CPE APPLICATION PACKET

CPE APPLICATION PACKET 1. What is Clinical Pastoral Education? 2. Comments to help you prepare your CPE APPLICATION PACKET 3. Application Process Time Line 4. A guide for writing a PERSONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY 5. A guide for writing a RELIGIOUS AUTOBIOGRAPHY 6. Top 3 Centers 7. Application form for CPE: PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE INSTRUCTIONS (#2-#6) ON THE BACK OF THE FORM! 8. A list of available centers and supervisors 9. Packet is due NO LATER THAN THE FIRST MONDAY OF THE FALL SEMESTER (Please complete this packet over the summer and bring the entire packet back to Notre Dame Seminary at the start of the fall semester.) How well you prepare your application packet could determine whether or not you will be accepted by the CPE Center of your choice. Students who make the time to complete this task over the Summer of their 1 st Year end up with: 1) a quality document they can be proud of, and 2) the chance to begin their 2 nd Year free of anxiety about the CPE application process. (Hopefully, you will be in this number!) 1

CPE - PURPOSE AND GOALS Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is an educational process providing pastoral care to patients, families and staff while developing pastoral competency in chaplain trainees through supervised reflection. Pastoral competency involves the following goals: 1. Pastoral identity formation and theological integration 2. Self and interpersonal awareness. 3. Theory integration from which to function in pastoral assessment and intervention 4. Development of pastoral care skills 5. Utilization of professional supervision and consultation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is theological education which provides a context for reflection on the relationship between one s self and ministry. The value of CPE has been recognized by many denominations for over 50 years. CPE is an exciting, challenging process of learning where patients are seen as our primary teachers. It invites students to explore how faith and experience shape and inform pastoral identity and care. Through group interaction, students are encouraged to reflect on ministry and gain insights into their strengths and areas of needed growth. Some have found CPE to be a life changing experience. (Covenant Health Care, Saginaw, MI) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Want a privileged education? There is plenty of room at the bedsides of our patients. (Parkland Health & Hospital System, Dallas, TX) 2

COMMENTS TO HELP YOU PREPARE YOUR CPE APPLICATION PACKET (These numbers refer to the numbers on the back of application form) 1. Introduction and Instructions 2. Personal Autobiography (5-7 single spaced pages) Full account means describing the events and relationships, not as facts but in relational terms, describing feelings, thoughts, the impact, how you dealt with, struggled, succeeded, and integrated situations in your family, events, health, and people, etc., e.g.: Poor approach: I had a brother and I have a sister. My brother was killed in a car accident when I was 15. My Parents are retired. Good approach: I have a sister but my brother was killed in a car accident. We were very close so it was painful and difficult for me to accept his death. For years I felt angry at the drunk driver who killed him and still today I find myself becoming anxious when I am around people who drink too much. I still miss my brother, etc. 3. Religious Autobiography (4-6 single spaced pages) A description of your religious life : do not simply tell facts but discuss: What moved you? What views, feelings, faith issues, prayer experiences were important in the development of your belief system and prayer life? Describe the people who influenced you, the books, the classes, etc. Again, use relational terms, not facts like a history book. Share personally and openly although you do not have to share private areas very personal to you. This is more than the story of your vocational call. (See: A Guide for Writing a Religious Autobiography ) 4. Résumé List suggests facts, data information rather than personal sharing although they would expect you to describe how you felt about your jobs and how you succeeded in them. (Include both work history and educational history) 5. Helping Incident Report and Evaluation (2-3 single spaced pages) Emphasize your pastoral approach describing your manner, words, actions, and interaction on a nonverbal and verbal level. 6. Impression of CPE and Education Goals (½ to 1 single spaced page) What are your impressions about CPE and your attitude toward it? Avoid letting the war stories and fear of other students affect your own outlook. Usually those narrations tell you more about the person and his problems with ministry than about the CPE program or supervisor. Let the reader know you are open to learning and ready to do CPE.... if you are. If you are opposed to CPE, please see the Director of Pastoral Field Education ASAP. 7. The admission interview will take place on CPE Day. 8. You will learn about the fees on CPE Day. Your diocese or religious community will cover this expense. 9. For international students. 10. Keep copies of everything for your own file. 3

