Clinical Pastoral Education

Presidential Address March 18, 2013 Las Vegas, NV Brian H. Childs, CPSP President I have recently turned 66 years old. Recently I have been thinking quite a bit about my own death. I have come realize that I have lived more than likely the vast majority of my life years. Now this realization is not macabre. I am most grateful for my life. I have lived a good and full life. I have loved and been loved. I have been forgiven as I have forgiven. I have dear children and I have done the best I can in my work and my calling. Te Deum. Yet, I had always thought that I would die without ever having been to Las Vegas. Here I am. Likewise I had never ever thought I would be the President of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy. Here I am. What curves life can throw even at the end of it all. I am honored and pleased to be your President over the next two years. As I have prepared for this post over the year of my term as President elect I have come to focus on what I ho...

College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy Annual Meeting 2012 Part 1 from Leonard Chamblee on Vimeo . CPSP committed to providing free educational resources to the pastoral care and clinical pastoral training movement. This is a free CPSP Podcast: Communication Near The End OF Life Kimberly Garner, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.F.P. Dr. Kimberly Garner is a staff physician at the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is also an assistant professor of Geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Garner is the medical director of the Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System which is a specialized intermediate unit which provides an interdisciplinary team approach in an inpatient setting. Dr. Garner received a juris doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law and a master’s of public health fro...

At a Glance one can see that for CPSP diversity is a fact of life. CPSP creates community through relationships of accountability and ongoing professional development. The CPSP covenant is the bond that holds the CPSP community together in a way that promotes clinical pastoral competency through ongoing face to face relationships of accountability. The CPSP Covenant: We, the CPSP members see ourselves as spiritual pilgrims seeking a truly collegial professional community. Our calling and commitments are, therefore, first and last theological. We covenant to address one another and to be addressed by one another in a profound theological sense. We commit to being mutually responsible to one another for our professional work and direction. Matters that are typically dealt with in other certifying bodies by centralized governance will be dealt with primarily in Chapters. Thus, we organize ourselves in such a way that we each participate in a relatively small group called a Chapter consist...

When newly ‘minted’ Army Chaplain Pete Christian recently graduated in September 2010 from the US Army Chaplain Basic Course in Fort Jackson, North Carolina he also soon afterwards became the first CPSP CPE trained Army Chaplain to receive the US Army 7- Sierra clinical specialty designator for Chaplains who have successfully completed advance training and demonstrated clinical competence in healthcare ministry. Owing to a recent change in Army leadership and policy, CPSP CPE trained Army chaplains who have successfully completed their CPE training in a medical center/hospital are now eligible (just like ACPE trained Chaplains) to apply for this Army Chaplain Corps clinical specialty designator.Chaplain Christian completed his CPE training at the VA Medical Center, in Salt Lake City, Utah where his CPE Supervisor, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Allison, who is also the State Chaplain for the Utah National Guard, said “I am doubly pleased about this news and shift in Army policy…both for Pete ...

More than five years ago, the Executive Director of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains, Cecille Asekoff had a dream of starting CPE in Israel. Rabbi Zahara Davidowitz has fulfilled that dream by supervising CPE for the past four summers through the Schechter Seminary in Jerusalem. Zahara is a Diplomate of CPSP in the New York/New Jersey Chapter. Photo- John deVelder with Devorah Corn of Tishkofet (Life's Door) one of 20 organizations at the Conference, Cecille Asekof, Executive Director of NAJC and Teresa Snorton, Executive Director of ACPE Since Zahara began the first CPE programs in 2006 interest in CPE and professional chaplaincy is growing in Israel. This May, the NAJC invited a delegation of about fifteen ACPE and CPSP leaders to attend the Fourth National Conference on spiritual care in Jerusalem. Read the rest of this article on the Pastoral Report the online Journal of the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy.

