Workshops 2024

ACPE's Annual Conference 2024

Sunday, May 19, 2024 - Thursday, May 23, 2024

Workshops

The ACPE Curriculum Committee is proud to present you with this year’s lineup of workshops.  These offerings will showcase the wisdom of our members and highlight the inspirational and innovative education that our educators and programs are offering to our students.

ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7004. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Questions related to continuing education should be directed to: Latasha Matthews, PC Administrator 1 Concourse Pkwy, Suite 800, Atlanta, GA 30328, (678) 636-6222, www.acpe.edu

There are four workshop sessions available.  Some workshops will be offered more than once, in the hopes that everyone can get to participate in all of their top picks. 

Workshop Session I                Tuesday 5/21               10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Workshop Session II               Tuesday 5/21               3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

Workshop Session III              Wednesday 5/22        10:15 AM – 11:45 AM

Workshop Session IV              Wednesday 5/22         3:00 PM- 4:30 PM

For inquiries, please email Ashley Almanzar

A Trauma-Informed Pedicab Ride: Utilizing Creative Arts in a Trauma-Informed CPE Curriculum
Presented by: Gina Harvey
Sessions I and IV

Presenters: Gina Harvey, Andy Stubblefield, Keith Wakefield, and Dr. Robyn Hacker

Purpose:
We propose offering a workshop to examine and expand the mediums we use to talk about trauma, in a trauma-informed way, with CPE students. As three educators coming from unique backgrounds, we have each used the creative arts in differing capacities, and all believe the creative arts are a powerful medium that can equip attendees with unique tools and resources for introducing the topic of trauma into their curriculum in an implicit and inviting way. Utilizing the film “G-Ride: The Mike Griffith Story” (produced, directed, and edited by workshop presenter Keith Wakefield), we will identify aspects of a trauma-informed curriculum and delve into how educators can utilize the creative arts as a powerful tool to bring the topic of trauma into the room. The workshop will include a time for participants to experiment with integrating creative arts curricular events into the five Outcome categories.

Method:
The presenters have used this film in their curriculum numerous times for the past four years. The workshop will begin with a screening of the film “G-Ride: The Mike Griffith Story,” a 23-minute short-form documentary film about the struggles of homelessness, recovery, and the death of someone close to Mike “G-Ride” Griffith, a pedicab driver in the college town of Chico, California. Viewing G-Ride provides a window into Mike’s world of homelessness, addiction, significant childhood trauma, and recovery. The film Mike’s explores beliefs and values and how he overcomes societal stigmas. From sleeping under picnic tables, skinny-dipping in the community pool, and his addiction, Mike “G-Ride” has worked hard to become who he is today: Chico’s “Best Local Personality” for seven consecutive years and running.

Presenters will discuss how G-Ride introduces the topic of trauma related to Mike’s story, without directing it at any individual in the group. Presenters will share how this learning experience encourages vulnerability while establishing a “safe-enough” space for discussion and engagement. The presenters’ experience of using this in the CPE classroom has shown it to invite students to reflect on their narrative history and how their spiritual grounding interacts with their lived experiences and the experiences of others.

This workshop provides an example of how a CPE curriculum can be trauma-informed and meet the requirements for assessing students with the new Outcomes and Indicators. Examining one short-form documentary will demonstrate how to use the creative arts in a trauma-informed curriculum. Participants will also walk away with a “G-Ride Screening Toolkit” that was developed and written by Keith and Dr. Robyn Hacker, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry with the Behavioral Health and Wellness Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and a Licensed Psychologist and Licensed Addiction Counselor. Dr. Hacker’s work has focused on the intersection of substance use disorders, co-occurring trauma, anxiety, and mood disorders. Finally, we will provide a time for participants to brainstorm approaches they may utilize to implement creative arts into their curriculum to address the topic of trauma.

Building a Standard of Practice for Spiritual Care
Presented by: Dennis Kenny
Sessions III & IV

We have written a lot about spiritual care over the years but often have left others to research the impact of our care.
When asked recently by a physician what our “standard of practice" was in caring for patients and where he could go to read that standard, I hesitated.
We are in a new age no longer having to prove we impact people’s lives but now we are called to identify consistently what is and isn’t good care.
Our challenge is that we don’t agree on “good” spiritual care, certainly to be able to agree and share what it is across multiple situations. We tend to belief that if a person has a good heart and some training, they can do it. That is not good enough for other professions.
This workshop and my new book “Breaking the Spiritual Care Code” is an attempt to provide a foundation for it that can be used by providers of all faiths and approaches in whatever situation the spiritual care provider finds themselves.

