Where do chaplains work? 8 settings for pastoral care careers

When you think of chaplains, you might picture someone in a hospital corridor or a military base. But the places where chaplains and pastoral care workers are employed in Australia stretch far wider than most people realise. From aged care facilities to corporate offices, from school playgrounds to disaster zones, pastoral care workers provide emotional and spiritual support in settings that touch almost every part of community life.

If you’re drawn to work that centres on deep listening, being present for people during difficult moments, and helping others find meaning and connection, chaplaincy offers a career with genuine breadth. The question isn’t whether there are opportunities — it’s which setting is the right fit for you.

This guide explores the eight main settings where chaplains and pastoral care workers are employed in Australia, what each setting involves, and how to get started.

What do chaplains and pastoral care workers actually do?

Before exploring where chaplains work, it’s worth being clear about what the role involves.

Pastoral care is a professional caring role focused on providing emotional, spiritual, and existential support to people in times of need. It’s not about proselytising, converting, or promoting a particular set of beliefs. It’s about being a grounding, compassionate presence for someone who’s facing loss, illness, moral distress, loneliness, or a major life transition.

The word “spiritual” can mean different things to different people. In pastoral care, it’s understood broadly — encompassing questions of meaning, purpose, connection, identity, and hope. Some of the people you support will be deeply religious. Others won’t hold any faith at all. A pastoral care worker meets each person where they are, without judgement or agenda.

What might surprise you is how many settings need this kind of support. Chaplaincy has expanded well beyond its traditional roots, and the range of career options is broader than most people expect.

8 settings where chaplains and pastoral care workers are employed

Chaplaincy spans healthcare, education, justice, emergency services, defence, and corporate environments. Here’s what each setting looks like in practice.

1. Hospitals and healthcare

Hospital chaplaincy is the most established pastoral care setting in Australia, and it’s where a large proportion of chaplains are employed. Hospital chaplains are embedded in healthcare teams, providing emotional and spiritual support to patients, their families, and hospital staff.

You might sit with a patient who’s just received a diagnosis they weren’t expecting. You might support a family through end-of-life decisions. You might debrief with nursing staff after a difficult shift. The work spans palliative care, emergency departments, oncology, mental health wards, intensive care, and maternity.

Hospital chaplaincy has become increasingly secular in recent decades. While chaplains from faith backgrounds still serve in these roles, hospitals increasingly value pastoral care workers who can support people across all worldviews. What matters is your ability to be present, not your personal beliefs.

Most major public and private hospitals in Australia employ one or more chaplains, and many health networks have dedicated pastoral care departments.

2. Aged care facilities

Demand for pastoral care in aged care is growing significantly, driven in part by Australia’s ageing population and recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. For an in-depth look at this growing setting, see our guide to pastoral care in aged care.

The Aged Care Quality Standards now include spiritual wellbeing as a core outcome for residents. This means aged care providers are actively seeking qualified pastoral care workers to meet these requirements. It’s not just a nice-to-have; it’s become a standard of care.

Residents in aged care face unique emotional and spiritual challenges: grief and loss, loneliness, the transition from independent living, declining health, and end-of-life concerns. Pastoral care workers in this setting provide ongoing relational support, facilitate meaning-making activities, and help residents maintain a sense of connection, dignity, and purpose.

If you’re someone who values long-term relationships and the opportunity to make a sustained difference in people’s daily lives, aged care chaplaincy can be deeply fulfilling.

3. Schools

The National School Chaplaincy Programme (NSCP) is one of the largest employers of chaplains in Australia, funding positions in thousands of schools across the country.

School chaplains provide emotional and social support to learners, staff, and families. This might involve supporting a child through family breakdown, helping a young person manage anxiety, walking alongside a family during a bereavement, or simply being a trusted adult that learners know they can talk to.

The role has become increasingly inclusive. School chaplains work alongside school counsellors and wellbeing teams, and the emphasis is on providing safe, non-judgemental support regardless of a young person’s background or beliefs. You don’t need to be from a particular faith background to be an effective school chaplain — the focus is on care, not doctrine.