CPE APPLICATION PROCESS TIME LINE A) SUMMER OF FIRST THEOLOGY - Complete the following documents: 1) Personal Autobiography 2) Religious Autobiography 3) Resumé 4) Helping Incident Report and Evaluation 5) Impression of CPE and Educational Goals B) Complete the front page of the Application Form (serves as info. sheet only) C) Time Line 1) First Monday of Fall semester - preference for CPE Center handed in to Director of Pastoral Field Education (form attached) 2) Second Monday in September - Mail complete packet to your interviewer: a) Cover letter addressed to your interviewer. In this letter you should: 1) Introduce yourself 2) Thank interviewer for agreeing to conduct your interview 3) Tell interviewer what is enclosed in your packet (see below) 4) Tell interviewer that you are looking forward to meeting him/her on CPE Day 5) Include your address (NDS and E-mail) and telephone number & extension in case they have questions or concerns to check out with you before the interview. b) Application form (serves as information sheet) c) Documents 1-5 listed above in section A 3) Second Thursday in October - CPE Day: ADMISSIONS / INTAKE INTERVIEW 4) October/November - receive admission interview summary (Intake Interview) 5) October/November - mail complete application packet to 2 CPE centers: a) Cover letter b) Application form c) Documents 1-5 above in section A d) Admissions interview summary (intake interview) e) Application fee (if required by center) 6) Nov. - Jan., letter to you: notification of acceptance or rejection 7) Nov. - Jan., letter from you: notification of acceptance or rejection MAKE COPIES OF ALL MATERIALS YOU SEND!! 4

A GUIDE FOR WRITING A RELIGIOUS AUTOBIOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION This is a guideline for preparing a Religious Autobiography. It is not to be shared in a group at NDS; however, it is expected that you will more fully realize some of the uniqueness of your life journey up to this point. You might be asked to share this information in the group during CPE. You might want to create an outline before you begin writing your paper. If you wish to do some background or parallel reading, the following are recommended and most of them are available in our library: Fowler & Keene - Life Maps Madden - The Power to Bless Oates - Protestant Pastoral Counseling, pp. 213-232 Sherrill - The Struggle of the Soul I. Summary Information At the beginning of your history include your full name, age, marital status, number, age, sex of your children, hometown, age of your parents, number and ages of your brothers and sister (include deceased brothers and sisters), your present employment. II. Historical View of Your Religious Experience A. Relation to cultural background. Describe briefly the dominant characteristics of your religious and cultural background. Do you accept or reject your cultural heritage? (Cf. Oates, Protestant Pastoral Counseling, pp. 218-221) B. Relation to community. Characterize briefly what your relationships have been to persons outside your immediate family. Has it been difficult or natural for you to establish lasting relationships with others? Have your friendship patterns changed through the years? Do you have any religious interpretation of the way you have related to others? C. Relation to things. Comment briefly on attitudes you have had toward possessions (yours and others), toward work (include your attitudes about earning money), toward play (recreation) D. Relation to family (into which you were born). Comment briefly on the following: (Cf. Oates, op. cit., pp. 221-224) 1. Your history in the family constellation: your role in the family, importance of the family to you, relationship to parents and siblings. 2. Your family and community: vocation of your parents and status of your family in the community. 5

