Frequently Asked Questions about the CPE Program
1. How much does it cost to take
CPE?
The Bay Area Center for CPE
program charges $500 tuition if you are taking a single summer
CPE unit. If you are enrolled in our year-long residency program,
each unit of training costs $400. This amount is due in the first
week of the unit. Your non-refundable $200 deposit is applied
toward the tuition cost. Other costs, such as registration fees for
retreats, are paid for you by the CPE
center.
2.
How much will I be
paid?
If you are a summer intern, unfortunately,
you will not be paid. If you are a fulltime year-long
resident, however, you will receive $28,000 per year, paid in
twelve and a half monthly installments,
one at the end of each month of training and a half
payment in the concluding September of your training year.
This money will be paid to you in the form of a check without
tax withholding. Because you will not be an employee of
CHW, direct deposit and automatic tax withholding are not
available. You are advised to plan accordingly to ensure that
you can fulfill your income tax obligations.
3. Will I receive any days
off?
If you are a resident, you
will accrue five (5) days of personal leave for each unit of CPE
that you complete except for the fourth unit; in other words, you
will have accrued fifteen (15) total days of personal leave. These
days may be used for vacation times between units (or during
Christmas Week), for personal appointments, or if you are ill and
cannot report for clinical duty. Any personal leave days you intend
to use must be approved by your individual supervisor. In addition,
CPE students are not required to work on recognized hospital
holidays (with the exception of the chaplain on-call, who then
receives a compensatory day off from clinical duty). Interns do not
accrue personal leave days.
4. Is housing
provided?
No. We will inform you of housing opportunities as we learn of
them.
5. Is medical insurance
provided?
No. However, year-long residents receive up to $300 per month in
reimbursement for medical insurance premiums they pay. This
can result in additional $3,600 in stipend received.
6. Is parking
provided?
Currently parking is free for chaplain students at all three
sites. You will need to contact the supervisor at the site where
you are assigned to learn about parking policies. All three
sites are accessible by public transit.
7. What is a typical day in the CPE
program?
On Monday through Thursday mornings and all day on Fridays, you
will work in your assigned clinical areas, providing spiritual care
to patients, family members, and employees. On Monday through
Thursday afternoons, usually, you will have class sessions with
your peers. You also will have a one-hour individual meeting with
your CPE supervisor each week. In addition, you and your peers will
share in covering the overnight on-call system.
8. What is on-call
coverage?
Each hospital requires
that chaplains must be available to respond to emergencies no
matter when they occur, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In order
to fulfill this responsibility, we assign a chaplain each day to
serve as the overnight or weekend on-call chaplain. You can expect
to be assigned on-call duty approximately once every four to six
nights. While it is possible that you may be awakened at night or
in the early morning during your call shift, we estimate that such
an event occurs only about once every three or four times you are
on-call. Furthermore, if you are on-call for a weekend day,
you receive the preceding Friday as a compensatory day off.
9. What is required to complete a CPE
unit?
In order to receive credit
for a full unit of CPE training, you must complete at least 300
hours of clinical work (providing spiritual care) and 100 hours of
educational time, which includes group sessions and individual
supervision sessions. If you are absent during a unit, you may be
required to "make up" clinical hours in order to receive credit.
You must also fulfill the written and reading requirements, which
include a statement of ministry (in your first unit), a weekly
verbatim report (i.e., a record of a conversation you have with a
patient or other care recipient), a weekly highlight report, a
weekly review/summary of your individual supervisory session,
assigned reading, a mid-unit self-evaluation, and a final
self-evaluation.
10. There seems to
be so much to know. Will I receive any
orientation?
Yes. We provide a full
orientation to the CPE program, including a comprehensive student
handbook, that should answer many of your questions about working
as a chaplain in a hospital environment. In addition, the hospital
where you will serve will give you orientation within the
first month of your arrival.
11. Will I have the same
supervisor?
It depends. If you are
a summer intern, you will have the same supervisor for your
individual sessions during the entire unit. If you are a year-long
resident, you may have more than one supervisor during the course
of your residency year.
12. Will my individual supervisor be
qualified to supervise
me?
Yes. All of the supervisory staff are
certified to supervise CPE students, either independently
or with on-site certified supervision. In addition to
CPE certification, several of us also hold credentials as
board certified chaplains with the Association of
Professional Chaplains (APC) or with the National Association
of Catholic Chaplains (NACC).
13. Can I be
certified as a chaplain after taking
CPE?
For both APC and NACC, four
units of ACPE are required to apply for certification. However,
both organizations have other requirements, and so the answer to
this question depends to a great extent upon whether or not
you meet these other requirements. Our supervisory staff will
be happy to assist you in determining your status in pursuing board
certification as a chaplain.
14. Will I be able
to find work as a chaplain after taking
CPE?
While we can offer no
guarantees, we do have a very good track record in placing our CPE
students in chaplaincy positions. Catholic Healthcare West (CHW)
puts a high emphasis on providing spiritual care to its patients,
and frequently CHW facilities consult us to locate potential
candidates for available staff chaplain jobs.
If you have other questions, please
call our offices (415) 750-5718.
The Bay Area Center for
CPE program is accredited to offer CPE and Supervisory CPE by
the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. (ACPE), an
accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of
Education. Its offices are located at:
Association for Clinical
Education, Inc.
1549 Clairmont Road, N.E., Suite 103
Decatur, GA 30033-4611 USA
Telephone No. (404) 320-1472
Fax No.: (404) 320-0849
Website: www.acpe.edu
Executive Director: The Rev. Teresa E. Snorton
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