Minister Spotlight: Annie Blampied on Quietude Training

Feb 14, 2023

Click here to go back to the Community Collection

I have been an interfaith minister since 2004, and busy with lots of related roles since then, including a variety of roles as a chaplain, in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices. I have accompanied many people on their journey across the threshold of death and supported their families in the process.

In 2020 I launched the first Quietude training course, for people wishing to offer spiritual and emotional support in end-of-life care. The third training begins in October 2022.

The feedback from graduates, now qualified Quietude Practitioners is very positive. It’s an ideal next step for any OneSpirit minister wishing to deepen or focus their direction of service.

I quote from a recent graduate, Jane Pantony, Head of Counselling at Hospice in the Weald:~

Working alongside others on the course and exploring with them, has helped me to see things from someone else’s perspective and experience. The course has helped me to be more focused, and to also trust in the process and the universe!

The opportunity to be able to share thoughts around subjects that rarely get spoken about is wonderful, to explore more deeply within a safe, supportive environment is priceless. The space to think about past wrongs, and, ‘to let go’, so redeeming. And to feel validated and understood is invaluable. To experience this and then put that into practice, to help the people we support and will be supporting in the future is incredibly special.

When I was counselling the quality of the (therapeutic) relationship was the most important aspect of the work, and I believe that most people when provided with a safe space to express themselves authentically will be able to work through many of the issues that they are trying to deal with. To be able to say out loud, to a trusted person, someone can then start to process and hopefully reduce that constant noise in their heads, to break into it and free themselves from that cycle, to help heal themselves.

Thank you Annie for creating this course and I hope to be able to take all I have learned forward and dearly hope to create something as special within the Hospice.

To find out more please visit https://emerson.org.uk/course/quietude/.

Someone You Become

On formation, and who this training is for There is a conviction at the root of everything we teach: ministry is not something you do. It is someone you become. Plenty of courses can inform you. Formation is different work. It happens slowly, in community, through...

Five Thresholds

A walk through the first year of the Willow Pathway On a Tuesday evening in early October, a group of strangers will gather online from across the UK and beyond. Within a few weeks they’ll know things about each other that took other friendships years. This is how...

The Space Between Us

Communication as a spiritual practice Most of us can count the times we’ve been listened to properly on one hand. Someone put everything else down and made room, and for a while nothing about us needed defending or explaining. Those moments stay with people for years....

Ministry After Ordination

Ministry After Ordination,By Rev Gary Dean What does ministry look like after ordination? For many, it is a quiet unfolding into community life, chaplaincy spaces, interfaith dialogue, and everyday moments of presence. In this feature, Rev Gary Dean reflects on his...

OneSpirit Ministry Training

There are moments when people begin to pause and reflect more deeply on their lives. Moments when questions arise about meaning, purpose, and how they might serve others in ways that feel honest and sustainable. For many, this questioning does not arrive with...

The Grove: An Offering for Ministers

A new space is opening for our minister community! The Grove is a monthly online gathering where ministers can rest, reconnect, and continue weaving the threads of practice begun in training. Each session is held as sacred space, with an hour of ceremony, meditation,...

On Grief & Gentle Return

Something important to note is that behind every message, meeting, or project, there are people. Real people. Whether it’s a company, an organization, or a small team, it’s always people showing up, trying their best, carrying their own stories. When we move through...

Daily Reflections: Developing a Spiritual Journaling Routine

A blank page can be many things. It can be a mirror, a safe space, a place to lay down thoughts and feelings that have nowhere else to go. For many people, journaling becomes more than a record of events. It becomes a spiritual practice, a way to deepen...

Asking the Divine: The Power and Purpose of Prayer

Prayer means many things to many people. For some, it is a direct conversation with ‘God’. For others, it is a quiet expression of gratitude, a moment of reflection, or simply pausing to acknowledge what is happening within. Even for those who do not follow a...