The NSCP receives ongoing federal funding, making school chaplaincy one of the more stable employment pathways in the sector.

Explore your options in pastoral care. Learn more about Hader’s Certificate IV in Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care.

4. Prisons and correctional facilities

Correctional chaplaincy is one of the oldest forms of chaplaincy, and it remains a vital part of the justice system in Australia.

Chaplains in prisons and correctional facilities provide:

• Crisis support during difficult moments, including self-harm risk and bereavement
• Emotional and spiritual care for incarcerated people navigating guilt, loss, and identity
• Grief counselling and death notifications
• Cultural and spiritual facilitation, including supporting people from diverse faith and cultural backgrounds
• Pre-release support, helping people prepare for re-entry into the community

This is demanding work that requires emotional resilience, strong boundaries, and the ability to hold space for people in complex circumstances. It’s also work where the impact can be profound. For many incarcerated people, the chaplain is the only person in the facility whose role is solely about their wellbeing.

5. Emergency services and disaster response

Chaplains play a critical role in supporting first responders and communities affected by emergencies and natural disasters.

In this setting, pastoral care workers provide psychological first aid, emotional support, and critical incident stress support. During and after bushfires, floods, cyclones, and other natural disasters, chaplains are deployed to support affected communities — helping people process trauma, grief, and displacement.

They also support the emergency services workers themselves. Paramedics, firefighters, police, and SES volunteers experience cumulative stress, and chaplains provide confidential debriefing and emotional support that sits outside the formal chain of command.

Demand for disaster response chaplains has increased alongside the frequency and intensity of climate-related events in Australia. This is a setting where the need is real and growing.

6. Defence and military

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) employs chaplains across the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Military chaplains support serving personnel and their families through deployments, relocations, operational stress, grief, and the unique challenges of military life.

Defence chaplaincy is a distinctive setting. Chaplains serve in operational theatres alongside the people they support, and they hold a unique position within the military structure — trusted confidants who sit outside the chain of command. Personnel can speak to a chaplain knowing the conversation won’t be reported up the line.

It’s worth noting that ADF chaplaincy requires additional selection processes and training beyond the Certificate IV. However, the pastoral care qualification provides a strong foundation for those interested in this pathway.

7. Corporate and workplace wellbeing

Workplace chaplaincy is an emerging setting that’s growing alongside Australia’s broader focus on workplace mental health.

Some organisations are bringing chaplains and pastoral care workers into their employee wellbeing programs. Workplace chaplains offer confidential support to employees, respond to workplace crises (such as the death of a colleague or a traumatic event), and contribute to wellbeing programs.

What makes this role different from an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is the relational, ongoing nature of the support. A workplace chaplain is present in the environment, available informally, and builds trust over time. They’re not someone you call in a crisis — they’re someone who’s already there.

This is still a smaller sector than healthcare or education, but it’s expanding as organisations recognise that employee wellbeing involves more than mental health first aid and annual surveys.

8. Community organisations and not-for-profits

Community chaplaincy brings pastoral care into the settings where people are most vulnerable — homelessness services, refugee and asylum seeker support, family violence services, community centres, and social enterprise organisations.

In this setting, pastoral care overlaps with community development. You might provide emotional support to someone experiencing homelessness while also connecting them with housing services. You might walk alongside a newly arrived refugee family as they adjust to life in Australia. You might support people in drug and alcohol recovery services.

This is where pastoral care meets grassroots community work, and it’s a natural fit for people who want to combine emotional and spiritual support with practical, on-the-ground impact.

Paid vs voluntary: understanding the chaplaincy employment landscape

It’s important to be honest about this: some chaplaincy roles are paid, and some are volunteer-based. The balance varies by setting, and it’s worth understanding the landscape before you commit to the qualification.

