Clinical Pastoral Education

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is interfaith, graduate level, professional education for ministry. It brings theological students and ministers of all faiths (pastors, priests, rabbis, imams, monks and others) into supervised delivery of pastoral care to patients, family and staff and clinical learning for the student.

The essential elements of CPE include:

• The actual practice of ministry to persons
• Detailed reporting and evaluation of that practice
• Pastoral Supervision
• A process concept of learning
• A theological and theoretical perspective on all elements of the program
• A small group of peers in a common learning experience
• A specific time period
• An individual contract for learning consistent with the objectives of CPE
• The CPE program is conducted under the auspices of an Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) Certified Supervisor (faculty) attached to an ACPE accredited CPE center.

The Adventist HealthCare CPE Program at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital is provisionally approved as a Satellite of Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Clinical Pastoral Education Program Sites

Shady Grove Adventist Hospital is a 285-bed, state-of-the-art medical and surgical acute care facility that serves as a primary health care resource for more than 250,000 local residents.

Washington Adventist Hospital is Montgomery County's first complete cardiac center, performing 600 open heart surgeries and more than 8,000 heart catheterizations each year.  The hospital employs nearly 2,000 people and has a medical staff of over 600 physicians.

Clinical Pastoral Education Program Formats

Under ACPE guidelines, the AHC-CPE program is designed to be a minimum 400 hours of education for ministry work under the facilitation of a Certified ACPE Supervisor. There are 300 hours of practicum and a minimum of 100 hours of didactic. Currently, we offer two program formats:

• Extended CPE Internship. This unit begins in September and ends in April.
• Summer CPE Internship. This unit begins in early June and ends mid-August.

The ministerial internship commitment has a stipend amount of $27, 000 for the year. The cost per unit tuition is $650. There is a $25 application fee and a $50 fee for a supervisor interview for another center.

Clinical Pastoral Training

Shady Grove Adventist Hospital's Pastoral Care Services Department also provides clinical training for lay-ministers, to students who participate in the art of pastoral care training. Upon completion, students will receive a Pastoral Care Specialist Certificate.

Supplementary Resources

Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE)

Association of Professional Chaplains (ACP)

National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC)

National Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC)

American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC)

Commission on Accreditation of Pastoral Services (CCAPS)

Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice and Education (CAPPE)

Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries (ACM)

Seventh-day Adventist Healthcare Chaplains Association (SAHCA)

Additional Information

For additional information please visit our Clinical Pastoral Education Program FAQ's or contact the Pastoral Care Department at Shady Grove Adventist Hopsital at 301-279-6497.