Draft:Lindsay de Wal

Dutch-born humanist chaplain and non-religious pastoral carer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dr Lindsay de Wal (formerly Lindsay van Dijk) is a Dutch-born humanist chaplain and non-religious pastoral carer. In 2018, she was appointed to lead an NHS chaplaincy and pastoral support team in England, which was an appointment reported in national and international media as the first time a humanist/non-religious practitioner had led a multi-faith NHS chaplaincy team.[1][2][3] She soon became a sought out humanist chaplain globally to support the development of inclusive chaplaincy services across Europe. Rather than solely focusing on her humanist chaplaincy work, she became an ally of multi-faith teams where the focus was to build bridges, elevate the chaplaincy profession collectively; regardless of faith or belief background. This included putting rigorous policies and guidelines in place to support the whole chaplaincy field, and make this more inclusive and recognised within various sectors to be able to attract further professionalisation, funding and recognition of the field.[4]



Early life and education

De Wal is originally from the Netherlands where she grew up with a Dutch mother, American Father and an older sister.[5] Articles mention her work in the U.K., USA and Netherlands and describe the milestone of being appointed as the first head of chaplaincy services, as a humanist, within a healthcare setting. It furthermore describes the normalisation of training in humanist and existential pastoral care in the Netherlands, which is not as common across countries; including the U.K., where Dr de Wal currently resides.[3][6] She enjoyed her BA and MA at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, the Netherlands, which ensured her humanist chaplaincy training on academic level. [7] She then worked at the Humanist Community at Harvard, under MIT Humanist chaplain Greg Epstein [8], prior to moving to the U.K. where her humanist chaplaincy journey developed; supporting Humanists U.K. in developing their new Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network, which all started in 2016.

Career

NHS chaplaincy leadership

In April 2018, national media reported that Lindsay van Dijk (now de Wal) had been appointed to lead the chaplaincy and pastoral support team at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, with coverage focusing on the inclusion of non-religious pastoral care within NHS chaplaincy services.[1][2][9][10][11][1][3][12]

The appointment formed part of wider reporting about humanist and non-religious pastoral care provision in the NHS.[13]

The 2018 appointment and the wider debate about non-religious pastoral care provision in the NHS have continued to be referenced in healthcare and media commentary.[14][5] She was later on in 2021 appointed a second time as head of chaplaincy with Sheffield teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. [15]

Current roles

Lindsay currently oversees part-time the Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network as head of service. The majority of her work is rooted in developing and supporting the expansion of inclusive chaplaincy services across countries via her director of humanist-existential care role, at the European Humanist Services Network (EHSN).[16]

Research

In 2021, she published a peer-reviewed article on the development of humanist chaplains entering traditionally faith-based NHS chaplaincy teams.[17]

A doctoral thesis attributed to her in 2024, titled The lived experience of non-religious healthcare chaplains entering faith-based healthcare chaplaincy teams, is available via Middlesex University’s research repository .[18] This thesis was the first of its kind as little research had taken place from the viewpoint of a non-religious chaplain working in a multi-faith setting and its overall impact on the service as a whole.

Publications

  • van Dijk, Lindsay Jane (2021). “Humanist Chaplains Entering Traditionally Faith-Based NHS Chaplaincy Teams”. Religions. [17]
  • De Luca, E., & de Wal, L. J. (2025). Providing spiritual care at the end of life: Nurses’ roles and perspectives. Nursing Standard. Advance online publication. [19]
  • De Luca E, Sena B, Butcher K and de Wal LJ (2025) Spirituality and palliative care: international models and new perspectives. Front. Sociol. 10:1523685. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1523685. [20]
  • A student textbook for Humanist Chaplaincy in Practice: A Student Textbook for Non-Religious Pastoral Care appears on the publisher’s Routledge website (May, 2026).[21]

Policy context

After several years of solely providing faith-based chaplaincy services, NHS England published guidance for chaplaincy services that frames chaplaincy as inclusive of pastoral, spiritual and religious care. This was a milestone, as no mentions were made to non-religious provision initially, until the chaplaincy 2015 guidelines came out, which supported the path of including non-religious chaplains as volunteers intitally, and later on as employed chaplains. [22] This trend continued, as the 2015 chaplaincy guidelines were later replaced with the 2023 chaplaincy guidelines, where the NRPSN was asked to support the development of updating this important document.[23][24]

Media coverage

Her 2018 appointment and the broader question of non-religious pastoral care in the NHS attracted coverage in UK media, including national reporting and opinion/commentary pages, as well as national and international follow-up articles on chaplaincy provision.[1][13][25][26]

Additional coverage and interviews have appeared via humanist, religious and academic publications.[27]

External links

References

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