Building Greater Health Together Among Seminarians and Clergy
Presented by: Rev. Dr. Karen H. Webster and Rev. Travis A. Webster, Th.D.
Session II


Research has shown that pastoral burnout has reached an alarming level! Currently, “40% of pastors are
showing a high risk of burnout, which is an almost 400% increase since 2015, when that number was
just 11%... Among pastors who are considering quitting, burnout risk skyrockets to 69%. 21% of
pastors who are not seriously thinking of leaving ministry are still at high risk of burnout.”1
Some of the leading reasons for this significant health concern include “current political divisions” and
“I feel lonely and isolated,” but the primary impetus is “the immense stress of the job.”2
Furthermore, when it comes to seeking help from professional counselors, fewer than 20% of pastors are
currently doing so.3
And, while the research on seminarians isn’t as expansive as it is for pastors, the research that has been
done (including both of our doctoral research projects) suggests that seminarians face significant mental
health challenges – including higher rates of depression and anxiety than the normal US adult population
– as well as high stress levels.
When considering the state of mental health among church leaders, the analysis is certainly sobering.
Therefore, as mental health providers, it is critical that we understand the unique challenges facing
clergy so that we can employ appropriate therapeutic strategies and foster greater health among current
pastors as well as those training to be future church leaders.

The objectives for this workshop are:
● Provide a snapshot of the current state of seminarian and clergy health.
● Examine some of the contributing factors to pastoral unhealth.
● Explore some strategies for working with this population.
Attendees will gain the following:
● Workshop participants will gain a deeper understanding of the health challenges facing clergy
and seminarians and will also be given the opportunity to consider ways of both understanding
these concerns from a therapeutic standpoint and working with them in a therapeutic context.

CE CPE - Strategies for Successful Use of the Rubrics and Papers
Presented by: Jeff Holman
Session III

This workshop will offer consultation and shared wisdom on best practices for preparing materials and getting the Interview/Review! Jeffrey Holman of the Certification Commission work on behalf of ACPE, and the system that employes him, OhioHealth, focuses on training PreAdmission Aspirants and CEC’s for certification. Jeff will share strategies for completing papers, assessment grids, and making use of consultation picked up from work on the Commission and from his extensive work in helping CEC’s succeed in the current Certification process. Plans for this workshop include sharing vignettes, grid competencies, and theory integration materials that have met with success in Certification processes and will invite CEC’s and TIM’s to share strategies as well.

Challenging Anti-Bias Against Individuals with Serious Mental Illness
Presented by: Lauri Swann
Session II 

Facilitators: Rev. Dr. Lauri A. Swann and Rev. Dr. Robert A. Renix.

Abstract: Individuals with Serious mental illness (SMI)* often faces discrimination, judgment, and bias. Such behaviors can negatively impact their care, treatment, and recovery. This workshop will explore bias toward this vulnerable population, those in forensic psychiatric hospitals, those incarcerated in prisons, and the community. Reducing stigma and promoting empathy, compassion, and understanding are important steps towards reform.

*NIMH states that “Serious mental illness (SMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. The burden of mental illnesses is particularly concentrated among those who experience disability due to SMI.” (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness)

Constructing a Clinical Theology for Spiritual Care: Using the Clinical Method for Theological Reflection
Presented by: Frank Woggon PhD, BCC, ACPE-CE
Session II


Theological reflection has long been an important aspect of clinical education and has become more challenging in an increasingly diverse educational environment. This workshop introduces one attempt to utilize the clinical method in order to reinterpret the problematic Christian teaching about atonement for a praxis of spiritual care. The workshop is based on an academic textbook, The Empathic God: A Clinical Theology of At-onement (Fortress Press, May 2024), that constructs a theological theory for spiritual care, based in lived human experience, Christian theology, and interdisciplinary dialogue, and is applicable to diverse clinical contexts.

Clinical Pastoral Education aims to educate reflective practitioners, and the ability to reflect theologically needs to be part of the educational process and outcomes. Claiming their role as clinical theologians, reflective spiritual care practitioners are uniquely positioned to explore the human condition from a spiritual perspective and means of restoration and transformation. The workshop introduces a clinical theology as dialogical, contextual, experience-near, and purposeful, and suggests that spiritual care in clinical-theological perspective means to participate in God’s ongoing work of salvation and liberation, aiming to restore individuals and communities toward wholeness.

Creative Ways to Engage Research Literacy in CPE
Presented by: Karen Heistand
Session I

The new ACPE Outcomes require students to develop their research literacy to articulate how research is relevant to spiritual care and critically evaluate and integrate relevant findings in their spiritual care practice. It is not uncommon for ACPE Certified Educators to be uncertain about how to address these outcomes.

