PROFESSIONAL CHAPLAINCY

We write on behalf of the Executive Committee of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP) to inform you of the current struggle between CPSP and the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) and to request your assistance and consultation. It has become clear in the past year that the ACPE has shifted its position vis-à-vis the CPSP from one of rigorous competition to one of a vicious campaign to discredit CPSP altogether. Our first thought was to counter this new campaign with a laundry list of ACPE shortcomings and failures. We are quite capable of this. Such a response would escalate the conflict far beyond what is now taking place. The thought of two religious groups fighting each other for the right to do the same kind of work frankly is unacceptable. We imagine what would be gained, for example, were the Methodists to launch a campaign to discredit the Presbyterians, and the latter responding in kind. The end result would be a disgrace to both parties...

In May of 2006 the ACPE Board of Representatives at it's spring meeting in Atlanta, a motion was adopted that ACPE accredited centers can no longer offer CPSP units of CPE training. The following reasons were presented as to the rational for the motion: MOTION # 43: ACCREDITATION OF DUALLY ALIGNED (CPSP AND ACPE) CENTERS Whereas, the Accreditation Commission has consistently received reports from students and seminaries of a lack of informed consent about the contrast of ACPE CPE and CPSP CPE; And whereas, the Accreditation Commission has experienced a lack of consistent application of the program standards of CPSP CPE programs, And whereas, the Accreditation Commission finds a lack of transparency with the organization of CPSP, its curriculum processes, And whereas, the Accreditation Commission has received reports ofACPE CPE centers who hire CPE Supervisors who have membership inboth organizations being dropped from the ACPE roster and offeringonly CPSP CPE after telling the hosp...

The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education Failing Numbers In its recent meeting with the Department of Education the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education reported that it had 254(1) accredited centers while claiming to have 350(2) accredited centers on the associations website. In the same vein the association’s website indicates there are about 600 CPE Supervisors(3) while reporting in its various newsletters that its active pool shrank from 588 to 536. The ACPE is currently unable to fill positions in some “19 centers across the country and this does not take into account multi-supervisor Centers who might currently be short staffed.” Notes: (1) Transcript ACPE/DOE December 2006 Hearing:“Currently, this Commission accredits 254 centers along with their programs. Recognition bythe Secretary enables ACPE and its accredited centers and programs and/or students of theseprograms to participate in non-HEA programs, such as the International Exchange Visitors Program administer...

ACPE certification process experienced as "subjective and adversarial, without definable processes for advocacy and mentoring of candidates." REPORT OF THE ACPE PRESIDENTIAL TASK GROUP ON TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION AUGUST, 2006 Regarding certification: While our certifiers provide high quality and dedicated assessment, our standards for certification are open to subjective interpretation and often reflect differing understandings. Dominant and emerging concepts in supervisory education lack articulation and uniform understanding. The certification experience is sometimes surprising and painful and is occasionally perceived by candidates as failing to reflect the core values of our organization. The presenter's report, while typically reflecting a high level of insight and skill on the part of the writer, remains a tool of arguable value that demands a great deal of work from one person. At its best, the report clarifies and focuses the competencies being assessed, and y...

The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education seeking Re-Recognition by the Department Of Education counseled to cease & desist a practice which "has frequently created problems and put students at risk" Department of Education evaluator, Ms. Jones, who recently attended meetings with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education directs ACPE to end a practice which "has frequently created problems and put students at risk." The issue, as outlined in the December 2006 edition of the ACPE North Central Region News, is as follows: There have been many occasions when ACPE supervisors, despite having clear guidelines in the Accreditation Manual and duly designated colleagues with whom to consult about accreditation processes, have initiated units in satellite or component sites that have not been assessed and approved by those charged with that task. Colleagues on accreditation committees have felt themselves held hostage there after by appeal to students' w...

ALL BEHAVIOR HAS MEANING IN THE LEARNING PROCESS L. George Buck Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is a method of learning pastoral care in a clinical environment. This method of learning is experiential or relational in nature. John Dewey (the American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer) was one of the pioneers of experiential learning. He recognized the importance of the subjective experience of individuals as being important to learning. At the core of the CPE learning process is the on-going evaluation of one’s experience. The clinical setting affords the trainees the opportunity to experience themselves in various pastoral encounters which they are then called upon to evaluate. Resistance to learning is an integral part of the relational learning process. Characteristically, trainees resist the change they feel is imposed upon them in a critical evaluative process. This resistance to learning is not something that happens in the trainee’s relationship with h...

“The painful irony is that the minister, who wants to touch the center of men’s lives, finds himself on the periphery; often pleading in vain for admission….He never seems to be where the action is.” I wonder if this says more about Henri Nouwen than it does about the minister’s involvement in critical and crisis situations. “ The minister, the story tells us, is sitting among the poor, binding his/her wounds one at a time, waiting for the moment when he/she will be needed. The minister is called to be the wounded healer, the one who must look after his/her wounds and at the same time be prepared to heal the wounds of others.” --- Henri Nouwen. In his article titled “Wounded Healers”, Thomas Maeder quotes a child of psychiatrists (both parents): “I Think my parents were crazy, I think that, somehow, being psychiatrists kept them in line. They used it as a protection. They’re both quite crazy, but their jobs give them really good cover.” It is no secret that the so-called “helping...