Meet the Centre team
Revd Paul Nash
Paul has worked at Birmingham Children’s Hospital since 2002 and was the Chaplaincy Team Leader and Spiritual Care Lead between 2004 and March 2025 when he retired from this role.
Paul continues to be involved at BWC as Co-Director of the Centre for Paediatric Spiritual Care and will be involved in research, training, and ongoing support of bereavement projects.
He is Professional Standards Lead for the UK Board for Healthcare Chaplaincy, co-founder of the Paediatric Chaplaincy Network and co-leads the Spiritual Play International Network.
Research Gate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul_Nash5
Contact: p.nash@nhs.net
Revd Dr Sally Nash
Sally co-directs CPSC with Paul. She is a qualified Higher Education teacher and research supervisor and has published on a wide range of topics including paediatric chaplaincy.
She manages the relationship with our academic partner. She has led on writing and editing a number of our projects and continues to be involved in doctoral supervision and training people to work with children, young people and families.
Sally is regularly involved in peer reviewing journal articles, examining doctoral theses as well as continuing to publish in her wider field of practical theology.
Research Gate Profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sally_Nash
Contact: sallynash1@nhs.net
On this page https://bwc.nhs.uk/spiritual-care-research
Partnerships
Collaboration is one of our core values and we would welcome working in partnership with individuals, hospitals, hospices, organisations, and universities in writing, research and training.
If you are interested in working with us please contact us.
We are interested in partnering with other organisations and we will also post requests for partners we are looking for.
One of our recent collaborations is with CYM in developing standards for chaplains working with children and young people and CPSC was involved in designing and commending the standards and in fundraising for the project.
Reference Group
Our reference group use their experience and knowledge to advise the Centre for Paediatric Spiritual Care. Members are:
Mark Bartel, M. Div, BCC: Mark is the Chaplain Manager at Arnold Palmer Medical Center in Orlando, Florida.
Lorraine Beddard: Lorraine is a qualified Registered Children's Nurse, with a first degree in dimensions in healthcare and studied 'Care of Teenagers and Young Adults' at Masters Level. Her current role is Specialist Nurse supporting Teenage and Young Adult Patients diagnosed with cancer aged 15-25 years in both Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton. She has a special interest in the spiritual care of patients and the patient's network - family/friends/partners and has studied Spirituality at a Master's level. Lorraine is a trained facilitator delivering 'Opening the Spiritual Gate' training to clinical staff within RD&E trust.
Ross Bryson MB ChB DCH DRCOG FRCGP: Ross is a General Practitioner who has a special interest in community child health and whole-person healthcare. He has researched and developed services which offer spiritual care to patients in General Practice. He has a service-user insight into the importance of paediatric spiritual care having had a child with a malignancy and residual disabilities who then died as a young adult.
Daniel H. Grossoehme, DMin, MS: Daniel is a board-certified chaplain with more than 20 years in paediatric hospital chaplaincy, with clinical foci in trauma/burns/critical care, adolescent mental health, and cystic fibrosis. He is also a research faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and focuses on the role of spirituality and religion in paediatric health care.
Dr Emily Harrop: Dr Harrop is a Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Care at Helen and Douglas House Hospices in Oxford.
Dr Abigail Macleod: Dr Macleod is an associate specialist paediatrician with a special interest in oncology at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.
Jo Matthews: After losing her brave son Wilfred to a rare genetic growth disorder, Jo has sought to continue to support those who helped and cared for them. She is an experienced primary school teacher and qualified community first responder with a keen interest in sports and baking.
Dr Rebecca Nye: Dr Nye is a researcher, author and trainer in children's spirituality. She is also a lecturer in child psychology and childhood studies. Her work draws on both psychological and theological perspectives and is particularly engaged with the theory and practice of Godly Play.
Professor Wilf McSherry: Prof McSherry is the Professor in Dignity of Care for Older People at Staffordshire University. He has more than 20 years of experience working as a nurse within the National Health Service and teaching programmes of nursing and allied health professions within the higher education sector. Wilf has a keen interest in the measurement of spirituality and dignity in care having designed tools to aid researchers and practitioners to evaluate these concepts.
Professor Alistair Ross: Prof Ross is an Associate Professor of Psychotherapy, Director of Psychodynamic Studies and Dean of Kellogg College, Oxford University. He is also an associate member of the theology faculty at Oxford. His former career was as a Minister of Religion and pastoral theologian.