Seven years ago, over forty CPE programs received research literacy curriculum grants from Transforming Chaplaincy to incentivize and support establishing research literacy education for their CPE students. Since this strategic initiative, several grant-recipient programs have continued to grow their research literacy education programs.

This interactive panel discussion will explore the creative ways CPE Educators have incorporated research literacy, over several years after the initial effort to spread research literacy education in CPE. For instance, Mayo Clinic -Rochester CPE center has sponsored an annual Research Literacy Day for CPE centers in the region, has moved beyond literacy to involving residents in the research process. Rush University Medical Center has built on a long history of research literacy education predating Transforming Chaplaincy. Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles currently has a second-year research fellowship. Cedars-Sinai and IUH health have built strong Research Literacy curriculum, as well.
Join a conversation with:
• Karen Heistand, Mayo Clinic -Rochester
• Pam Lazor, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles
• Dagmar Grefe, Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles
• Csaba Szilagyi, Transforming Chaplaincy
• Anastasia Holman, IUH Health

Cross-Cultural CPE Learning: A Case Study at NYP Queens Hospital
Presented by: Lifeng Wang
Session I

The learning and practice of chaplaincy in a multicultural environment are challenging. With the changes in the U.S. population landscape, there is much need to understand how CPE students learn to use the CPE process to become better spiritual caregivers. While there have been some studies generated from the experience of students and chaplains in the context of two subgroups, for example, dominant v. non-dominant or oppression v. the oppressed, we did not find articles that explore the healthcare CPE experience in an intense multi-faith, multicultural, multi-language, multi-nation of origin context.

In this case study, we propose to study the learning experience of 11 current CPE interns at New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital. The interns will be interviewed four times, at each quarter of the program, with a standardized list of questions that focus on barriers, challenges, learnings, and suggestions regarding:

• Learning and Use of Remote Interpreter Services (RIS) in providing
• Cross-cultural/language communication with patients, peers, and educators
• Caring for immigrant patients as an immigrant chaplain

As contexts, the hospital is located in Flushing, Queens, NY, one of the most diverse parts of the nation. About one of every two patients do not speak English as their preferred language (see language breakdown below), which means both chaplains and CPE students use RIS for half of their workload. Multiple immigrant communities surround the hospital, and patients practice various faith traditions embedded with their cultural upbringing (see religion breakdown below). Compared to the national average, a larger portion of the patient population is not affiliated with an organized religion and does not speak English.
Seven of the 11 chaplain interns were born outside of the U.S., including Nigeria (Catholic), Korea (Presbyterian), Columbia (Pentecostal), Bangladesh (Muslim), and Haiti (Pentecostal). They speak various first languages. Among the other 5, one (Pentecostal) was born to Puerto Rico parents, two (Pentecostal and Seventh-day Adventist) were African American, and one Caucasian (Episcopal) who worked as an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter and spoke Thai fluently. They are supervised by a CE who is a Chinese-immigrant Tibetan Buddhist whose first language is Mandarin. The CE also works closely with the hospital's Interpreter Service Coordinator, and the designated person of Graduate Medical Education.

In the workshop, we intend to present the findings and insights from analyzing the interviews with these 11 students and raise questions for the attendees to discuss together. Our hope is to rekindle ACPE's passion for studying living human documents from a microscopic perspective and hearing from these students who are intensely learning cross-cultural chaplaincy. Possible explorative questions include:

• How do we help students more effectively learn and use interpreter services? What can we learn from our GME colleagues about helping their medical residents to use interpreter services? On the other hand, what do we need to teach the certified medical interpreters about spiritual care?

• How do we help students develop effective ways to bring chaplaincy service to patients who have no counterpart image of spiritual care in their cultural/religious context? How do we help them learn to navigate bias, conflict, and misunderstanding with others from different parts of the world?

• How do we navigate and negotiate students' unique learning opportunities and needs because of their language capacities, immigrant status, cultural upbringing etc.? For example, how do we navigate the conversation when the perspective of social justice dominated in the U.S. was not part of the student's understanding of race, ethnicity, and other social identities in their original social/cultural context? How does our new system of evaluating students based on specific indicators for each level impact students who were not born in the U.S., did not go to seminary in the U.S, and/or don’t speak English as their first language?

