The purposes of the charity are to support and promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the Anglican clergy and their families. The emphasis in all our activities is to ensure flourishing, healthy clergy, to enable them to fulfil their vocation and serve their local communities. If they are unwell, St Luke’s is here to help them get back to good health as quickly as possible. We offer access to advice, diagnosis and care, delivered compassionately and confidentially.
St Luke’s achieves its charitable objectives in three ways:
Reparative: St Luke's has Honorary Consultants in a wide range of medical, surgical and psychological disciplines, who offer their services free of charge. They see clergy, working or retired, their spouses and families, and offer advice and second opinions. Last year, over 300 clergy received specialist opinions or advice through the Honorary Consultants and through local referrals to specialists such as physiotherapists.
Preventive: St Luke's works with the dioceses in England and Wales to develop and promote preventive services. We offer resilience training workshops for clergy, and expert help in establishing and running reflective practice groups for clergy to learn together, support each other, and reduce isolation.
Advocacy: St Luke’s develops and promotes preventive approaches to clergy mental health and wellbeing. We encourage greater awareness of the emotional and psychological demands of ministry and the impact that these can have on clergy. We want to reach the point where it is ‘the norm’ for clergy to undertake the good practices seen in other caring professions, such as regular supervision or reflective practice, through which they can share the emotional and psychological burdens of ministry, and enable them to flourish throughout their ministerial career.
