Our Trajectories of Hope conference is a premiere event highlighting and supporting the work of pastoral care, spiritual care and chaplaincy in Australia.

Our conference theme, Trajectories of Hope, expresses our intention that spiritual care facilitates the flourishing of hope in those for whom we care, and in the lives of spiritual carers. It is a theme which recognises that hope is, at times, difficult to find. Yet it embeds a courageous commitment to continue to move towards those things which lead to life. In naming “trajectories”, there is a recognition of how our conference identifies multiple and equally rich ways in which people move through times of trauma and dis-integration towards spiritual wholeness and re-integration. The subtitle, Sustainability and Justice in the Practice of Spiritual Care, points to two realities. Sustainability in practice underlines the essential nature of professionalisation of spiritual care, with our conference highlighting developments in credentialling and how spiritual care should be fully recognised and celebrated in its various sectors. The theme of justice enabling hope is threaded throughout the conference, particularly in honouring stories of erasure and marginalisation of minority groups, exploring the impact of their ongoing exclusion, and recognising how their empowerment and reintegration is necessary both for themselves and the broader Australian society.

Spiritual Care Australia is delighted to host this key event from 19th to 21st June 2023.