Cultivating Cultural Humility in Chaplaincy: The C.O.M.P.E.L Framework
Presented by: Olivia Anderson
Sessions I & III

Chaplains encounter people from various backgrounds and belief systems. Effectively meeting their
spiritual and emotional needs requires a deep understanding of and commitment to cultural humility. This workshop aims to explore the importance of cultural humility in chaplaincy and equip chaplains
with practical tools for providing sensitive and inclusive spiritual care. Discussing strategies for
cultural humility is important because the role of a chaplain extends beyond providing spiritual care
within one's own cultural or religious contexts. By embracing cultural humility through the

framework, I created titled "C.O.M.P.E.L. : Cultivate, Obtain, Move, Participate, Evaluate, and
Listen", we can embark on a journey that enriches not only our own lives but the lives of those we
serve.

C - Cultivate self-reflection and awareness: This involves chaplains reflecting on their own beliefs,
biases, and cultural background. It's about being aware of one's own limitations, prejudices, and
assumptions.
O - Obtain cultural knowledge and understanding: This step requires chaplains to actively seek out
information and knowledge about various cultures, religions, belief systems, and practices different
from their own.
M – Move toward mindful engagement: This involves being fully present in the moment, paying
deliberate and non-judgmental attention to one's thoughts, feelings, and surroundings, In the context
of cultural humility, it means being aware of the cultural dynamics present during interactions with
people from diverse backgrounds. This step adds a foundational dimension to chaplaincy by
promoting active awareness of cultural cues and differences.
P - Participate in cultural encounters and immersion. Chaplains should actively engage with diverse
communities, attend workshops, and pursue continuing education opportunities. This step is to
enhance their ability to understand and respect the unique needs and beliefs of those they serve.
E - Evaluate progress and engage in ongoing education and training: Chaplains should regularly
assess their own cultural competence and seek continuous education and training opportunities.
Evaluating and ongoing education may ensure that chaplains remain adaptable and responsive to
evolving cultural dynamics. This step helps in avoiding complacency and ensures that care remains
relevant and effective.
L - Listen and learn from feedback and peer reflection: Chaplains should actively solicit feedback
from the people they serve, as well as colleagues, and be open to learning from both positive and
negative feedback. Listening and learning from others allows chaplains to fine-tune their approach
and correct any missteps.

This workshop is designed to empower chaplains with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate
the intricate web of cultural diversity encountered daily. By embracing cultural humility through the
C.O.M.P.E.L framework, chaplains can build honest and trustworthy relationships, working to
eradicate persistent health disparities and enrich not only their own lives but also the lives of those
they serve. Let's come together to embark on this transformative journey towards inclusive spiritual
care.

Demystifying the Work of the Professional Ethics Commission
Presented by: Tahara Akmal
Session I

At the heart of the work of the Professional Ethics Commission is our purpose, to educate our members and association about issues of professional ethics, and establish and ensure a fair process for arbitrating complaints. We strive for a transparent process, while maintaining the highest levels of confidentiality for the protection of all involved. This workshop and our time together will demystify the work of the PEC, outline the ethics complaint process, and dialogue together about concerns you have about professional ethics in your work and our association.

Developing Competencies for Religiously/Spiritually/Secularly Informed Chaplaincy
Presented by: Judy Ragsdale
Sessions II and III

One of the ACPE Innovation in Research and Spiritual Care grants was awarded for the project Equipping Chaplains with Religiously/Spiritually/Humanistically Informed Competencies. This research project seeks to gather qualitative research data from leaders and members of multiple traditions including Humanism; Buddhism; Native American Spirituality; Muslim; Orthodox Judaism; African Methodist Episcopal; Roman Catholicism; Hinduism; Evangelical Christian; and Wiccan.

Demonstrating the capacity to provide informed care to at least one distinctly different tradition shows the CPE student’s ability to expand beyond her/their/his worldview. This is an important aspect of chaplaincy and chaplaincy education given the wealth of research about how people from different traditions use their beliefs and practices in the service of meaning making, coping, and medical decision-making at times of serious illness.

The qualitative research method includes individual interviews of three leaders and two focus groups with five members of each participating tradition. The stories are professionally transcribed and then analyzed by two researchers. The goal is to develop proposed competencies for chaplains not of the identified tradition to work with patients from the identified tradition providing spiritual/values assessments; education for and advocacy with other members of the healthcare team; and partnership with community leaders of the identified tradition as needed for the best support for the patient and family. This is an on-going project. Results from the gathered and analyzed data will be presented at this workshop. This project is aligned with ACPE’s commitment to diversity.

