Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
to teach spiritual care to
clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
and others. CPE is the primary method of training hospital and hospice
chaplains
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligence ...
and spiritual care providers in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. CPE is both a
multicultural
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...
and
interfaith
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is ...
experience that uses real-life ministry encounters of students to improve the care provided by caregivers.
Theory
An underpinning theory of education that structures clinical pastoral education is the "
Action-Reflection" mode of learning. CPE students typically compose "verbatims" of their pastoral care encounters in which they are invited to reflect upon what occurred and draw insight from these reflections that can be implemented in future pastoral care events.
History
Although the practice of spiritual care has a long tradition in Christianity and to some extent in other faith traditions, the systematic analysis of practice associated with clinical pastoral education had its beginnings in the early 20th century. In 1925,
Richard Cabot, a physician and adjunct lecturer at the
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...
, published an article in ''
Survey Graphic
''Survey Graphic'' (SG) was a United States magazine launched in 1921. From 1921 to 1932, it was published as a supplement to ''The Survey'' and became a separate publication in 1933. ''SG'' focused on sociological and political research and ana ...
'' suggesting that every candidate for ministry receive clinical training for pastoral work similar to the clinical training offered to medical students. In the 1930s, the Reverend
Anton Boisen
Anton Theophilus Boisen (29 October 1876 – 1 October 1965) was an American chaplain. He was a leading figure in the hospital chaplaincy and clinical pastoral education movements.
History
Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Boisen was the son of Her ...
placed theological students at the
Chicago Theological Seminary
Founded in 1855, the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is the oldest higher education institution in the City of Chicago and was established with two principal goals: first, to educate pastors who would minister to people living on the new weste ...
in supervised contact with patients in mental hospitals, a flagship program that later resulted in the forming of the ACPE. In 1952, combining the work of Professor Paul E. Johnson and the philanthropy of Albert V. Danielsen, Boston University established within its School of Theology the Danielsen Pastoral Counseling Center, which was accredited by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. Now the Danielsen Institute, it trains in its mental-health clinic doctoral candidates and fellows in pastoral counseling.
Accrediting bodies
CPE in Australia and New Zealand is conducted by six CPE accrediting associations that consult together for common curricula and standards of practice under an umbrella association, the Australia New Zealand Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ANZACPE). The six constituent associations are:
New South Wales College of Clinical Pastoral Education (New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory); Queensland Institute of Clinical Pastoral Education; Association for Supervised Pastoral Education in Australia (Victoria and Tasmania); Association for Clinical Pastoral Education in Western Australia; South Australia and Northern Territory Association for Clinical Pastoral Education; and New Zealand Association for Clinical Pastoral Education.
In the United States there are currently two organizations who are recognized by the United States Department of Education. The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education is recognized as an
accrediting agency for CPE programs by the
U.S. Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
.
The Institute for Clinical Pastoral Trainingis accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training (ACCET). ACCET is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency. Likewise, there are over two hundred and seventy accredited seminary graduate programs with the
Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) in which some provide specializations in clinical pastoral education.
In Canada, all CPE training and accreditation is done throug
CASC/ACSS the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care / Association Canadienne de Soins Spirituels.
References
{{Authority control
Chaplains
Religious education