It was to be my first conference with my new found colleagues and mentors. I was shifting into a new role and looked forward to being with same minded people who truly believed in the integrity and grace of the human spirit. Though anticipation was undeniable, I consciously shifted into my Buddhist self so as to be comfortable in the place of “not knowing”. To read more visit the Pastoral Report the online journal of the College Of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy: Pastoral Report CPSP Diversity and Opportunity as a Living Experience

PARISH-BASED CPE RESIDENCY POSITION: Stipend $40,000. Rural Parish with Recreation Ministry; Contracted with the South Carolina Department of Corrections and the Midlands Area Pastoral Counseling Services, Inc. Program Accredited by the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (January 4 – December 31, 2010). Inquire at Liberty Hill Presbyterian Church, Box 170, Liberty Hill, SC 29074 Telephone: 803-273-9191 lhpc@comporium.net . Gene Rollins, Supervisor.For more information about CPSP visit the link below: http://www.cpsp.org/ .

College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy TASK FORCE FOR THE FUTURE REPORT: Delivered at the 2009 CPSP Plenary By Luise Weinrich The late writer David Foster Wallace, a man of great soul who I believe would have loved a community like CPSP , told this story at Kenyon College's commencement: in 2005: There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and says "What is water?" (David Foster Wallace, Kenyon College commencement address, 2005). For over a year now, the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy's Task Force for the Future has been at work, talking with our members about your vision for CPSP . We've been seeking your views about where we are, and where we're headed in the future, finding out what the water...

CPSP Plenary 2009 “Tavistock” is the label commonly given to a particular type of group seminar that follows the tradition of Wilfred Bion and his colleagues who were geographically based in a section of London called Tavistock. The basic premise of the Tavistock approach to group work is that ownership of the group belongs to the membership, and that the consultant(s) will take a posture “outside the group” and will make consultative contributions to the group as a whole, not to particular individuals. A consultant in the Tavistock model does not take a leadership role in the specific work of a Tavistock group, but does provide consultation as well as protecting the boundaries of the group with regard to time and space. A Tavistock group relations seminar has the character of a laboratory in that a specific time and place is set apart to do a specific kind of disciplined task. The traditional Tavistock group (so-called) is the closest thing to a sacrament that the Plenary has---an act...

CPSP CPE/PPS CENTERS LISTING UPDATED 11/08 ARKANSAS AR – Little Rock (CPE)  George Hankins-Hull,  M.Div     University Arkansas fo Medical Sciences Medical Center  Little Rock,  AR (501) 686-6888  AR – Springdale (CPE)  C. J. Malone,  M.Div     Northwest Health System  Springdale,  AR72764  (479) 957-8782  CALIFORNIA CA - Long Beach (CPE)  Karyn Reddick,  M.Div     Long Beach Memorial Medical Center / Miller Children's Hospital  Long Beach,  CA90806  (562) 933-1452  COLORADO CO – Lakewood (CPE)  Foy Richey,  M.Div     Rocky Mountain Center for Education and Training  Lakewood,  CO 80235  (303) 797-8255  DELWARE DE – Wilmington (CPE) Bryan Bass-Riley Nemours-Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children 1600 Rockland Road Wilmington, DE 19803 (302) 651-5063 MASSACHUSETTES MA – Boston (CPE/PPS)  William E. Alberts,  Ph.D.,   Boston Medical Center  Boston,  MA 02118  (617) 638-6850  MARYLAND MD – Easton (CPE/PPS)  Benjamin P. Bogia,  Ph.D.     Shore Health System of Maryla...

The CPE program focuses on the development of self-awareness, formation of pastoral identity, professional functioning, and the ability to address issues from a competent clinical and pastoral perspective. The residency program is designed for the ordained person with a seminary degree and at least one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education. On occasion, a lay person may qualify for admission. CPE residents and interns serve as ecumenical chaplains, under supervision, to assigned areas throughout the UAMS Medical Center and clinics. The setting provides a rich base for clinical experience and opportunities for continued personal, professional and pastoral development. The UAMS Clinical Pastoral Training programs follow the standards set by the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy (CPSP), the accrediting organization. A typical unit of CPE requires a minimum of 400 hours of supervised ministry in a clinical setting. Stipend: 25,000 plus medical benefits: This training opport...

