Purbrick is a spiritual care practitioner at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Spiritual carers at Peter Mac are part of the multidisciplinary team that supports patients, families and friends.

They are taught to provide a compassionate listening presence to help patients and their families connect to the inner resources and external supports available to them in difficult times.

They support patients in a wide variety of circumstances including when a patient is newly diagnosed with cancer, receives news that makes them unsure about their future or moves toward the end of their life.

“Our role is to stay with the patient where the patient is leading us,” says Purbrick. “So we’re present for hearing the patient’s story wherever it is that they want to lead us.”

Purbrick has 25 years’ experience providing pastoral and spiritual care.

She has completed a number of units in clinical pastoral education through Peter Mac and she began her role in 2016.

She is also presently providing administrative support to Peter Mac for its research into the efficacy of dignity therapy in the acute setting.

In dignity therapy, patients with terminal illness or life-limiting conditions create dignity-affirming legacy documents to reduce end-of-life distress.

Purbrick says she's hopeful that the research catalyses the continued provision of dignity therapy and she hopes to consolidate her role as a practitioner.

“It’s about enabling people to have a good death,” says Purbrick. “Often people who die here might die quicker than they had hoped.

“It’s being able to harness the opportunity – sometimes a very short window – to allow people to reflect on and record something of their life and the legacy they leave.”