Background The care for people with trauma- and stressor-related disorders is multidisciplinary. The place of chaplaincy care in multidisciplinary trauma care has received limited attention.
Aim Exploration of the place of chaplaincy care in relation to psychotrauma, moral injury, grief and palliative care and in time in relation to exposure to psychotrauma as a basis for a model of multidisciplinary collaboration.
Method Inventory and discussion of the position of chaplaincy care in the literature and guidelines for trauma- and stressor-related disorders.
Results Chaplaincy care may support finding meaning and reconnection in people at risk of trauma and PTSD, moral injury, and traumatic grief. Chaplaincy care is increasingly available for palliative and multicultural care recipients. Most guidelines for trauma care recommend the availability of chaplaincy care or research into the effectiveness of complementary existential, spiritual or meaning-making interventions.
Conclusion Traumatic stressors represent limit experiences, whereby the quest for meaning, existential and moral orientation are pre-eminently at stake. The use of chaplaincy care supports finding meaning and reconnection and may thereby potentially contribute to the prevention of traumatic exposure to stressors, persistent symptoms after exposure, and worsening of chronic trauma- and stressor related symptoms.