Embodied Healing: A Workshop for Black Chaplains in Grief Processing
Presented by: Dr. Jamie Eaddy
Session III

This workshop is thoughtfully crafted for Black chaplains who serve as unwavering spiritual
and emotional support pillars in their communities and workplaces. It recognizes the
profound challenges that Black (BIPOC) Chaplains confront in a world deeply scarred by
systemic racism, which continually inflicts trauma. How do we, as caregivers, care for
ourselves when our calling often leads to compassion fatigue, moral injury, vicarious trauma,
and burnout? Furthermore, how can an expanded view of grief- its causes and impact- enrich
our capacity for empathetic connection?

Join us on this transformative journey as we cultivate a more expansive comprehension of
grief. Together, we will delve into the profound influence of racial stereotypes and biases on
the grieving process and develop essential self-care and wellness practices. This workshop
offers a space to breathe, dance, laugh, cry, feel, release, reclaim, and more. Through
embodied healing practices, participants will embark on a profound journey of resilience,
spiritual growth, and empowerment.

Ethical Spiritual Assessment in Psychotherapy
Presented by: Carol McGinnis PhD, SIP, BC-TMH, NCC, LCPC (MD)
Session II

It can be difficult to know where to start when integrating a client’s spirituality in psychotherapy. How much is enough? What can the practitioner ask? How helpful can that information be? Relevant psycho-spiritual research and content from the ACPE Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapist (SIP) certification is shared in this presentation to help mental health practitioners to learn how to engage in spiritually integrated psychotherapy. A review of national ethical codes for several professional disciplines, ethical assessment, and professional resources and tests will be provided. Participants will also be invited to share their own interpretation of spiritual objects, places, texts, and beliefs to engage in ethical self-awareness. New forms, templates, and psycho-spiritual interventions will be shared.

Learning Objectives:

1. To learn about different types of spiritual assessment for use in psychotherapy
2. To understand how client interpretation and meaning influences spiritual assessment
3. To learn how to engage in ethical spiritual assessment that can lead to more accurate diagnosis and customized treatment planning

External Beauty Disturbing Internal Problems: Blackness Disturbing Whiteness in Clinical Pastoral Education
Presented by: Brandon Evans
Session III

This presentation will offer lived experience culminating with a developing perspective as a black
male student in clinical pastoral education. Black resilience within a historically racist context with
ongoing systemic problems is an act of resistance. This topic is significant because I became
emotionally exhausted because of my blackness, much more than the exhaustion of doing the work
to become self-aware of the work of chaplaincy.
Educators must prepare to create space for black students and are highly recommended to be well [1]informed on facilitating discourse when it arises in CPE. It is not the role of the student to carry the work of racism in education. A student expected to assume that role adds another level of systemic pressure to the student in a learning environment. As part of this presentation, I will discuss intersectionality and how it can appear in education. Striving black students can potentially disturb white staff on chaplain teams. The education program must be willing and courageous to name the whiteness of staff that students may have to work with as clinical mentors eventually.

I am considering further developing an acronym to aid education programs to facilitate racial
discourse within a CPE program and with the chaplain staff who engage with students.
The word A-N-T-I:
A – Accept the reality of the environment.
N – Name the concern; be specific.
T – Tell the story and lived experience.
I – Incorporate space for healing and conversation

Healing of the Soul Ministry for African Americans - HOSM4AA
Presented by: Rosalind Stanley
Session I

HOSM4AA (Healing of the Soul Ministry for African Americans), is racial healing tool to help
bring healing from soul wounds that African Americans have endured since departing Africa for
the purpose of slavery and the racism that they have encountered throughout their existence in
America up to the current society. It is not a social justice instrument. It is not necessarily
advocacy for African Americans. It is not intended as a historical presentation or scholarly work.
Nor is it a means to bring shame, blame, or vindication to Whites in America.

HOSM4AA is a specific issue modality of Healing of the Soul Ministry, a prayer counseling
modality developed to help bring about healing of the soul. As prompted by the Holy Spirit at
the height of national racial unrest and violence, I (Rosalind Stanley) felt a conviction to do
something to help African Americans in some way. Healing of the Soul Ministry targeted to the
African American concern and condition with the goal to help discover/uncover, acknowledge,
and address the soul wounds experienced individually and generationally due to racism, directly
and indirectly, was what was revealed to me. The process of developing HOSM4AA began in
2022 and is growing and moving along in the developmental phase. The book/manual is close to
submission for publishing. The first set of ministers have been trained. Recruitment is the current
step in the process with the anticipation of beginning sessions January 2024.

