted in seeing that of God in everyone.’
Bronwen Gray stressed that spiritual care involves everyone at The Retreat. She recalled how a visitor once asked a cleaner who was responsible for a particular person’s wellbeing. The cleaner replied: ‘I am.’
What gives her hope, she said, is seeing patients involved in aspects of their own care and ministering eloquently to one another: ‘In my experience, relationships are at the heart of spiritual care.’ Community counters isolation and loneliness. She added that it is the real and the authentic which matter most. Relationships can be with the Divine, and also with nature or animals. Pets are used therapeutically. Bronwen Gray described young people caring for old through their shared love of animals. She has presided over a number of guinea pig funerals – ‘which is not in my job description,’ she joked.
Both staff and patients value the community choir at The Retreat. The separate parts may be dissonant but collectively a beautiful harmony is created. ‘In the hour we sing together, we feel uplifted, connected…’
More than forty fruit trees have been planted at The Retreat. Labyrinth walking is another option. It’s all about ‘appreciating the everyday – the sacredness in all things’. The environment – natural and built – can have a significant impact. Bronwen Gray is passionate about ‘the benefits of our beautiful garden and the outdoors in general’.
Dementia and the fear of it are prevalent in our society. She described ‘a learning journey for each person’. It is always worth asking people what they need, involving them in their own care, and she said that ‘deep connections can still be made’. Even with short-term memory loss, poetry can be uplifting while ‘the smell of flowers can still touch some people’. Hope is not necessarily all about recovery – the focus is also on ‘comfort… moments of joy’.
A Friend, when discussing Meeting for Worship, once said to Bronwen Gray: ‘I come as much for the coffee and the chat as for the Meeting.’ The chaplain told her audience: ‘Spirituality could be nurtured as much in the coffee and chat as in the Meeting.’ She added: ‘Even if we can’t solve all the problems, what we can do is walk alongside.’ An intriguing question was posed: ‘What if every little step supports someone else’s care as well as our own?’
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