3. Family rituals: daily rituals of eating, sleeping, working, playing, worshiping, etc.: annual rituals associated with holidays, etc. 4. Family movement: geographical moves of the family and your age at the time of these moves. 5. Specific religious dimensions of your family: if you have not already described the religious life of your family, describe it briefly. E. Relation to self: sketch in two or three sentences the history of your attitudes toward yourself - such as self-confidence, self-doubt, self-acceptance, self-condemnation, etc. F. Relation to God. (Cf. Oates, op. cit., pp. 224-230) 1. What are your feelings about the meaning of your birth to your family? Have you been told of any extraordinary events surrounding your birth? Do you have any religious interpretation of your birth? 2. Were any memorable moral or religious evaluations placed on you by your parents, siblings, or other significant persons? 3. What bereavements or losses have you suffered? Do you have a religious interpretation for these events? 4. What achievements, successes, and self-transforming experiences have you had? What religious meaning do these events have for you? 5. Comment on significant illnesses you may have suffered and give any religious interpretations you may have of them. 6. Describe briefly the following religious experiences you may have had: Early religious instruction. Conversion. Times of re-commitment and renewal. Times of turning away from God. Religious dimensions of your educational and vocational motives. 7. What have been the religious aspects of your marital intentions, of your marriage, of your life as a parent? 8. Comment briefly on the history of your prayer life. III. IV. Current View of your Religious Experience In a few sentences describe your present spiritual condition. Comment on your feelings toward God and what you feel is His attitude toward you. Describe the nature and meaning of your current religious practices (i.e., your church affiliation; your private life of prayer; spiritual conversations with friends, professors, pastor, etc.). At the present time, who fulfills the role of a Christian pastor to you? Sources of Hope in Your Religious Experience What do you feel is your destiny as a person? This includes your goal of fulfillment in life, your present feeling of movement toward a goal; and your feelings about death and life after death. 6

TO: FROM: RE: Director of Pastoral Field Education My tentative TOP 3" CPE Centers Having reflected upon the different opportunities that I have for CPE, please find below my top 3 choices for placement: Hospital Name City, State #1 #2 #3 DUE DATE: First Monday of Fall Semester Forms from this manual are available on line at the Notre Dame Seminary Website http://nds.edu/ Fill out electronic copy and e-mail to Mrs. Sharon Mason smason@nds.edu 7

Application Handbook INTRODUCTION We welcome your interest in Clinical Pastoral Education! The ACPE standards Committee has prepared this Application Handbook to assist you in understanding CPE, making application, interviewing, and preparing for your CPE experience. The Handbook contains: 1) Introductory remarks that respond to frequently asked questions about CPE; 2) A description of the Admissions Interview process; 3) Information about the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc.; 4) ACPE program Standards and Objectives for Basic and Advanced CPE; and 5) An Application. What is CPE? You are considering an experience in process education which has been honed historically, and yet remains responsive to those cultural developments which will facilitate your pastoral development. The HEART of CPE is your ministry with people and learning from that ministry through reflection, discussion, and evaluation with other students and your supervisor. In your CPE experience, you will utilize verbatims, case studies, and other ministry descriptions to present your ministry for supervision. The focus in some seminars will be on what is happening to you, the care giver, as much as on what is happening to the people receiving your ministry. There will be discussions which assist you in understanding theological issues arising from experience. There will be opportunities to learn from the behavioral sciences while also reflecting theologically, so that you can draw from both in understanding the human condition. You will be challenged to think about groups and social structures as well as individuals in defining your ministry. You also will be part of a dynamic learning group with other students and your supervisor, which will provide opportunities for mutual supervision, care giving, challenge and appreciation. WHERE WILL YOU BE MINISTERING? An annual ACPE Directory is published which lists the accredited centers and clusters (a cluster is a group of at least three CPE centers and one theological school which coordinate their education program). These Directories are readily available, without cost, at seminaries, centers, and clusters. A number of different ministry settings are listed in the Directory and each center or cluster has a code that identifies its type of setting. In many of the settings you will minister to individuals, families, and small groups of people as a chaplain. For example, this is true for general hospitals, mental health facilities, correctional institutions, children s hospitals, and nursing homes. CPE may, however, be done in any setting in which you minister to people. There are a growing number of centers and clusters with innovative ministry settings. You may want to clarify with a center the type of ministries which occur there.

