Pastoral Practitioner - Dementia specific

Pastoral Practitioner – Dementia Specific

Closing date: Monday, August 10th COB

Uniting Edinglassie Lodge & Uniting Hawkesbury Memory Support Unit | Penrith area, NSW

Permanent Part-Time or Casual | Flexible work patterns – let’s discuss what could work

This is pastoral care centred on the person, not simply their diagnosis.

Uniting is seeking a compassionate Pastoral Practitioner with a particular interest in supporting people living with dementia, working across Uniting Edinglassie Lodge and Uniting Hawkesbury Memory Support Unit in the Penrith area.

For a person living with dementia, connection and identity can be found in many places.

It might be through faith or spirituality. It might be a favourite country song, a lifelong love of football, knitting, gardening, time outdoors, family stories, culture or familiar routines and rituals. Sometimes, it is simply the reassuring presence of someone who takes the time to understand who that person is and what has mattered throughout their life.

As our Pastoral Practitioner, you will build meaningful relationships with residents living with dementia, recognising that identity, spirituality, meaning, and connection can remain deeply significant even as memory and communication change.

You will support residents through what is familiar and meaningful to them – whether that is music, sport, hobbies, culture, nature, relationships, life stories, sensory experiences, faith, prayer, ritual or other personally significant traditions and practices.

Working collaboratively with care staff, families, volunteers and multidisciplinary teams, you will seek to understand each resident’s life story, cultural background, beliefs, relationships, interests and personal preferences, contributing a pastoral and spiritual perspective to holistic, person-centred dementia care.

You will also provide compassionate support to families as relationships change through the progression of dementia and offer a pastoral presence to staff caring for residents with complex needs.

What you’ll be doing

You will:

• Build trusting relationships with residents living with dementia through a calm, respectful and reassuring presence.

• Discover and draw upon the individual things that create comfort, recognition, belonging and connection for each resident.

• Use reminiscence, life stories, music, sensory experiences and other personally meaningful activities and practices to support wellbeing.

• Provide inclusive pastoral, spiritual and emotional care that respects people of all faiths, spiritualities, cultures and worldviews, including people with no religious belief.

• Work alongside families, carers and multidisciplinary teams to better understand the whole person and contribute to complementary, holistic care.

• Support families experiencing grief, uncertainty or emotional distress as relationships change through dementia.

• Provide pastoral conversations and emotional support to staff caring for residents with complex dementia-related needs.

• Help create an environment where residents continue to experience identity, dignity, meaning, purpose, hope, belonging, and connection.

What you’ll bring

You will be someone who can connect naturally and respectfully with people living with dementia and who understands that spirituality and meaning are deeply personal.

You will bring relevant pastoral, theological, ministry, spiritual care or related study, together with Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), equivalent pastoral formation, or relevant life and work experience.

You will also bring:

• Experience providing pastoral, spiritual, emotional or relational support to people experiencing vulnerability, illness, grief, loss or significant life transition.

• Empathy, compassion, and the ability to build trusting relationships while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries.

• Respect for people from different cultures, faith traditions, spiritualities, and those with no religious belief.

• An ability to work collaboratively with families, carers, and multidisciplinary teams.

• A genuine commitment to person-centred dementia care and to seeing the individual beyond their diagnosis.

Experience or training in dementia care, grief and loss, aged care, palliative care, trauma-informed practice, cultural safety or spiritual care will be highly regarded.

Most importantly, you will bring curiosity about the person:

Who are they? What has mattered throughout their life? What brings comfort, recognition, joy or belonging now?

Flexible work arrangements – let’s talk

We recognise that the right person may be looking for different ways of working

This opportunity may be available on a permanent part-time or casual basis, with work patterns open for discussion. We’re happy to have a conversation about what could work for you and for our residents.

If you have the right experience, values and a genuine interest in providing meaningful pastoral and spiritual care to people living with dementia, we would love to hear from you.

Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Louise Massie via email at Sign in to view email

At Uniting, pastoral and spiritual care is inclusive and person-centred. We respect each individual’s beliefs, culture, identity, life story, and choices, creating opportunities for meaning, purpose, hope, and connection at every stage of life.

Mandatory Reporters are employees who deliver services directly to children and young people, or who supervise employees who deliver these services. However, all employees are responsible for applying the Protecting Children and Young People Policy.

Employment with Uniting will require background checks, including a working with children check, and an NDIS worker screen check, Police check, and references.