Supporting clergy health and wellbeing

Church structures positively support clergy in a number of ways and Dioceses, cathedrals and the National Church work together to create the conditions for clergy and lay ministers to thrive and flourish.
Vicar and child laughing as they go down waterslide Keith Blundy

Clergy office holders are self-directed and enjoy a valued and valuable sense of autonomy. However, when the ‘workplace’ is also the home and in the blurring of boundaries between ministerial life and personal life, clergy need to make time for their own self-care and ensure a healthy work/life balance.

Beyond the responsibility that clergy have for maintaining their own health and well-being, support from the diocesan bishop is an expression of his or her pastoral responsibility. In some dioceses and cathedrals, well-being falls under the responsibility of a multi-disciplinary team and on others responsibility is more fragmented. Identifying a point of contact in the diocese who can identify and signpost for further is a good place to start.

Well-being is more than just 'feeling good'. A positive well-being involves the interplay of a number of factors. Physical, emotional, physical and spiritual health, together with the availability and quality of personal and professional relationships, within the wider context of vocation, all contribute to an overall sense of well-being.

Listed below are some sources of support both in and out of the Church.

Relationships
Health: physical and mental
Financial
Vocation