Clinical Pastoral Education/Training
Our Chaplain Interns and Residents learn by serving as hospital and hospice chaplains at Kaiser Permanente facilities and then sharing and reflecting upon their experiences with their supervisor and fellow interns and residents.
Working beside board-certified clinical chaplains they provide clinical pastoral care to in-patients and their loved ones, to out-patients, and to those in hospice care, as well as to staff members.
Each chaplain-in-training is assigned to units and departments that provide opportunities to experience a variety of care settings with their unique ministry challenges. They provide coverage and get an opportunity to become skilled in facing crises and meeting unanticipated immediate needs.
The principal learning in CPE is at the bedside. However, Chaplain Interns and Residents also meet regularly as a cohort group with a clinical supervisor to share case conferences, for didactic seminars, to share theological reflections and for an interpersonal group relations seminar. There is also a regularly scheduled hour-long, one-on-one session with the clinical supervisor that is devoted to the trainee’s own unique interests and particular situation.
Clinical pastoral training involves a “clinical” (action-reflection-action) model of learning that engages with real people in real situations of crisis, distress, uncertainty, suffering, loss or grief.
Our training provides Chaplain Interns and Residents a wide range of ministry opportunities among a very diverse community of patients in a number of settings.
The founder of CPE, Anton Boisen, situated theology among the social sciences and believed that a religious or theological education alone was insufficient for meeting the needs of those chaplains care for. A distinctive aspect of our CPE program is how seriously we take the significant contributions that the behavioral and social sciences and other fields offer to understand those we care for. Chaplains-in-training in our program will find that integrating learning from fields as diverse as systems theory, interpretive anthropology, neuropsychoanalysis, and others, will enhance their ministry.
In addition to the supervised direct ministry experience itself, training includes:
Case Study Reviews
Case studies are the principal learning tool in CPE and each trainee (chaplain intern or resident) is required to write up and present to the cohort group case studies of actual caregiving encounters.
The goals of the case study are to promote individual self-reflection by the chaplain and to use peer consultation and that of the clinical supervisor to refine the chaplain’s clinical pastoral competence.
Interpersonal Relations / Group Relations Group
Our cohort group utilizes key aspects of the Tavistock Model of group relations. The small peer group experience has a dual focus. First, it provides opportunities for chaplains to explore issues that arise during their work. Second, it fosters an experiential study of issues such as boundaries, authority, roles and tasks using the cohort experience itself as a learning tool to understand unconscious processes in group systems.
Didactics
A variety of presentations are provided by CPE Supervisors and others.
The subject matter is wide-ranging and includes a material drawn from the behavioral and social sciences. Specialized topics are drawn from the supervisors’ areas of expertise and specific interests and student clinical placements.
Trainees may have the opportunity to offer a didactics of their own choosing to their peers.
Individual Supervision
Regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings with a clinical supervisor provide the student/trainee an opportunity to review cases and aspects of one’s pastoral care and counseling, to reflect upon personal and professional aspirations and growth, to seek consultation, and to evaluate progress toward individual learning goals.
Readings and Various Media
In keeping with the scope of our program, readings and other resources come not only from the pastoral care literature but also the broad range of behavioral and social sciences.
Films and Internet-based media are also key resources used in our CPE program.
We have 24-hour access to the robust Kaiser Permanente clinical library network. Its librarians actively support the learning goals and interests of each CPE program participant.
The College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP), committed to “recovery of the soul in the clinical pastoral movement,” is unique among chaplaincy professional organizations. The CPSP vision and organizing principles are expressed in the CPSP Covenant.
CPSP prides itself on being the only fully integrated professional body that includes CPE supervisors, board-certified clinical chaplains, and also those in training, as well as pastoral counselors and psychotherapists and those who train them, and other professionals.CPSP both accredits CPE programs and the board certifies fully qualified members according to very rigorous standards. The other major pastoral and spiritual care professional bodies are organized either according to separate member roles – as CPE supervisors (ACPE) or professional chaplains (APC), for example – or on the basis of members sharing a particular religious tradition (NACC for Catholic and NAJC for Jewish chaplains). Nearly every imaginable faith is represented in CPSP. With this diversity comes a serious commitment to collaboration and mutual support in what can be very challenging work.
Another CPSP distinctive among professional chaplaincy organizations is its requirement that all of its members be active participants in a small group known as a chapter. Board-certified members as well as those aspiring to be certified receive ongoing peer review and support in their chapter. The result is mutual accountability and ongoing professional development leading up to the annual renewal of board certification. For those who have recently completed their training, the chapter provides mentoring toward certification.
CPSP sponsors an annual Plenary gathering at which participants bring clinical case studies for peer and supervisor consultation. There are several three-day National Clinical Training Seminars offered each year including one in California every October.
Our Kaiser Permanente-based CPE programs are administered by members of CPSP’s Nautilus Pacific Chapter (NP). NP is the oldest and most respected chapter in the West and home to six CPE programs including four in California, one in Utah, and one in Italy.
WE ARE CURRENTLY ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS for REGULAR (full-time) and EXTENDED (half-time) CPE UNITS at Kaiser Permanente in Vallejo/Vacaville, and also Sacramento/Roseville.
The Application Fee ($50) has been WAIVED for all applicants by a generous gift from the Nautilus Pacific Chapter of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy.
Tuition is $1,500 per CPE unit / $6,000 for the four-unit program.
Presently, FULL Tuition SCHOLARSHIPS are offered to anyone accepted into the program as CHAPLAIN INTERNS (Regular and Extended Unit) for up to four units of training.
CHAPLAIN RESIDENTS and recipients of the CLINICAL FELLOWSHIP receive stipends for up to four units or 1 year in Vallejo/Vacaville only.
We do not provide single-unit CPE, such as may be required by some seminaries for graduation.
Those who are accepted into our program must be willing to commit to a minimum of two units.
On a selective basis, we also offer a “fifth unit” for those who have completed their customary four units elsewhere and who wish to enhance the quality of their chaplaincy training, prepare for board certification, or provide clinical chaplaincy at a higher level of excellence.
HOW TO APPLY:
- Complete Page 1 of the downloadable CPSP CPE Application Form, using the fill-in feature embedded in the document. Be certain to answer the questions thoroughly using as much space as seems necessary or appropriate.
- You may choose to answer Questions 1-4 in a separate Word document if you wish.
- Attach the completed Application and any documents in an email and send to: Matt.Real@kp.org
Applications are reviewed monthly as they are received. Informal interviews will be conducted with applicants who seem suitable after reviewing the application. Admission decisions are made on an ongoing basis until a unit’s cohort group is filled.
If you have questions, and for more information, email: Matt.Real@kp.org