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The Bethanie Chaplaincy team plays an important role in the spiritual wellbeing of you and your family, our residents and their families, and Bethanie staff.
We all have different ways in which we find meaning and fulfilment in life. As we age, many of these are challenged by changing circumstance and significant losses. Sometimes we find it easy to readjust and find meaning in life again. At other times we may struggle emotionally and spiritually to make sense of what is happening in our lives.
Bethanie's Chaplains assist in guiding the search for meaning, helping discover hope for the future, and providing encouragement in times of distress. This is done in the spirit of love and acceptance, respect and humility.
Bethanie is committed to the ongoing professional development of our Chaplains to ensure our services meet the highest standards.
Some of the spiritual activities and services we offer include:
Bethanie's Chaplains support and guide an individual's spiritual journey through the experience of grief and joy, loss and gain.
David has been working as a Chaplain in Aged Care for over 15 years. David is married to Roxanne and they have 3 children. David has a passion to see those within his care encouraged and supported both emotionally and spiritually.
Roger is married with 6 children and an increasing number of grandchildren. Roger and his wife met at church and became ‘high school sweethearts’.
Roger has worked around the world with a mission group and originally comes from the US. In his leisure time, Roger enjoys the beach, family BBQs and spoiling his grandchildren. Roger loves coming alongside people in the midst of challenge both practically and spiritually.
Sue has been working for Bethanie for over 16 years. She is married to Kevin, has 2 adult daughters and loves being a Nanna to 3 energetic boys. She also appreciates her job with Bethanie – the clients are people of great value who have deep wisdom and rich life experiences to share; she relishes her role of encouraging clients to see themselves as people whose lives have meaning and worth regardless of their age.
James has been an Aged Care Chaplain for several years. Prior to this he was a Chaplain at Royal Perth and Bethesda hospital and has been a Christian Minister for 35 years. James and Margaret have 3 married children and 6 grandchildren. James was involved in caring for his mother and father who both suffered from dementia for many years before passing away. This experience has enriched his heart to show God’s love and compassion to the ageing, and especially those with dementia.
Peter joined Bethanie Chaplaincy Team in 2014. At that time he was working as full time as a Pastor at Scarborough Baptist Church and doing Chaplaincy work for a day a week. In 2017 Peter joined us full time taking over the Chaplaincy role at Bethanie Beachside.
Peter is married to Debbie, and feels that it is an immense privilege to provide spiritual and pastoral care for people in their senior years.
John has been working as a chaplain in aged and community care for around 13 years. He has 3 adult children and 9 grandchildren. He feels privileged to journey with people through their life changes and difficult times and aims to bring comfort and support to their lives.
Len has been working as an Aged Care Chaplain for a number of years and hails from South Africa. He was a school teacher for 23 years and worked for TWR, a Christian mission’s organization, for 10 years before he came to Australia. Len is married and has a daughter (married) and 3 grandchildren. Len has a passion to express God’s compassion and love to all those under his care.
Allan has been working as a Chaplain in Aged Care for over 15 years. Allan has been married for over 35 years and has two married adult children and one grandchild. He has found the provision of pastoral care to people in residential aged care to be both extremely rewarding as well as a very challenging ministry.
Bruce hails from South Africa and has been involved in Aged Care in Australia since 2014 as a carer. He is married and has two married daughters and two grandsons. He joined the Bethanie Chaplaincy Team as an intern in December 2017 while studying at Perth Bible College. Bruce has a passion for demonstrating God’s love, kindness and compassion to others and sees this role as a privilege.
Phil joined Bethanie in 2019, have spent most of his working life in various Management positions within the mining and travel industries. He studied Aged Care at TAFE, in order to pursue his vision of one day helping the elderly via Chaplaincy.
Phil is married with two children and has one grandson, and recently semi-retired in order to spend time focussing in on aged care and chaplaincy related studies.
Hi, my name is Sharon Bywaters. I am a chaplain at Bethanie On The Park and also for Bethanie Social Housing. I find great joy in simply sharing with people, I love to hear about their lives, family, interests and anything else that people want to talk about and I’m happy to share mine. I love the opportunity to meet with people in various stages of life and be able to build relationships with them just like Jesus did. God bless and I look forward to meeting you.
Annelize is a mother of three and is currently completing her Bachelor’s degree in Ministry. She has an extensive history of working with people of all age groups from small children to the elderly. Annelize strives to journey with people no matter their background or religious belief brings comfort and support as needed.
Penny has been an Aged Care Chaplain for over 4 years, working in both Aged Care Homes and Social Housing. She has been involved in Aged Care for many years previously working as an Enrolled Nurse as well as running recovery ministries in churches for the last 15 years. She is passionate about journeying with all people so know they have meaning and purpose and that they matter and to help them overcome life-controlling issues. She loves working in the spiritual care of people with dementia. She brings to her pastoral care, the life experience of overcoming major life issues and years of study that help her to show the love of God to one and all.
Chris is one of the newer Bethanie Chaplaincy Team members but has a wealth of experience. Chris has a background in Church ministry, counselling in private practice and Police chaplaincy. Chris and his wife are kept busy with 2 young children. Chris enjoys interacting with those he comes across on a personal level and encouraging and supporting them the best he can.
Sandra has been married for 31 years and since her first job at 18, whilst working as a Tea Lady at a nursing home, she discovered an affinity for relating to the elderly. She has been volunteering in chaplaincy for about 4 months, completed her first year of study at Perth Bible College and has just begun an internship.
Having walked the journey with both parents suffering different forms of dementia, she has a heart for both the residents and families of those who enter into residential care.
She longs to steady knees that give way, encourage those with fearful hearts and bring life and hope in the midst of people's daily struggles.
Anne moved to Perth in January 2019 from East Gippsland in Victoria. Annes has 2 adult children. She worked as an Occupational Therapist for 25 years prior to leaving work to care for her husband Graham who was battling Brain Cancer, and susequently died 7 years ago.
Following Grahams death Anne lead the Aged Care Ministry for her church, Riviera Christian Centre in Bairnsdale, and also walked the Brain Cancer journey with several families. Anne began working in Aged Care when she was 15 and continued working with older people and Palliative Care throughout her career. She is passionate about supporting people in their latter years and those facing serious or terminal illness, by demonstrating Gods love so that they will experience the peace and hope which only God can give despite the circumstances faced, just as she has experienced in her journey.
Kerryn has been an aged care chaplain for 15 years. She has 4 adult children and is greatly enjoying her new role as 'Nan'.
Kerryn loves to challenge the stereotypes of ageing that are prevalent in the media and in society.
Working in a team serving a community is what I love to do. After twenty years of pastoral care I became a full-time carer for several years, which now informs my journey with residents, their loved ones and our staff, that call Bethanie home.
With the creative informing many years of pastoral ministry, design, retail, and management, I enjoy seeing people of all ages grow in their spiritual and personal worlds, by creating context for them to do so. I am also a passionate horticulturalist, designer, artist, camper, mother, and grandmother.
Talk to our team
Call 131 151
