How was your day?
Get it off your chest.
Clergy, faith leaders, chaplains, pastoral carers, staff and volunteers, of any faith. Put down what you're carrying before you go home.
Which best describes you?
This changes a few questions and which support lines come first. You can change it any time.
Everything you enter stays on this phone. Nothing is sent to your faith organisation, your leadership or anyone else. Unladen Faith is a prototype. It is not a medical or emergency service and is not connected to any faith organisation, employer or government agency. · Give feedback
Take a moment.
Step away if you can, even for a few minutes. You're allowed to need care too.
Breathe with this
What you might be feeling
- Shaky, sick, or a racing heart
- Numb, or oddly calm
- Tearful, angry, or both
- Going over what you could have done differently
These are normal reactions. They usually settle over hours or days.
If someone hurt or threatened you
It isn't part of your role and it isn't your fault. Tell someone in your leadership or safeguarding structure, and get checked if you were hurt. You can also contact police.
Ground yourself
Look around. Name them, out loud or in your head.
Call someone now
Add your supervisor, a spiritual director or a colleague in so they're here when you need them.
Not sure who to tell?
If you don't feel safe telling your leadership, board or elders, there are other people you can go to. Or write down what happened, just for you, while it's fresh.
What helps after
Handover to yourself
A few minutes at the end of the day. Notice what you're carrying, then leave what you can at the door.
Please talk to someone now
You said you've had thoughts of harming yourself or not wanting to be here. Please call one of these now. If you're in immediate danger, call 000.
Light load
This phone isn't letting the page save. Your result shows here but won't be kept.
About the aggression
Being threatened or hurt in a place of worship, a hospital or someone's home isn't OK. Tell your leadership or safeguarding contact and record it. Get checked if you were hurt. You can contact police.
Your safety
You said you didn't feel fully safe today. That matters. Tell someone in your leadership or safeguarding structure. If you visit homes alone, make sure someone knows where you are and when to expect you.
Getting home safely
You said you've got very little energy left. If you're driving, a 15 to 20 minute nap before you leave can help. Text someone when you're home.
What might help
People you can call
This isn't a medical assessment. It's a way to notice how you're going over time.
How it's been going
Last 14 days
Handovers
This phone isn't letting the page save, so handovers won't be kept.
Privacy & your data
Add a PIN, download what you've entered, or delete everything from this phone.
Holding other people's pain takes something out of you
What to watch for, and what helps. Tap a heading to open it.
When someone discloses abuse
Hearing a disclosure of abuse is heavy, especially from someone in your own community.
- Make sure the person is safe first. Call 000 if someone is in immediate danger.
- In NSW, people in religious ministry are mandatory reporters of children at risk of significant harm. Call the Child Protection Helpline on 132 111.
- Follow your faith organisation's safeguarding process too, and talk to your safeguarding officer.
- Write down what you were told, with the date and time, while it's fresh.
- Blue Knot (1300 657 380) supports adult survivors of trauma, and the people supporting them.
Deaths, funerals and grief
You may lead funerals, sit with the dying and hold a grieving community, often while grieving yourself.
Today
- Take a pause before the next thing.
- It's OK to be moved. You're allowed to grieve too.
Over time
- Notice when losses pile up, especially in your own community.
- Have someone to debrief with who isn't part of the community.
Hard pastoral conversations
Crisis, illness, relationship breakdown, suicide risk. People bring their hardest moments to you.
- If someone is at risk of harming themselves, stay with them if it's safe and help them call Lifeline (13 11 14) or 000.
- You don't have to fix it. Listening is enough.
- Know when to refer on to a counsellor, doctor or service.
- Use professional supervision to debrief. It's there so you don't carry it alone.
Conflict, criticism and complaints
Conflict in a congregation, with a board or between leaders can be painful, especially when it's personal.
- Write down what happened, with dates.
- Talk to someone outside the situation: a supervisor, a colleague elsewhere or a mediator.
- You don't have to take abuse from anyone, including people in leadership.
- For sexual harassment, 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) is there 24/7.
Always on: boundaries and rest
Faith work often has no clear finish time, and home and work can be the same place.
- Take a full day off each week, and protect it.
- Let calls go to voicemail when you're off, unless you're rostered on.
- Take your leave, including any study or retreat leave.
- Rest isn't a lack of commitment.
Visiting homes and hospitals alone
- Tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back.
- Trust your gut. If you feel unsafe, leave.
- Where possible, visit in pairs, especially at night.
- Afterwards, debrief with someone, even by phone.
When your own faith or meaning is shaken
Seeing a lot of suffering can shake your own beliefs or sense of purpose. It happens to many people in faith work.
- It's not a failure. Many traditions have words for these seasons.
- A spiritual director, mentor or counsellor outside your community can help.
- If it's affecting your sleep, mood or relationships, see your GP too.
