Community-based clinical pastoral care or spiritual care training for leaders from all faith traditions.
Whether you're preparing for specialized chaplaincy or looking to enhance your congregational ministry, Social Justice CPE is transformative theological education that will prepare you for justice based ministry in the real world.
Social Justice CPE is accredited through the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc.
and given graduate-level credit at seminaries.
Social Justice CPE combines hands-on spiritual care with qualified supervision and peer group reflection - intentional learning in a continuum of care.
Social Justice CPE's curriculum is centered around narrative therapy counseling theory, which you put into practice as you provide spiritual care in community programs and congregational settings. Individually-designed learning contracts focus on pastoral reflection, competence, and specialization. This creates a continuum of care between communities of faith and those in greatest need, furthering your ability to respond to the needs of individuals through direct service and crisis care.
Program Components
Group Process Learning: Each unit is built on interpersonal group process learning in which five to eight faith leaders/seminarians learn purposeful listening skills and the basics of narrative counseling theory.
Clinical Work in Spiritual Care/Chaplaincy or Congregational Ministry: Each faith leader/seminarian provides spiritual and pastoral care in settings in the community with a special focus on serving men, women, and children who have experienced poverty, institutionalization, or marginalization.
Individual Supervision: Biweekly individual consultation for processing clinical work and interpersonal issues is also offered.
Program Structure
Units are offered in the fall (September-December), spring (January-May), and summer (May-July).
One unit of CPE is 400 hours of work:
300 hours of clinical spiritual care in social justice or congregational ministry settings.
100 hours of group process learning with peers in ministry.
The 400-hour unit is done in a 15-week period, for 28 hours per week:
20 hours of clinical work
8 hours of group process