Settings where paid roles are most common:

• Hospitals and healthcare (salaried positions, often part of a pastoral care department)
• Schools (funded through the National School Chaplaincy Programme)
• Defence forces (ADF employment)
• Prisons and correctional facilities (government-employed or contracted)
• Larger aged care providers (increasingly adding paid pastoral care roles)

Settings where volunteer roles are more common:

• Smaller community organisations
• Some church-affiliated services
• Emergency services chaplaincy (often voluntary, though some paid positions exist)

The trend across the sector is strongly toward professionalisation and paid employment. As chaplaincy training becomes more standardised and demand grows — particularly in aged care and schools — the proportion of paid roles is increasing.

For a detailed breakdown of chaplaincy salaries, see our complete guide to chaplaincy and pastoral care careers.

How to start a career in pastoral care

If one of these settings appeals to you, here’s how to take the first step.

The CHC42315 Certificate IV in Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care is the nationally recognised qualification for entry-level pastoral care practice in Australia. It provides the theoretical foundations, practical skills, and ethical framework you need to work professionally across any of the settings described above.

What you should know about the qualification:

• No requirement to be from a particular faith background. The Certificate IV is open to people of all worldviews. You’ll learn to work with people across all beliefs and none.
• Work placement is included. You’ll gain supervised practical experience in a pastoral care setting, which helps you identify where you want to build your career.
• Online study is available. Hader Institute of Education offers the Certificate IV in Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care fully online with self-paced delivery. You don’t need to attend face-to-face intensive blocks or relocate to study.
• Pathways to further study exist. After completing the Certificate IV, you can pursue a Diploma of Counselling to deepen your skills, or move into a Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work if peer support is part of your interest.

Ready to take the first step? Explore the Certificate IV in Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care at Hader Institute — study online, at your own pace, in an inclusive learning environment that welcomes every background.

Frequently asked questions

What does a chaplain do?

Chaplains provide emotional, spiritual, and existential support to people in need. They work across healthcare, education, justice, emergency services, defence, and community settings. The role centres on being present, listening without judgement, and helping people navigate difficult experiences like illness, grief, loss, and life transitions.

Do you need to be religious to be a chaplain?

No. While many chaplains come from faith backgrounds, secular pastoral care is a growing and respected part of the profession. The Certificate IV in Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care teaches you to work with people across all worldviews. What matters is your ability to listen, hold space, and provide genuine care — not your personal beliefs.

How much do chaplains earn in Australia?

Entry-level chaplains and pastoral care workers earn approximately AU$50,000–$60,000 per year, with experienced practitioners earning AU$60,000–$72,000 and senior roles reaching AU$72,000–$85,000. Salaries vary by setting, with hospital and defence roles at the higher end. For detailed salary data, see our chaplaincy and pastoral care careers guide.

What qualifications do you need to be a chaplain in Australia?

The CHC42315 Certificate IV in Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care is the nationally recognised qualification for entry-level pastoral care practice. It’s available online through providers including Hader Institute of Education. Some settings (such as Defence) require additional selection processes and training.

What is the difference between a chaplain and a pastoral care worker?

The terms are often used interchangeably. Traditionally, “chaplain” was associated with faith-based roles, while “pastoral care worker” was broader. Today, both terms describe professionals who provide emotional, spiritual, and existential support. The qualification and scope of practice are the same. The title used often depends on the employer and setting.

Are chaplains paid or voluntary?

Both paid and voluntary roles exist. Paid positions are most common in hospitals, schools (funded by the National School Chaplaincy Programme), defence, prisons, and larger aged care providers. The trend is strongly toward more paid, professionalised roles across all settings.

Explore your pastoral care career path

Chaplaincy and pastoral care offer a breadth of career settings that few other professions can match. Whether you’re drawn to the intensity of hospital work, the relational depth of aged care, the community impact of school chaplaincy, or the frontline demands of emergency services, there’s a pathway that fits your strengths and interests.

The common thread across all eight settings is simple: people need someone who can listen without judgement, hold space during their most difficult moments, and help them find meaning and connection. If that resonates with you, this is a career worth exploring.

Read our complete guide to chaplaincy and pastoral care careers in Australia — including salary data, qualification pathways, and career outlook.