We, Healing of the Soul Ministry, believe that we have been entrusted with a God inspired
healing tool to help people heal in their souls, HOSM4AA, specifically for African Americans. It
is a biblical Christ-centered spiritual prayer counseling modality to help African Americans find
healing regarding generational to current issues related to coming to and living in America.
HOSM4AA includes prayer counseling and educational moments to help African Americans
gain understanding to accurately address and receive healing from issues that have caused
continued soul wounds, trauma, and relationship dysfunction. The modality is expressed through
Healing of the Soul Ministry’s Essential Ingredients, a system of specific sessions that are
targeted to African Americans and racism.

The goal is healed, whole, healthy African American individuals and families that will change
harmful beliefs, thoughts and behaviors to healthy, and because this is a biblical approach,
ungodly living to godly living! We believe that as African American individuals and families are
healed, they will be in position to seek to know, pursue, and fulfill their God given reason for
living, which always impacts others for good!

Healing with Dignity Researching Spiritual Care with Native Americans
Presented by: Michelle Oberwise Lacock
Session III

In the field of Spiritual Care, the deficit is that Native Americans are rarely mentioned, and little has been published related to their concerns. In general, Faith Leaders and/or Chaplains receive minimal preparation for working with Native American persons during their educational and/or clinical training.

Even Native American pastors serving Native American communities have typically received training in pastoral care that has come from a western model of health and healing with
little mention or understanding of Native American cultural needs. One impediment to learning in the western model is the high emphasis on individualism rather than communal learning. Additionally, the practice of spiritual care is wholistic rather than individualistic. Care is given not only to an individual; it is also given to “all the relatives,” which includes family, church, and tribe. In the mental health field, Native Americans are increasingly developing theory and practice that is contextually appropriate to this population. What hasn’t happened is the transition that needs to take place to Spiritual/Pastoral care, within the context of the clinical and/or congregational setting.

Over the past three years two events were held to discuss spiritual care needs of Native American persons, what is the optimal context for healing work to be done, what are the impediments to spiritual care within the Native American communities and what would decolonization look like in the educational setting and/or clinical context.

Professional video recording of these interview conversations provided data that was analyzed by professional researchers and those findings will be shared during the workshop. The workshop will be led by the project and research team.

How Does Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Develop Emotional Intelligence? – Insights from CPE Students
Presented by: Kristin Langstraat
Sessions I & III

Does CPE increase students’ Emotional Intelligence (EI)? We would naturally assume the answer is “yes.” However, questions remain. How do we know? What can we learn from our CPE students about CPE and EI? How does EI relate to clinical skills? How can insights from students and research inform our CPE practices?

Developing and utilizing Emotional Intelligence (EI) – the capacity to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions – is one of the hallmarks of CPE and spiritual care practice. ACPE Learning Objectives and Outcomes and the Common Qualifications and Competencies for Professional Chaplaincy build EI skills in a variety of ways. EI skills are fundamental not only for intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational functioning but also for fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in human relationships.

Our workshop explores these questions by drawing on qualitative (i.e., students’ stories) and quantitative findings from our nationwide research study examining CPE and EI. We share insights from one of the largest and most diverse samples of CPE students to date in research.

Join us to learn about CPE students’ experiences developing EI in CPE, how educational factors may affect EI development in CPE, and how these insights may inform educational practices. We also invite you to imagine possibilities for future collaborative research to strengthen the evidence base for CPE.

Presenters:

Csaba Szilagyi, MDiv, MLA, MS, ACPE Certified Educator
Kristin Langstraat, DMin, MDiv, ACPE Certified Educator
Paul Galchutt MPH, MDiv, BCC/APC

Improving Online CPE; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Presented by: Marissa Danney
Sessions II & IV


Offering online CPE has great benefits of accessibility and inclusivity to students. At the same time, there are challenges to offering the same interpersonal quality of community education that one gets with in-person CPE. Join this workshop to learn various approaches to offering online CPE and solutions to common problems. Participants will then workshop new interventions to some of the unsolved problems that Online CPE presents.

Integrating Culture of Safety into Clinical Pastoral Education
Presented by: Lynne Mikulak
Sessions II & III

Widespread initiatives regarding Culture of Safety in healthcare have continued to develop since
the publication of the Institute of Medicine’s report To Err is Human in 1999.

i. Aside from patient safety, an increasingly focused parallel goal has been to utilize Culture of Safety to “support healthcare workforce.”

ii Similarly, Safety Culture has burgeoned across numerous industries in
the United States, with a particular lens of Psychological Safety and Emotional Safety in
educational environments and institutions.

