When grief settles in, when the weight of loss feels unbearable or when isolation quietly creeps in, sometimes what matters most is simply knowing someone is there.
At Benetas, our pastoral care in residential services exist for exactly these moments. We walk alongside residents, their families, and our own staff during life's most tender chapters, offering a steady presence, a compassionate ear, and holistic support to gently support you through these moments. We offer a space where people feel heard, understood, and cared for as a whole person.
Pastoral Care is available to all residents, regardless of faith, culture or belief.
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What is pastoral care?
Pastoral care is a form of holistic support that focuses on a person’s emotional, spiritual, and cultural wellbeing whatever that means to them.
At Benetas, pastoral care is not counselling, chaplaincy or therapy. Instead, Pastoral Care offers a caring and supportive presence, helping people feel heard, valued and understood. It is available to people of all faiths, as well as those who do not identify with a faith tradition.
Pastoral Care begins with the resident’s current life-stage and experience. Our pastoral carers take time to listen to each person’s story, memories, beliefs, values, hopes and concerns. These conversations may include faith, family, relationships, grief, meaning, dignity, identity or simply what matters most to the person at that time.
Pastoral Care is a referral-based service that can sit alongside clinical care, but it does not replace it. While therapy focuses on mental health and emotional disorders, Pastoral Care focuses on connection, meaning, hope and dignity. It is about the care itself – the act of being present with someone in a compassionate, respectful and non-judgemental way.
At its heart, Pastoral Care helps residents feel supported in the fullness of who they are: their life story, their beliefs, their questions, their memories and their sense of self. It is a presence that brings comfort in moments of grief and sadness. A listening ear for those wrestling with fear, loneliness, or despair. And equally, a joyful companion in the celebrations of life: a birthday milestone or even a carol sung at Christmas.
Who is Pastoral Care for?
Pastoral care is often called upon during life’s most challenging times. We support residents in aged care, families, and home care clients through crucial moments such as:
- Loss, grief, and bereavement
- Feelings of loneliness, anxiety, or isolation
- Changes in health or independence
- End-of-life journeys
How does Benetas Support You?
Every person’s experience is different. That’s why our pastoral care services are guided by what matters most to the individual.
Our Pastoral Care Practitioners are skilled professionals who bring genuine warmth, deep listening, and specialist expertise to every interaction. Importantly, our service is referral-based, meaning care can be requested by residents themselves, by family members, by healthcare staff, or by anyone in the Benetas community who identifies a need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pastoral care in aged care is a person-centred support service that addresses the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of residents, their families, and care staff. At Benetas, it is a referral-based service provided by qualified Pastoral Care Practitioners, available to all people regardless of their faith background or beliefs.
No, while both involve compassionate support, pastoral care is distinct from counselling or psychology. It is not a clinical treatment. Rather, it is a deeply human form of care that centres on presence, listening, meaning and connection, attending to the spiritual and emotional dimensions of a person's life.
No. Benetas Pastoral Care is available to everyone, including people of all faiths, cultures and beliefs, as well as those who do not identify with any religion or spiritual tradition.
Our pastoral carers respect each person’s individual worldview and meet residents where they are. Support is shaped by what matters to the resident, whether that includes faith, culture, spirituality, personal values, life experiences, relationships, grief, hope or meaning.
At Benetas, Pastoral Care is a free service and is available to residents and their representative families across all our Residential Aged Care homes.
There is no additional fee to access Pastoral Care support. It is part of our commitment to caring for the whole person, including their emotional, spiritual, cultural and personal wellbeing. Residents can choose to connect with a pastoral carer for conversation, reflection, support during times of change or loss, or simply to feel heard and understood.