As a CPE student, you can expect to participate in the following ways:

Direct Ministry with Patients/Residents, Families, and Staff
Most of your time will involve working as a chaplain in a specific unit of St. Mary's Medical Center, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital or Sequoia Hospital providing spiritual care to the people who come onto your unit. In addition, you will participate in the overnight and weekend on-call rotation, serving as the chaplain for the entire hospital on a rotating basis (usually once every five days).

Clinical Supervision
You will receive individual and group supervision in all areas of your training. This includes 100 hours of supervised education for every 300 hours of clinical work. A final evaluation will be presented at the end of each unit of CPE. Supervisors in our center are ACPE certified supervisors or supervisory students, and several members of our faculty also hold credentials as board certified chaplains.

Peer Group Work
You will join a group, with other CPE students and a supervisor. You will present cases based on your clinical work, reflect on your faith tradition, simulate incidents and practice pastoral responses, and engage in interpersonal group relations.

Didactic Workshops and Seminars
You will attend presentations on topics related to spiritual care and assessment, ethics, behavioral sciences, hospital chaplaincy, cultural sensitivity, interfaith awareness, and other issues.

Reading and Writing Assignments
You will be expected to do supplemental reading and prepare papers related to your learning goals and the ACPE objectives.