Clinical pastoral education is education to teach pastoral care to clergy and others. CPE is the primary method of training hospital and hospice chaplains and spiritual care providers in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. CPE is both a multicultural and interfaith experience that uses real-life ministry encounters of students to improve the ministry and pastoral care provided by caregivers.
Theory
An underpinning theory of education that structures clinical pastoral education is the "Action-Reflection" mode of learning. CPE students typically compose "verbatims" of their pastoral care encounters in which they are invited to reflect upon what occurred and draw insight from these reflections that can be implemented in future pastoral care events.
History
Although the practice of pastoral care has a long tradition in Christianity and to some extent in other faith traditions, the systematic analysis of pastoral practice associated with clinical pastoral education had its beginnings in the early 20th century. In 1925, Richard Cabot, a physician and adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Divinity School, published an article in Survey Graphic suggesting that every candidate for ministry receive clinical training for pastoral work similar to the clinical training offered to medical students. In the 1930s, the Rev. Anton Boisen placed theological students at the Chicago Theological Seminary in supervised contact with patients in mental hospitals, a flagship program that later resulted in the forming of the ACPE.
Accrediting bodies
CPE in Australia and New Zealand is conducted by six CPE accrediting associations that consult together for common curricula and standards of practice under an umbrella association, the Australia New Zealand Association of Clinical Pastoral Education. The six constituent associations are: New South Wales College of Clinical Pastoral Education ; Queensland Institute of Clinical Pastoral Education; Association for Supervised Pastoral Education in Australia ; Association for Clinical Pastoral Education in Western Australia; South Australia and Northern Territory Association for Clinical Pastoral Education; and New Zealand Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. In the United States there are currently two organizations who are recognized by the United States Department of Education. The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education is recognized as an accrediting agency for CPE programs by the U.S. Department of Education. is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training. ACCET is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency. In Canada, all CPE training and accreditation is done through , the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care / Association Canadienne de Soins Spirituels.
