Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center
Discern your vocation in spiritual care
Clinical Pastoral Education at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend: A space to recover and discover your identity as a spiritual caregiver.
About the Clinical Pastoral Program at Sacred Heart
What we teach
In our Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program, we offer spiritual and clinical education that will allow you to become more effective at providing spiritual care and embody your unique way of ministry. As you go through the program, you will be invited to develop skills that help you become a more effective spiritual caregiver, that encourage you to deeply engage your identity, personally, professionally and spiritually, and that challenge you to reflect on how you are in relationships with others.
How we educate
Our curriculum includes is rooted in an experiential model of education. Through seminars and didactic instruction, small group reflection and one on one consultation with the CPE Educator, our program brings you into supervised encounters with patients and hospital staff. Your peer group consists of theological students, religious clergy of all faith backgrounds, and lay people interested in learning to provide spiritual care.
The setting
When you become a CPE intern at RiverBend, you will find a vibrant Spiritual Care Department that is invested in student learning and welcomes you with open arms. In our department suite you will have the opportunity to interact with a music thanatologist, an ethicist and with chaplains of different spiritual backgrounds. Clinically you will encounter the richness of what a Level II Trauma Center with major specialties can offer.
Program Specifics
- Clinical Pastoral Education is offered in “units” of CPE.
- Each unit consists of 400 hours, of which 300 hours are direct spiritual care with patients and staff, and 100 hours are structured education.
- Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend currently offers three programs. Each program is designed around a specific topic.
- PowerPoint about Clinical Pastoral Education at RiverBend
Full-Time Summer Unit
Forty hours a week over an eleven-week period from the end of May to the middle of August. One evening and one overnight shift per week is required.
Fall Extended Unit
Twenty hours a week over a twenty-week period from September through January. One evening and one overnight shift per week is required. The peer group meets for structured education on Wednesdays.
Spring Extended Unit
Twenty hours a week over a twenty-week period from February through May. One evening and one overnight shift per week is required. The peer group meets for structured education on Wednesdays.
Application Process
- Fill out a Clinical Pastoral Education application form and mail it, with the application fee of $50, to:
Clinical Pastoral Education at Sacred Heart
3333 RiverBend Dr.
Springfield, OR 97477
- After we have received your application we may invite you for an application interview.
- Once accepted into the program you will need to pay a deposit to hold your place in the peer group. This will be counted towards your tuition of $600 per unit.
Questions?
Please contact:
Chaplain Walter Balk, BCC, ACPE Certified Educator
Phone: 541-222-2275
Email: Wbalk1@Peacehealth.org
The Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend CPE Program is accredited for Level I CPE, Level II CPE by:
ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education
1 Concourse Pkwy, Suite 800
Atlanta, GA 30328, 404-320-1472
www.acpe.edu