A TYPICAL DAY IN C.P.E. CPE units may be either full time or part time. Either kind, however, will include you in an equivalent number of ministry and education hours. Some extended CPE units meet one day per week for structured education sessions and the ministry is performed at other times. A more common pattern, however, is one in which time is provided for ministry and for several education events during each day. Since the HEART of CPE is ministering and learning from the experience, a day s schedule frequently includes a clinical seminar in which a student presents a pastoral encounter to other students and the supervisor for discussion and feedback. Other sessions regularly scheduled are: didactic seminars in which discussion follows a lecture; reading and discussing a book or article; presentation and exploration of theological concerns; peer group meetings or interpersonal group sessions in which time is provided for mutual sharing, caring, support and challenge for interpersonal learning and personal growth; individual conferences with the supervisor where professional, personal and relationship concerns are explored; and worship or sharing occasions which provide opportunity for spiritual nurture. Field trips, half day or day long educational conferences, and clinical observations may be periodically included in the day s schedule. Evaluation experiences with the other students and your supervisor are also part of a CPE program and may be scheduled at the end of a unit to sum up the experience, midway to reassess your learning objectives, and at other times, such as with the other care providers in your ministry area. You will discover a CPE schedule asks for active investment, but also provides time for sharing, reflection, preparation, and relaxation. THE C.P.E. LEARNING ENVIRONMENT If you have never participated in a dynamic, interpersonal, process educational experience, then you may be concerned about what it will be like. A foundational task will be for the other students, your supervisor and you to share with each other in such a way that all are cared for, supported, and challenged without being belittled. Furthermore, since an individual best knows his or her own limits, everyone will need to respect others boundaries and work to negotiate appropriate learning relationships. Developing a learning environment that is supportive, stimulating, and safe will make the risks of interpersonal learning and growth worth taking. WHAT DOES C.P.E. CERTIFY? The association for Clinical Pastoral Education Inc. has only one certification and that is for CPE Supervisors. Other associations, many of whom have joined with ACPE in publishing The Journal of Pastoral Care, certify chaplains for their areas of ministry. The ACPE Directory and The Journal identify these associations and they should be consulted for their criteria, which often include a number of CPE units. CPE is a supervised experience in pastoral education. The last two segments of the Application Handbook describe, firstly, the general Standards for CPE programs, and secondly, the specific Standards and education Objectives for Basic and Advanced CPE. You may find it helpful to