However, the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) movement, including The Association for
Clinical Pastoral Education: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education, has not instituted
direct language or requirements for student Culture of Safety in its Manuals and Standards,
Professional Code of Ethics, Outcomes and Indicators, Policies and other organizational
statements. In conversation with ACPE colleagues in online or in-person gatherings, I have observed
anecdotally that the standard practice regarding Culture of Safety is for ACPE certified educators
to point out its presence in their particular healthcare institution’s onboarding and orientation
processes and requirements, such as computer-based training modules or in-person orientation
sessions. That is generally viewed as sufficient.

This presentation seeks to introduce and propose methods, theories and practices for integrating
Culture of Safety as a holistic framework for CPE educational structure, including didactics,
reading seminars, group seminars, process group and group theory, (whether named or framed as
Interpersonal Relations Group, Covenant Group, etc.), and individual supervision. While the new ACPE Outcomes and Indicators do not directly reference Culture of Safety, there are numerous “crosswalk” links that can be made, with the simple inclusion of didactics and articles about Culture of Safety into the Curriculum and Syllabi, and assignment formats. I contend that the new Outcomes and Indicators are ACPE’s roadmap for initiating Culture of Safety into CPE programming for best practices for a positive and constructive student experience in ACPE-accredited CPE.

While many ACPE colleagues are dispensing with former process group models, or group
process entirely, due to irreconcilable conflict, triangulation etc., I contend that creating and
holding Culture of Safety boundaries eliminates unhealthy behavior and dynamics and can lead
to constructive learning.

Journeys of Sacred Striving: Advancing CPE Theory through the Hajj Pilgrimage
Presented by: Jawad Bayat
Session I

This workshop will explore the advancement of transformational learning in CPE that was cultivated through a spiritually rooted Muslim perspective. By intersecting the lived experiences derived from my 2019 Islamic hajj pilgrimage and ACPE educator certification theory development process, key findings were extracted for an original CPE transformational theory. The absence of comprehensive CPE literature and theories, especially from a Muslim viewpoint, poses a challenge. While Christian spiritual care educators and learners have ample frameworks and resources, Muslims face a dearth. As a Muslim ACPE Certified Educator, I address this gap by presenting "Journeys of Sacred Striving," a theory born from the methodology of autoethnography applied in my doctoral dissertation study.

Through autoethnography and its use of critically engaging vulnerability, I analyzed layered cross-cultural experiences regarding sacred strivings in both contexts. As a result, the social phenomena being addressed is related to the spiritual transformation of the person through a structured experience or pilgrimage. This project responds to a critical need within the CPE community, providing both Muslim and non-Muslim educators and learners with a theory born from CPE and a spiritual pilgrimage. Join me as we discuss the nine key spiritual and transformational elements of Journeys of Sacred Striving, providing insight for both Muslim and non-Muslim ACPE educators and learners to leverage in your sacred work.

Korean Key Concepts and its Implication for CPE: in the Perspective of Trauma-Informed Approach
Presented by: Rev. Ki Do Ahn
Session II

Key presenters: Rev. Sunghee Han, Rev. Mi-Young Choi, Chaplain Sung Jin, Ju

Korean American CEs and CECs will shared the Korean key concepts for spiritual care and CPE. Many of Korean key concepts, such as Han, Jung, Uri, the image of Gil-Ssam-Nol-E (a.k.a. Dan-Sim-Jul Nol-E), Yin Yang Five Essential Elements and Korean Garden concepts are connected with trauma experiences throughout Korean history explicitly and implicitly. KA CEs and CECs addressed these concepts in their theory papers/integration presentations and utilized them in spiritual care and CPE. This workshop will be a panel presentation from KA CoP members. The structure of the Workshop will be

1) What are the Korean Key concepts for spiritual care and CPE
2) Theoretical exploration of them
3) Sharing implications to spiritual care and CPE

Let This be Received: Sexual Trauma and the Ministry of Presence
Presented by: Margaret Conley
Session III

Sexual trauma refers to any unwanted sexual experience that causes physical, psychological, or emotional harm. It can include various forms of abuse, such as sexual assault, rape, incest, or sexual harassment. Survivors of sexual trauma often face a range of challenges, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, and difficulties in forming and maintaining healthy relationships.

Mathew 19:12 offers a glimpse at those who may want to remain single. The text offers three reasons for this space which includes the possible physical/sexual trauma of the individual which lead to their singleness. Outside of this particular text the bible has several references to sexual trauma that we often do not address in our spiritual settings, but our clients have experienced which need care and consideration for their further treatment and healing.

Clinical chaplaincy, on the other hand, involves providing spiritual care and support to individuals facing a variety of challenges within healthcare settings. Chaplains work alongside healthcare professionals to address the spiritual and emotional needs of patients, their families, and the healthcare staff. They offer a listening ear, provide comfort, offer guidance, and facilitate religious or spiritual practices based on the patient's beliefs or preferences.