Getting to Know Yourself by George Hankins Hull, Dip.Th., Th.M Self-awareness as a pastoral care giver is essential to good pastoral care. Issues of transference and counter-transference loom large in pastoral encounters. Therefore, it’s of vital importance for the pastoral care giver to understand the use of the Self in the pastoral role. In her book, When Helping You is Hurting Me, Carmen Berry addresses the detrimental aspects of a lack of self-awareness in the person of the care giver in what she calls the “Messiah trap.” The “Messiah trap”, is defined as continued circumstances in which individuals are persistently putting their own needs aside in order to help others. Berry offers an important caution to all in the helping professions against becoming addicted to helping and then, like an addict, seeking out supplies for their fix. Further complicating the issue is what Berry calls the double-sided trap of helping: ‘If I don’t do it, it won’t get done’ and ‘Every one else’s needs...

No pastoral care and certifying organization can be compelled to adopt a posture of critical self-reflection. However, one would expect that one of the marks of an organization standing within the historical clinical pastoral care and training movement would be a posture of critical self-reflection. Given this tradition of self-critical reflection this would not negate the critique of one cognate group by another rather it would promote it. The self-critical faculty is the sine qua non of the pastoral care and training movement. The movement is best safeguarded when all the serious voices of critique are validated and none are censored. In contrast to movements seeking to speak with one voice the clinical pastoral care and training movement speaks with many voices and is best represented by the voice of many.

Mid-South Fall Pastoral Care Institute October 30-31, 2008 Little Rock, Arkansas Gather this Fall in Little Rock with chaplains, pastoral counselors, pastoral psychotherapists, and pastoral care givers from across the South for this educational event, beginning at Noon Thursday October 30th with workshops followed by a dinner and speaker that evening. The Institute continues with a day of educational seminars on Friday. Mark your calendars. More information coming soon! Presenters: Thursday evening, October 30 James D. Hester, Ph. D. ,is the Crawford Professor of Religion, Emeritus, from the University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, where he taught for 31 years. He holds a doctorate in theology (DTheol) from the University of Basel (Switzerland), where he studied with Oscar Cullman, Bo Reicke, and Karl Barth. He is a member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas and of the Society of Biblical Literature. He was a Fellow of the Jesus Seminar and for 12 years directed the Rhetorical New Testa...

The Rev. Francine Angel was installed as the Eighth President of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy at the 2008 CPSP Plenary held in Little Rock, AR this April. She is an honor graduate of Morehouse School of Religion at the Interdenominational Theological Center, 1996. She received her M.Div in Psychology of Religion and Pastoral Care. In 1995 she was listed on the National Dean List and in Who’s Who among Students in American Colleges and Universities. In addition to her academic accomplishment, she spent years being clinically trained that culminated in significant accomplishments in the clinical pastoral field: Board Certified Chaplain, Board Certified Pastoral Counselor and Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor. For many years she has been the creative force as the Coordinator of the National Clinical Seminar (NCTS) for the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy. This seminar is scheduled twice a year (Spring and Fall). NCTS is geared toward offering...

We are pleased to announce that Professor Arthur W. Frank will be the Keynote speaker at the at the 2008 Plenary Gathering of The College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy. Arthur W. Frank is professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Alberta Canada. Dr. Frank received his undergraduate degree in English from Princeton University (High Honours, 1968), his M.A. in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University (1975). He has taught at the University of Calgary since 1975. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of The Hastings Center, the preeminent U.S. bioethics institute, and also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, which is the highest honor that Canadian academics can receive. He is the author of At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness (Houghton Mifflin, 1991), the story of his 1985 heart attack and subsequent testicular cancer. The book has been translated into four langua...

An organizations philosophy of how it organizes itself can cost a community when it comes to conference time in terms of dollars. Organizations with a top down corporate structure have higher over head costs for staff and buildings. In contrast to the corporate model the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy is a grass roots organization bound together by its covenant to travel light. CPSP's commitment to traveling light, having no paid professional staff and owning no buildings allows us to keep the costs of membership and conferences at a minimum. The cost of registration for the 2008 CPSP Plenary is $195.00 inclusive of meals and banquet and the hotel room will cost you $79.00 with $10.00 for each additional person. As part of the CPSP covenant of traveling light CPSP does not solicit any corporate sponsorship or endowments. For more information about the CPSP Plenary visit the link below: Pastoral Report