When someone walks into a healthcare facility, they bring more than symptoms and paperwork they carry emotions, beliefs, fears, and hope. That’s why spiritual care is becoming increasingly recognised as an essential part of health and social care. Whether you’re a chaplain, doctor, nurse, therapist, or support worker, offering spiritual support in healthcare isn’t just beneficial it’s transformative.
This carefully curated list of the best spiritual care books in 2025 for Every Healthcare Professional will help you bring depth, compassion, and understanding to your work. These titles speak to the heart of patient centred care, equipping you to address not just physical needs, but emotional and spiritual ones too.
If you’re looking for books about spiritual care in 2025 that are relevant, inclusive, and practical for real world care environments, you’re in the right place.
1. Heartening Through Multi-Faith Reflections: A Concise Mentorship on Spiritual Care and Wellbeing
By: Olugbenga Egungbohun
This book is the gold standard for anyone serious about understanding and offering spiritual care in health and social care environments. Heartening Through Multi-Faith Reflections isn’t just another guidebook it’s a mentorship. Olugbenga Egungbohun has created a concise yet powerful resource that helps healthcare professionals navigate spiritual conversations with patients from diverse faith backgrounds and belief systems.
What makes this book unique is its inclusive tone. Whether you’re working with Christians, Muslims, Hindus, spiritual but not religious individuals, or those who identify with no belief system at all, this book provides you with the sensitivity, language, and perspective needed to support them effectively.
It champions respect, empathy, and deep listening key components of meaningful spiritual support in healthcare. With rich insights into spiritual practice, cultural nuance, and patient needs, it’s perfect for professionals who want to offer soul deep care.
Why read it:
- Aligns directly with modern multi-faith care models
- Relevant to chaplains, carers, nurses, and doctors alike
- Encourages a compassionate, inclusive approach to spiritual wellbeing
2. Spiritual Care in Practice: Case Studies in Healthcare Chaplaincy
By: George Fitchett & Steve Nolan
This powerful volume offers practical insights through case studies from real world chaplaincy experiences. The stories explore how spiritual care unfolds in hospitals, mental health services, and hospices giving professionals a clear sense of what to expect and how to respond. It’s one of the most readable and educational spiritual care books out there, especially for those new to the field or currently training.
3. When Professionals Weep: Emotional and Countertransference Responses in End of Life Care
Edited by: Renee Katz and Therese Johnson
More than just a reflective read, this book dives into the emotional responses that healthcare professionals often experience when supporting end of life patients. It’s particularly useful for those delivering palliative or emotional support, where spirituality and empathy often intersect. This book will help you care for others while also protecting your own emotional wellbeing.
4. The Art of Spiritual Care: Practical Guide for Health and Social Care Professionals
By: Michelle C. Walsh
Michelle Walsh provides simple, actionable tools for integrating spirituality into daily care routines. The book discusses rituals, meaningful conversation, and reflective practice in a way that’s both clear and grounded. It is especially helpful for nurses and support workers offering spiritual support in healthcare settings who need practical ways to show up for their patients beyond the clinical role.
5. Spiritual Care: A Guide for Caregivers
By: Judith Allen Shelly and Arlene B. Miller
This comprehensive guide offers practical insights into providing spiritual care across various healthcare settings. The authors, both experienced nurses and educators, present real-life scenarios and strategies to help caregivers address the spiritual needs of their patients. The book covers topics such as active listening, spiritual assessment, and the integration of faith into care plans. It’s an invaluable resource for healthcare professionals seeking to enhance their understanding and practice of spiritual care.
6. The Wounded Healer
By: Henri J.M. Nouwen
This classic explores the profound idea that our own suffering can be a source of healing for others. Nouwen speaks directly to the emotional and spiritual exhaustion many professionals face. It’s not a step by step guide, but a companion for the soul ideal for those who offer spiritual care while wrestling with their own vulnerabilities.
7. Professional Spiritual & Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain’s Handbook
By: Rabbi Stephen B. Roberts
Kilner’s book is a structured and inspiring guide for chaplains and those who collaborate with them. It helps readers identify sacred moments in patient interactions those brief windows when care transcends the clinical and becomes truly human. This is a standout among books for healthcare professionals looking to deepen their impact without overcomplicating the process.
8. Spirituality and Health: Multidisciplinary Explorations
Edited by: Stephen G. Post
This academic but approachable book draws from theology, psychology, and medical sciences to show how spirituality influences recovery, pain tolerance, and overall wellbeing. If you’re someone who likes evidence to support practice, this is one of the best spiritual care books in 2025. It’s also a fantastic resource for training sessions and professional development courses.
9. A Guide to Spirituality in Health and Social Care
By: Sarah E. Jones
A highly practical manual that fits perfectly in modern care settings like NHS trusts, community teams, and residential care homes. It includes spiritual assessments, care planning strategies, and cultural considerations all while maintaining a warm, human tone. It’s one of the most relevant health and social care books for frontline workers.
10. Sacred Dying: Creating Rituals for Embracing the End of Life
By: Megory Anderson
End of life care is where spiritual needs become most urgent. Anderson’s book equips carers and chaplains with tools to offer rituals and emotional support with grace and reverence. It bridges faith and fear, turning moments of death into moments of connection and peace.
Final Reflections
These spiritual care books offer far more than ideas they offer presence, perspective, and peace. In every care setting, whether a high tech hospital ward or a humble home care visit, spiritual care is the quiet thread that ties it all together.
For any healthcare professional truly wanting to support the whole person, starting with Heartening Through Multi Faith Reflections by Olugbenga Egungbohun is a wise and transformative step. Then let the other titles in this list support your ongoing journey into meaningful, soul aware caregiving.
These are not just books about spiritual care they’re guideposts for better, kinder, and more human healthcare.
