Meg Burton

A little about me:

I am a supernumerary Methodist Minister who worked in circuit for 5 years and then was a healthcare chaplain for 20 years. While in circuit I was Free Church Chaplain at Rampton Hospital for 18 months, then moved to Doncaster Royal Infirmary in 2000 as Ecumenical Chaplain for 6 years. This was followed by a further 6 years as Lead Chaplain at Bassetlaw Hospital, Worksop. During those 12 years, I counselled patients at the chronic pain clinic whose pain was exacerbated by bereavement. In 2012 I moved to the Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber Trust as Head of Chaplaincy, a Mental Health trust that also has elderly patients who are rehabilitating after breaking bones, neurological rehab patients and a hospice.

I completed my MA in Healthcare Chaplaincy at the University of Leeds in 2004. My dissertation was entitled, The Role of the Chaplain in the Multidisciplinary Palliative Care Team. Part of her research was based at Peel Memorial Hospital, Brampton, Ontario, Canada. I specialised in End of Life Care and represented the College of Healthcare Chaplains on the government committee that was set up to respond to the Neuberger report into the Liverpool Care Pathway. Their response, One Chance to Get It Right, was published in 2015.

I was Editor of the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy before becoming Editor in Chief of the journal Health and Social Care Chaplaincy in 2013. She is currently Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy for the Free Churches Group in London. I was the UK Free Church representative at the European Network for Healthcare Chaplaincy in Salzburg, Austria (2014), Debrecen, Hungary (2016) and Blankenberge (The Netherlands) (2018).

I originally trained as a music teacher and music is still an important part of her life. I play the piano and viola in the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, and sings with Viva la Musica, a chamber choir based in Loughborough, and the Scunthorpe Choral Society. I live in Doncaster and have two grown up sons. I have four granddaughters. 3 live in London with their parents, and are aged 7, 5 and 1. The fourth is 6 and lives with her parents near Doncaster. I am developing her garden into a Peace Garden, where people who have been bereaved may come for counselling and to release their tension and anxiety through spending time in a place of peace. Through Help finding peace, I also provide support and counsel for those who are dying and those who are close to them.