review these as you begin to formulate your education goals and objectives for your anticipated CPE experience. WHO MAY APPLY? Clergy, theological students, members of religious orders, and lay persons are eligible to apply for a unit of CPE. In the next part of the Application Handbook, following these introduction remarks, is an ACPE Application. Some centers or clusters have developed their own form and you might be requested to utilize it when applying. You will notice that the front of the ACPE Application requests information abut your name, address, education, references, etc. and that the back of the form asks you to describe yourself autobiographically, to discuss your religious development, to describe a helping incident, etc. Your completed application will probably be several pages in length. THE ADMISSION INTERVIEW The next step after completing your application is an Admission Interview. The Admission interview provides opportunity for you to ask questions and to discuss whether centers or clusters are suited to your educational goals. It also provides time for the Interviewer to discuss your application, engage you as a person and learner, and to assess your readiness for CPE. The Interview may be held with any CPE Supervisor. Seminaries frequently schedule a day when a number of supervisors are available to conduct such interviews. There may be a fee for this interview, and you should inquire about that when making arrangements for it. The Admission Interview Report, prepared by the Interviewer, becomes a part of your CPE application and should be submitted along with your application to any center or cluster to which you apply. You might be requested or prefer to schedule the Admission Interview with the supervisor of the center or cluster to which you are applying, or you may wish to arrange for a separate, informal personal interview there other than the formal Admission Interview. Such a personal interview enables you to discuss first hand the particular center or cluster, its program, and the style of the supervisor. An Admission Interview Report may not be prepared when you interview at a center or cluster and, if you desire one, you should discuss that with the supervisor. APPLYING TO A C.P.E. CENTER OR CLUSTER The annual ACPE Directory, mentioned previously, contains information needed to submit your application to the center or cluster of your choice. Some programs have established educational and experience requirements which have been found to be prerequisites for a successful CPE experience in that setting. Each center or cluster has an admission policy which describes such requirements. The Standards also require supervisors to respond promptly to applications and to indicate a date by which you will be notified of acceptance or rejection. Some centers and clusters require an application fee and others require a deposit to confirm your acceptance. The deposit to confirm your acceptance is usually applied to the tuition for the CPE unit. You should inquire about application fees, tuition, and deposits when making application.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR CLINICAL PASTORAL EDUCATION The precursors to clinical pastoral education occurred in the early 1900's when Dr. Richard Cabot in Boston and Dr. William S. Keller in Cincinnati involved theological students in medical and psychiatric social work settings and exposed them to the case study method. The first group of theological students to focus on the relationship between religion and mental health came to Worcester (Massachusetts) State Hospital in the summer of 1925 to be under the supervision of Reverend Anton T. Boisen. It was after some forty years of experience, development, and practice of clinical pastoral education and after a decade of negotiations that several organized, but uncoordinated groups merged on November 17, 1967 to form the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc.* At that point ACPE became a truly national and unified organization representing the concerns of clinical pastoral educations, denominations, and their seminaries. ACPE also became the standard-setting, accrediting, and certifying agency in the field of clinical pastoral education. Centers and clusters must meet program and organizational standards, assess their programs, and periodically be re-accredited, so that students benefit from the highest quality of CPE. Similarly, the standards for the certification of CPE Supervisors are rigorous, several review steps are involved in the certification process, and the Code of Profession Ethics mandates high standards of professional competence and conduct, so that students receive supervision that is knowledgeable and encouraging. See Robert C. Powell, CPE: Fifty Years of Learning Through Supervised Encounter with Living Human Documents. 1975, Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. AND FINALLY This Application Handbook has been designed to provide essential information and practical assistance. It is not intended to replace informal conversations with Seminary Representatives and CPE Supervisors, Avail yourself of the assistance and encouragement they can offer as you pursue your interest in CPE.

Director of Pastoral Field Education Notre Dame Seminary 2901 S. Carrollton Ave. New Orleans, LA 70118 Date Mailed: Dear Father, Greetings from (your town, city, or diocese). I hope this letter finds you well and happy and not suffering too much from the summer heat of the Crescent City. All is well with me here in the parish of. (Especially now that I know that my CPE information will be in your hands by the first Monday of the Fall Semester!) Enclosed please find my completed: 1) Personal Autobiography 2) Religious Autobiography 3) Resumé 4) Helping Incident Report and Evaluation 5) Impression of CPE and Educational Goals Please don t hesitate to call if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to seeing you when I return to Notre Dame Seminary. In the meantime, let s keep praying for each other! Sincerely in our Lord, (Your Signature) (Print Name) P.S. I HAVE MADE COPIES OF EACH OF THESE DOCUMENTS! (Personal note below?) REMEMBER: How well you prepare your application packet could determine whether or not you will be accepted by the CPE Center of your choice. Students who make the time to complete this task over the Summer of their 1 st year end up with : 1) a quality document they can be proud of, and 2) the chance to begin their 2 nd year free of anxiety about the CPE application process. (Can you count yourself in this number?) Forms from this manual are available on line at the Notre Dame Seminary Website http://nds.edu/ Fill out electronic copy and e-mail to Mrs. Sharon Mason smason@nds.edu

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