PROFESSIONAL CHAPLAINCY

UAMS Clinical Pastoral Education Residency Program The Clinical Pastoral Education training program focuses on the development of self-awareness, formation of pastoral identity, professional functioning, and the ability to address issues from a competent clinical and pastoral perspective. The CPE residency program is designed for the ordained person with a seminary degree and at least one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education. On occasion, a lay person may qualify for admission. CPE residents and interns serve as ecumenical chaplains, under supervision, to assigned areas throughout the UAMS Medical Center and clinics. The setting provides a rich base for clinical experience and opportunities for continued personal, professional and pastoral development. The UAMS Clinical Pastoral Training programs follow the standards set by the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy (CPSP), the accrediting organization. A typical unit of CPE requires a minimum of 400 hours...

The College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy (CPSP) will now offer a clinical fellow in hospice and palliative care.  This will be a subspecialty credential for those already credentialed as Board Certified Clinical Chaplains / Board Certified Pastoral Counselors. More Information please follow the link below: Pastoral Report the online newsletter of the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy

  Book Description Publication Date: March 18, 2012 Book Description A Hospital Chaplain at the Crossroads of Humanity tells the stories of patients who represent the diversity of divinity and the divinity of diversity-- and the commonality of humanity. Patients who reveal a hospital is actually a global neighborhood that calls for a chaplain to embrace diversity of belief—“without exception.” Chaplains without theological blinders. Thus pastoral/spiritual care begins with the humanness that prepares a chaplain to enter into and honor this global neighborhood. The inward journey where one becomes self-aware, and is in touch with and accepting of oneself. Such self-awareness prepares one to understand and accept patients and their loved ones as themselves, and to experience their reality not interpret it. Chaplains have to know where we-- and our god-- are coming from in order to know where patients and their families—and their god—are at. Pastoral/spiritual care, there...

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 ...