Warm wishes to our Quality and Development Leader, Christine Hennequin.

Christine started with us in what was then called the Healthcare Chaplaincy Council of Victoria Inc (HCCVI) in 2009 as Project Coordinator, becoming Manager – Support & Development in 2011 and then Quality and Development Leader in 2020. It is obvious from her job titles that Christine has been part of many transitions for the organisation, as the organisation has also transformed from HCCVI to Spiritual Health Victoria, and then to Spiritual Health Association.

Christine provided leadership in major regional developments and projects, including the establishment of regional working parties to ensure the organisation did not remain metro focussed. Christine continued working with the Pastoral Care Information System an initiative to improve consistency of data recording and collection across health services. This led to the Spiritual Care Minimum Data Set project providing key information to hospitals across Victoria. Her interest and enthusiasm for this area of work saw the publication in 2017 of Documenting Spiritual Care in Patient Medical Records: A Best Practice Resource followed by Spiritual Care in Medical Records: A guide to reporting and documenting spiritual care in health services in 2019.

Christine was instrumental in the development of other key standards documents for SHA including the Guidelines for Quality Spiritual Care in Health published in 2020. Christine has been committed to leading the Spiritual Care Management Network and organising leadership workshops with a passion for capacity building across the spiritual care workforce. She has been a strong advocate and spokesperson for the sector and in recent years has celebrated publications in journals and contributed a chapter to a book written with international colleagues.

There is so much more that could be written about Christine’s contribution over the years, as she has demonstrated a willingness to be a part of whatever was a priority for the organisation. Many in the spiritual care sector have benefitted from her expertise, experience and wisdom. The team at SHA will miss her and we pay tribute to her as colleague and friend. I especially want to thank Christine for her leadership, her wise counsel and clear head for process, her loyalty and faithfulness. She has been both colleague and friend for many years and together with the SHA team I wish her many days ahead full of colour (red and orange of course), joy, play and love. 

Cheryl Holmes, 24 November 2022.