Clinical Pastoral Education

About The Spiritual Care Department The Spiritual Care Department at Fletcher Allen in Burlington, VT is an interfaith hospital chaplaincy department which provides spiritual and emotional support to all patients, families and staff. The Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program is an integral part of the Spiritual Care department. Staff Chaplains and the CPE Supervisor collaborate to assist the CPE Interns in their learning process.

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At Fletcher Allen, we provide a rich learning environment within an academic medical center that is located in the diverse setting of Burlington, while serving the largely rural communities of northern and central Vermont and upstate New York. We are seeking participants of diverse cultural and religious traditions for our CPE programs and offer a creative, interdisciplinary, and integrated approach to CPE training. Knowledge from the disciplines of theology, medicine, psychology and other behavioral sciences is incorporated into the various CPE programs.

What Can You Expect From a Unit of CPE?

• An increased self-awareness as a spiritual caregiver by integrating assumptions, values and beliefs into pastoral practice
• An understanding and use of theological and self-reflection
• An integration of personal strengths and pastoral skills
• An increased capacity to reflect upon the human condition and the role of spirituality
• A deepening ability in reflective and compassionate listening
• An increased ability to function effectively as a team
• Effective utilization of personal leadership skills and gain in pastoral authority
• An increasing sense of confidence in pastoral skills

What Makes Clinical Pastoral Education a Unique Form of Education?
In truth, all learning is experience-based.  If we read a book, hear a lecture, view a video, what we "learn" is based on our experience.  Conventional wisdom tells us that we only remember 20% of what we hear, 50% of what we see, and about 80% of what we do.

We can expect a higher rate of retention when a process of reflection is added to our experience.  In CPE, the learning process is sometimes referred to as "learning from reflecting on doing."  This type of education begins with an experience of ministry in real time with real persons. Processed through various CPE educational methods, this experience can be transformed into useable knowledge.

The CPE learning process differs from traditional education. In traditional education, the process begins with a set body of knowledge that is acquired either by listening or reading. In CPE, the student and her/his community engage with living human documents to construct knowledge and reflect on their experience together.

CPE interconnects the methods of experiential learning, the learner’s experience and spirituality creating an environment of learning that invites and encourages diversity, advocacy and community. In the end, the CPE educational process promotes self-insight, deepening of spiritual practice and effective compassionate pastoral care-giving. CPE graduates are able to address the diverse spiritual needs of others with greater sensitivity and professionalism.

CPE OPPORTUNITIES AT FLETCHER ALLEN:

Extended Unit
The extended unit is a part-time continuing education opportunity for parish clergy, seminarians and qualified lay persons.  This unit begins in October and ends in April. The program spans over a period of six months or 25 weeks. There is a break in educational time between mid-December and January 2, 2011.

The CPE participants spend one day a week in class, plus an hour of supervision every other week and six hours per week doing spiritual care at the hospital.  Twice a month there is 24-hour on-call duty and participation in the worship rotation.  The tuition is $700.00.  Lunches and parking are provided.

Dates for the 2010/2011 Fall Extended Unit:
October 4, 2010 through April 11, 2011
Class Day: Mondays from 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Six hours of clinical time per week scheduled by the participant in collaboration with supervisor.

On-Call Participation:
One of the richest experiences in CPE is serving as the on-call Chaplain. All participants will regularly share the day, night and weekend on-call coverage.  The daytime shift usually begins at 8:30 am and ends at 4:30 pm. When the CPE participants come in for their clinical time, it is expected that they will share the daytime on-call pager with a staff chaplain. Twice a month, one 24-hour weekend shift on a Saturday or Sunday, and one weeknight the CPE interns will cover the overnight on-call responsibilities. The interns will stay in the hospital during the on-call shift, an overnight on-call sleep room is provided.

On-Call Shifts:
Daytime: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Weeknight: 4:30 pm – 8:30 am
Weekend/Holiday: 8:30 am – 8:30 am

Typical Schedule for a Class Day in the Extended Program:
8:30 am  Morning Report: Devotion, Clinical on-call update, Announcements
9:00 – 12:00  Verbatim/Case Presentations and Didactics
12:00 noon  Lunch
1:00 – 3:00  Small Group Process, Role Play/Theological Reflection

Individual Supervision sessions will be scheduled every other week at a time that fits the schedule of the supervisor and the intern. In addition to the above, students have access to the supervisor whenever there is a crisis or a need to process an experience. The CPE Supervisor functions as the back-up on-call chaplain when the interns cover the on-call shifts at the Medical Center Campus. 
 
Summer Unit
This is a full-time 11-week training program designed primarily for seminarians, qualified lay persons, local clergy desiring skill refinement, and others who wish to explore more generally their vocation in ministry. This educational program is a five-day-a-week process with on-call coverage (weekdays and weekends) and participation in the Sunday worship rotation schedule. The program will involve over 400 hours, of which at least 100 hours are devoted to educational sessions and over 300 hours to the practice of ministry.  The unit begins in late May and ends mid-August.  The tuition is $700.00. Lunch and parking are provided while at the hospital.