After a mistake
A broken confidence, a missed visit, something said that landed badly.
- Put it right where you can.
- Talk it through with your supervisor.
- Be as gracious with yourself as you would be with anyone else.
Signs you're carrying too much
- Dreading the phone or the next visit
- Feeling numb or cynical
- Short-tempered with people at home
- Sleep changes, or replaying conversations at night
- Losing your own sense of meaning or joy
This is sometimes called compassion fatigue or burnout. It's common in faith and pastoral work, and it's not a spiritual failure.
Your family
If you live on site or your family is part of the community, they carry some of this too. Make space to be off duty together.
Volunteers
Pastoral volunteers often hear a lot without formal debriefing. Ask your coordinator what support there is. It's OK to step back.
When to get more help
If your load has been heavy for two weeks or more, you dread going in, or it's affecting sleep or home life, talk to your GP or EAP. A GP can set up a Mental Health Treatment Plan for Medicare-subsidised sessions with a psychologist. Many clergy and chaplains can get professional supervision or a wellbeing program through their faith body. Ask.
People to call
Save the ones that apply to you. They stay on this phone and show up on the Help now screen.
Support lines
You don't have to go through your leadership
Sometimes the person you'd normally tell is part of the problem, or it just doesn't feel safe. Here are other ways to get support. You choose what to do, and when.
From your organisation
Your faith organisation can add its own wellbeing, EAP, supervision and safeguarding numbers here.
Someone outside your reporting line
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Free, confidential counselling. Many faith bodies and chaplaincy services provide one. Your leadership isn't told that you called.
- A supervisor or spiritual director outside your community. Someone who isn't part of the situation.
- A colleague in another congregation, tradition or chaplaincy team. They know the work.
- Your safeguarding officer. For disclosures, and for concerns about how something is being handled.
- Your professional association or union. Chaplains and pastoral workers often have one.
- Your GP. Outside your community altogether, and can refer you on.
Text or chat instead of calling
For when talking out loud isn't possible, or feels like too much.
For particular situations
People in religious ministry in NSW are mandatory reporters of children at risk of significant harm.
Your own spiritual support
It's easy to care for everyone else's spiritual life and neglect your own. A spiritual director, mentor or retreat can be a place where you're not the one holding things.
If your faith community is part of what's hurting, it's OK to look for support outside it, including from people of another faith or none.
Words to start with
The first sentence is often the hardest. You could say:
"I'm carrying something from a pastoral conversation and need to talk it through."
"Can this stay between us? Is there anything you'd have to pass on?"
"I don't know how to raise this with my leadership."
"I need a break, and I don't know how to ask."
What happens if I tell someone?
- Counsellors, peer supporters and helplines keep what you say private. The main exception is if someone is at serious risk of harm. If you're unsure, ask at the start.
- A supervisor or spiritual director keeps what you say private, within the limits of their own reporting duties.
- A child at risk of significant harm has to be reported to the Child Protection Helpline.
- Your private record in this app stays on your phone unless you choose to share it.
Not ready to tell anyone?
That's OK. You can write down what happened, just for yourself, and decide later.
Numbers and services are for New South Wales and Australia-wide. Check with your organisation for its own services.
Write down what happened
It stays on this phone. It isn't a report, and nothing is sent anywhere. If you later decide to raise something, notes written at the time are easier to rely on than memory.
My entries
Entries can't be edited, so each one shows when it was written. To add something, write a new entry.
No entries yet.
If you decide to share it, you can download it or send it to yourself.
Your phone, your data
PIN lock
Ask for a PIN when the app opens, and after it has been in the background for a minute.
PIN is on.
The PIN stops someone else opening the app on your phone. It doesn't encrypt what's stored, so keep your phone locked too. If you forget it, you can delete everything and start again.
Hide the screen
Tap the eye button at the top of any screen to cover the app straight away, for example in the office or between visits. Tap to come back, or enter your PIN if you've set one.
Download my data
Download everything you've entered (handovers, private record and contacts) as a text file. You could keep a copy, or show it to your GP or counsellor.
Delete everything
Deletes your handovers, private record, role, contacts and PIN from this phone.
Delete everything from this phone? This can't be undone.
About Unladen Faith
Unladen Faith is a prototype made by Co-Synthesist Pty Ltd, Newcastle NSW. It isn't a medical or emergency service, and it isn't connected to any faith organisation, employer or government agency. The questions haven't been clinically validated yet.
What's stored: your role, handovers, private record, saved contacts and settings, only in this phone's browser. Nothing is sent to anyone. There are no accounts, analytics or trackers.
Feedback: the feedback form is the only part of Unladen Faith that sends anything, and only when you press Send. It doesn't include anything else from the app.
Keep in mind: if you clear your browser data or remove the app, what you've entered goes too. Download a copy first if you want to keep it.
Version 0.1 prototype · September 2026