PROFESSIONAL CHAPLAINCY

Self-awareness as a pastoral care giver is essential to good pastoral care. Issues of transference and counter-transference loom large in pastoral encounters. Consequently , it’s of 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 come before mine’. In addition, she demon...

CPSP continues to be in conversation with the ACPE as both sides continue to work together to implement the Joint Mediation agreement reached on November 30th, 2010. The mediation agreement stipulates that each organization will refrain from misrepresentations or disparagements of the other. The CPSP Mediation Committee consists of Perry Miller, George Hull, Jim Gebhart, and Raymond Lawrence. Jim Gebhart was appointed chair of a mediation team to meet on a continuing basis with its ACPE counterparts in an effort to implement the Mediation Agreement. Annari Griesel and John deVelder are members of that team. The implementation team has been in dialogue with its ACPE correspondents during the past several months. They have processed six complaints about violations of the agreement by ACPE persons. The complaints have been processed or are in process currently. There have been no identified complaints about CPSP behavior. We urge all members of the CPSP community to continue to abid...

From the CPSP Covenant: "We believe we should make a space for one another and stand ready to midwife one another in our respective spiritual journeys.” “We commit to being mutually responsible to one another for our professional work and direction.” Tolerance and Encouragement: Among the Roots of the Clinical Pastoral Tradition by Robert Charles Powell, MD, PhD 23 May 1911 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle [NY] PRESBYTERY ARGUES LONG OVER SEVEN CANDIDATES: Four of the Applicants for Ordination Had Agnostic Views. ALL WERE FINALLY PASSED. It was one of the longest drawn-out meetings of the Presbytery ever held, and two hours of it or more were in executive session, it being nearly midnight when the ministers and elders decided to ordain and license seven young men, four of whom came from … [one] Seminary. It is known that there was decidedly divided opinion in the matter of making ministers of these four men, for a number of the ministers found it convenient to leave the room before it ...

Francine Hernandez, National Clinical Training Seminar Coordinator, encourages all members of the CPSP community to mark your calendar for the Fall 2011 NCTS Seminar. The event will be held at the Stella Maris Retreat Center, Elberon, NJ on Monday, Oct. 24-25, 2011. For more information visit the Pastoral Report the online journal of the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy

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...

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.

The Uniqueness of the CPSP Plenary: Many meetings and conferences fail because they follow an agenda which places the conference speaker at the heart of the event and the attendee as observer. The structure of the CPSP plenary stands in sharp contrast to the linear model of many conferences which place an exclusive emphasis on an individual speaker. We avoid this in CPSP by placing the emphasis on the small group process in which the plenary presenters take part in the consultative process of the small group experience. CPSP is unique in our field in how we structure our gathering in a way that wisdom is shared, consultation is sought and community is fostered in terms of accountability. Please click on flyer for further details.

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/ .

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...