PROFESSIONAL CHAPLAINCY

CPSP History & Tradition CPSP has maintained a tradition of consensus decision-making since its inception. In making decisions at the Governing Council we do not vote.  When conflicts arise they are resolved through discussion, debate and collaboration. Voting is Divisive In the main, when groups vote using the majority rule principle or Parliamentary Procedure, a competitive dynamic evolves within the group because it is being asked to select between two or more possibilities. In this dynamic it is as acceptable to attack and diminish an opposing viewpoint as it is to promote and endorse one’s own position on a given issue.  The goal and object of voting is to defeat the opposing viewpoints by a majority and means acting on a 51-49 decision.  Even an 80-20 division can be divisive in a community, especially if those who carry the vote want above all else to carry the day.  This is especially problematic when there are complex or multiple issues involved. Estab...

A Gathering Together… On behalf of the CPSP Plenary Organizing Committee, we warmly invite you to join us for the 2012 gathering of the CPSP Community.   We will meet March 24 through March 28, 2012 at the Doubletree Hotel & Suites, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Location… The Doubletree Hotel & Suites is situated in a prime location, right in the middle of Pittsburgh’s vibrant downtown. A block of rooms have been reserved at a special rate of $119.00 per night. The rooms will be available until March 4, 2012 or until the room block is sold out. You can reserve your room online by clicking here or by calling (412)281-5800. The hotel has a courtesy shuttle service from Pittsburgh International Airport. Speakers… The 2012 Plenary speaker is Kimberly Garner, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.F.P. Dr. Garner will address the Current State of the Art of Assessing an Individual's Readiness to Discuss Advance Care Planning from a Palliative Care Perspective. Advances in ...

Open publication - Free publishing - More hospital Being There The Art of Clinical Pastoral Care By Jon Parham Staff Chaplain Susan McDougal says she wants patients to know that she cares and she will be there as long as they need her. A Code Blue alert for a patient in cardiac distress at UAMS Medical Center quickly brings medical help – and a chaplain. While health professionals tend to the patient’s medical needs, the chaplain offers pastoral support for family members, friends, other patients or employees. In this sometimes emotional situation, a UAMS chaplain may serve as a liaison for the patient and family with physicians, nurses and other caregivers. Perhaps more importantly, they are simply there. “I want to let them know – whether it’s a patient or a family member – that I care and that I am there for them,” said Susan McDougal, UAMS Medical Center staff chaplain. “I will stay with them as long as they need me.” This personal connectio...

At this Thanksgiving season we in CPSP have much to be thankful for. We are prospering as a community both in this country and overseas. We have come into our own as a significant community among the many communities that promote clinical pastoral work. We are also approaching November 30, the first anniversary of the Mediation Agreement signed by the ACPE and CPSP, signed appropriately enough in Philadelphia. This agreement put an end to two decades of animosity that was subverting the high goals of both communities. We are grateful especially to leaders of the Religious Endorsing Bodies without whom this agreement might ever have come to fruition. We are grateful, and we look forward to a deepening sense of collegiality between the two communities. The members of the CPSP Mediation Team who, with our ACPE colleagues brought this agreement to pass, are Jim Gebhart, Perry Miller, George Hankins-Hull, and me. In February a subcommittee was appointed to undertake the detailed ...

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...

Francine Hernandez, National Clinical Seminar-East Coordinator, announces the theme for the Fall 2011 National Clinical Seminar : Compassion Fatigue: "Caring for Ourselves, Caring for Others". National Clinical Training Seminar-East will be held November 7 – 8, 2011 at the Stella Maris Retreat Center – Elberon, New Jersey. Francine Hernandez expands on her thoughts about the theme she selected: This presentation is reflective of a central CPSP theme: “Recovery of Soul”. The workshop presentations will focus ways for us as caregivers to understand the nature of our call to help others, and be present with and for them in the context of their individual needs and their individual stories. We, however, need to understand the importance of taking care of ourselves before we can take care of others. This seminar also explores ways for caregivers to nourish themselves in order to be more effective in their professional roles and in their personal journey. We will...

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...