Dates for the 2011 Summer Program:
May 31 through August 13, 2011
Class and Clinical Days: Monday  through Thursday 8:30 am -4:00 pm, Friday 8:30 am- 12:30 pm
On-Call: see also information for extended unit.
Schedule for On-Call: two weeknights, two weekends per month (June & July), for August one of each.

Typical Weekly Schedule for the Summer Program: 
Monday – Thursday ( Friday ends at 12:30 pm and is dedicated to clinical visits only)
8:30   Morning Report: Devotion, Clinical On-call update, Announcements
9:00 – 12:00  Small Group Process, Verbatim/Case Presentations, Role Play/Theological Reflection and Didactics.
12:00 noon  Lunch
1:00 – 4:00 CPE Students conduct clinical visits in assigned areas throughout the Medical Center Campus. One hour of weekly Individual supervision per student is generally scheduled during this time.
4:00 CPE Students return to the Spiritual care Department, communicate referrals to the night chaplain and end their day.

Individual Supervision sessions will be scheduled at a time that fits the schedule of the supervisor and the intern. In addition to the above, students have access to Supervisor whenever there is a crisis or a need to process an experience. The CPE Supervisor functions as the back up on call chaplain when the interns cover the on call shifts at the Medical Center Campus.

Clinical Assignments for Extended and Summer Program:
Each CPE participant will have the opportunity to practice providing spiritual care in three patient care areas. It is expected that the CPE intern will initiate spiritual care visits, respond to referrals from the health care team and collaborate with staff chaplains in the assigned areas. The CPE intern will be encouraged to work closely with the health care team to foster the practice of interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration. A variety of clinical assignments are available: cardiac care, neurosurgery, general medicine, oncology, kidney dialysis, rehabilitation medicine, emergency department, intensive care, children’s hospital and the Fanny Allen Campus with long-term care and geriatric care.

A Few Educational Components for Extended and Summer Programs:
Worship Leadership: Each CPE Intern will rotate in Sunday morning interfaith worship leadership at the Medical Center Campus Chapel and the Fanny Allen Campus Chapel. These services are televised on the hospital’s closed circuit system and telecast to patients’ rooms. There will be an orientation to the system and the set up. In addition, CPE interns will participate in interfaith devotions/mediations that are shared with the staff chaplains every morning around 8:45 am in the conference room on McClure 1.

Verbatim Presentations: a written account of a spiritual care encounter following a format that outlines the pastoral plan, the data of the encounter, the conversation, the analysis and a theological reflection. The format is included in the CPE handbook.

Interpersonal Relations Group (Covenant Group): an open agenda group session in which the peer group meets to engage with one another for support, clarification, reflection, processing of clinical experiences and making connections to one’s spirituality, theology, life history and personal functioning. The supervisor functions as facilitator of the learning process inviting interns to become more authentic, present in the moment and attentive to themselves and the other in the group.

Clinical Pastoral Education Faculty
Ute Schmidt, M.Ed., ACPE Supervisor, board-certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains, candidate for ordination with the United Church of Christ, manager of the Spiritual Care Department; brings creativity, several years of experiences in professional chaplaincy and CPE supervision, and a team spirit to the CPE learning environment. On the regional ACPE level, Ute functions as the chair for certification in the ACPE Northeast Region.
 
Ute will conduct all supervision in the various CPE programs. CPE Interns have the opportunity to work with many other professionals and mentors during their training at Fletcher Allen.  It is not to be understood that these mentors supervise the CPE students. These individuals are additional resources for the students and help assist students in their learning process. The staff chaplains and members of the Pastoral Advisory Group will participate in the CPE program as didactic presenters and speakers for spiritual care relevant topics.

Meals
CPE Interns receive a meal allowance in the hospital cafeterias: lunch during class days, dinner and breakfast when serving as the on-call night chaplain, and three meals when on weekend duty. 
 
Tuition
Tuition is $700 per unit, the balance payable during the first week of the program unless otherwise arranged with the supervisor.  A non-refundable deposit of $75 is required at the time of acceptance and is credited toward tuition cost.

Scholarship Assistance
Limited assistance upon request is possible.

Accreditation
This program is accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc., 1549 Clairmont Road-Suite 103  Decatur, GA  30033.  Some graduate schools and seminaries will grant academic credit for a successfully completed unit of training. Check with your particular school for details.

Applications  
Applications should be submitted well in advance of the desired unit, since programs generally fill several months in advance.  The Fletcher Allen CPE application is very much like the standard ACPE application form, but we do ask that you contact your references directly and have them send letters of recommendation directly to Chaplain Ute Schmidt.  E-mail letters are acceptable.  You can find our application below, in a downloadable PDF file format. Please know that the center’s Professional Advisory Committee may assist the supervisor in evaluating applications.

Contacting Us:
Barb Beauregard is our office coordinator and can be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm at 802-847-2770.  E-mail address: barbara.beauregard@vtmednet.org

Ute Schmidt, CPE Supervisor, can be reached at 802-847-5026. 
E-mail address: ute.schmidt@vtmednet.org

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