Clinical Pastoral Education
Clinical Pastoral Education
Our History of Training
Since 1970, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services has been providing Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) to help pastors and seminarians develop pastoral care skills, self-awareness and spiritual leadership. The CPE program is designed to train participants in pastoral care ministry through:
- Active engagement in ministry
- Reflection on ministry experience
- Assimilation of learning into ongoing ministry
Opportunities for clinical reflections occur in group settings, under individual supervision and through seminars where participants have the chance to network and engage with professionals from other disciplines.
Our Program
Our CPE program has been accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. (ACPE) since 1970. CPE uses a clinical method of learning rooted in experience, reflection and renewed practice. Rather than learning only through lectures or textbooks, students learn by engaging real ministry situations, carefully examining those experiences, and then returning to practice with deeper awareness and new insight. The goal is a more grounded, self-aware, and faithful spiritual care provider with a practice shaped by thoughtful reflection, theological depth and theoretical awareness.