Within the last half century, thousands of American clergy and lay-persons have completed a program of graduate level pastoral care training known as Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). This is a long-term supervised engagement with patients in crisis in hospitals, prisons, and hospice facilities.
A fall unit of Clinical Pastoral Education through the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy will be offered at Piedmont Newnan Hospital. The supervisor for the program is the Rev. Mark Riley, Chaplain at Piedmont Newnan Hospital.
In order to make the program more accessible to area clergy and lay persons, the unit is offered in an extended 20-week format with group meetings on Tuesdays. The next class will begin in August 2016 and applications should be in by May 31. Persons interested in receiving information and an application are encouraged to call the Spiritual Care office at 770-400-2317 or email Chaplain Riley at mark.riley@piedmont.org.
In CPE, theological students, ordained clergy, members of religious orders, and qualified laypeople of all faiths (Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, Imams and others) minister to people in intimate and sometimes critical situations while being supervised. Out of intense involvement with a supervisor, peers, professional colleagues, and persons in need of ministry, CPE students are challenged to become more self-aware and improve the quality of their pastoral relationships.
Through pastoral practice, written case studies, individual supervision, and relevant readings, students learn how to develop and sustain genuinely caring pastoral relationships. By viewing and participating in both complicated and ordinary life situations from different perspectives, students are able to gain new insights and understandings about themselves and the nature of human relationships to God and to neighbor. Theological reflection is important in CPE as pastoral people seek ways to integrate theology with life experience.
The College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, Inc. is a full member of the Coalition on Ministry in Specialized Settings (COMISS). At the discretion of the Board of Chaplaincy Certification, Inc., one unit of CPSP Clinical Pastoral Education of the required four units may be accepted for applying to the Association of Professional Chaplains for professional certification. Piedmont Newnan Hospital’s CPE program meets all the requirements established by the State of Georgia for hospice chaplains to meet their one-unit minimum CPE requirement.
For more information on Spiritual Care Services at Piedmont, visit www.piedmont.org/spiritual-services/home.
