I have begun the fourth unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, also known as CPE. Although CPE is standard and required fare in many seminaries, back in my day CPE was available but not in all locations. So, it was a part of my education that I missed. Or skipped. Truthfully, I didn’t think much about it unless some other member of the clergy asked me, “Where did you do your CPE?”
A few years ago, one of the clergy in our diocese, Father Jim Taylor, enrolled in CPE. He took a unit at Emory University Hospital and the rest in the Piedmont Hospital system.
I should explain that a unit is 20 weeks long. There are about 100 hours of class time and at least 300 hours of clinical time, or ministry spent on the hospital floor, that are also required. That does not include the copious amount of reading, verbatim reports, reflections, book reports, private times with the supervisor, didactics, and more that must be done in addition to the 400 hours.
It is not a walk in the park. It takes the successful completion of four of these units before one can become a candidate for board certification.
Anyway, after Father Jim began his CPE endeavors, he was joined by Father Dan Hale and by the Rev. Andy Ellis, all clergy in our diocese. Father Dan completed five units (an apparent glutton for punishment) and Andy completed his four units. There are a number of other priests in the diocese that had CPE so I figured that, even in my advanced stage of life, it was about time I took the plunge.
I had only intended to take one unit. I am a busy person, after all, and I thought that, while it would be a unique learning experience, one was plenty. So, here I am in the beginning stages of the fourth unit.
I find that I have enjoyed this experience far more than I anticipated. My supervisor, Father Taylor (Dr. Taylor, actually), makes the class enjoyable. He demands that the work be accomplished, but attending the classes on Tuesdays has become an event I look forward to.
My fellow classmates are another reason I have continued on. Here, in Unit 4, I share the room with three ladies who started out with me in Unit 1. I have learned so much from them and I miss them when the class is between sessions.
I have also enjoyed meeting the other students who have joined the classes and I have been enriched by them as well. They have all brought a depth of experience and they have all demonstrated wisdom. I have learned from them.
In this current class there are six students. There is another class that meets on Wednesdays under the supervision of the Rev. Kim Holman with about the same number of participants.
I have had my theology challenged, my preconceived notions re-examined, and I have had to account for why and how I did what I did or said what I said when visiting patients. I have also had the opportunity to see the hospital from the inside, as it were.
In my previous 40-plus years of visiting hospitals, I have always been the outsider, coming in to visit people that I knew. Over the last many months, I have operated as a member of the healthcare team, ministering to patients that I had never met before. I have seen how dedicated these healthcare professionals and employees really are and my confidence in them has been significantly boosted.
I have seen a number of professional people find a quiet place to cry when they have lost a patient or when a patient has received a devastating diagnosis. I have seen exhausted people try to save lives when all hope seemed lost … and sometimes win that battle. I have a new and growing respect for doctors, nurses, administrative staff, and all those who work in the hospital or on the ambulance, who touch hurting people for a career.
So, I am on the last leg of this particular educational journey — the final lap of a long and challenging intellectual race. Having gone this far, I intend to become a candidate for board certification by the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, one of the oversight organizations.
I think the experience has enhanced my ministry but, more importantly, I believe that it has enhanced my life. Both laity and clergy of all types can enroll in CPE. I recommended it, if one is willing to work, to learn, to grow, and to be challenged. It is a worthwhile endeavor.
[David Epps is the pastor of Christ the King Church (www.ctkcec.org.). He is the bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-South, (www.midsouthdiocese.org) which consists of Georgia and Tennessee and is the associate endorser for his denomination’s military chaplains. He may be contacted at frepps@ctkcec.org.]