When it comes to sexual trauma, clinical chaplains play a crucial role in providing support and care to survivors. They create safe spaces where survivors can share their experiences, express their emotions, and explore their spiritual needs. Chaplains offer non-judgmental and confidential support, helping survivors navigate their spiritual journey and find meaning and healing in the aftermath of trauma.

Chaplains also collaborate with healthcare professionals, therapists, and counselors to ensure survivors receive holistic care. They contribute to the interdisciplinary team, addressing the spiritual and existential concerns of survivors and supporting their overall well-being.

Looking In, Reaching Out: The Value and Role of Spiritual Care in Interdisciplinary Reflective Practice in Healthcare
Presented by: Daniel Nuzum
Session II

Finding meaning is a natural human phenomenon as we seek to make sense of our experiences. Ministry in healthcare provides wide exposure to experiences that challenge our sense of self –personally, pastorally and professionally. Spiritual Care practitioners are highly trained in the art and skill of reflective practice and can draw on this to construct (new) meaning in their experiences of care and support as spiritual care experts. In an international study of staff care by Healthcare Chaplains conducted during the COVID19 pandemic (the presenter was a co-author) the data revealed that role of Healthcare Chaplains/ Spiritual Care practitioners grew in appreciation in many places (although not universally) and chaplains found new meaning in their role and in how they were understood, experienced and utilized by their healthcare systems and colleagues. This has provided new meaning, possibilities and opportunities for Spiritual Care Practitioners to develop and draw on their natural skills of meaning making to offer to staff colleagues in healthcare.

Drawing on theories of meaning making, reflective practice, supervisory practice and teaching and learning scholarship; this workshop will integrate practiced experiences of staff support initiatives in a large acute hospital where spiritual care provided meaningful opportunities for staff reflection and meaning making following experiences of loss, disillusionment, moral distress and challenge for healthcare professionals.

Building on the presented material and data, this interactive workshop seeks to provide an opportunity for participants to reflect on their own potential as spiritual care practitioners to provide ‘reflective meaning opportunities’ by looking in, reaching out and building reflective practice community in healthcare. It will also provide opportunity for shared learning and envisioning of the role of the spiritual care practitioner as a reflective expert and resource in the healthcare team and institution for the promotion of staff (and self) wellbeing as integrated team professionals.

Narrative Improv Workshop
Presented by: Chaplain Joshua Berg
Sessions II and IV

I would like to present a workshop using techniques of improvisational theater and narrative medicine to explore the theme of “Looking in, Reaching out, and Building Together” in the following ways:

Looking In: What are we doing and how can we improve? We will introspectively consider the clinical work of the spiritual care team through the lens of cultural humility and explore how we can do more and better.
Reaching Out: The exploration and exercises will help participants consider the person-centered approach, holistic listening and believing without judgement, authentic response based on trust in our intuition and abilities, and overall effective communication that is at the heart of compassionate and efficacious spiritual care.
Building Together: We will practice being in vulnerable spaces with others and creating space for collaboration without judgement or bias, and with an open heart.

This training will be based on work developed by clinicians at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Arora, Dr. Isaac Chua, and Rachel Rusch who combined their improvisational clinic with Dr. Chris Adrian’s training in narrative medicine, an established technique of working with literary pieces such as poems or short prose and asking the students to reflect on the feelings they evoke and then do their own brief writing exercises following a prompt.

No Justice, No Peace: Creating an Innovative and Experiential CPE Social Justice Curriculum
Presented by: Rev. Dr. Imani Jones
Sessions I and II

“Of all forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.” This statement by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., though spoken 57 years ago, remains relevant today as the pervasiveness of systemic racism, poverty, inequality, and healthcare disparities continue to adversely impact the wellbeing and quality of life of minorities, poor, and disenfranchised people across the United States. As Clinical Pastoral Education students engage in intentional exploration of their narrative histories, awareness of self and others, implicit bias, and their own sociocultural identities, it is critical that they also gain greater awareness of the social conditions that encompass the lived experiences of those with whom they seek to develop spiritual care relationships. Such knowledge and awareness can provide pathways for empathy and has the capacity to equip students to make accurate spiritual assessments that will guide appropriate interventions.

This workshop will showcase a comprehensive, innovative, interactive, and experiential CPE curriculum which integrates each of the five categories of the new learning outcomes and indicators into the educational process. The curriculum infuses evidence-based research, documentary viewings, didactic presentations, books and research article discussions, verbatim presentations, consistent reflection, hands on activities, community engagement, and field trips. Weekly themed topics directly intersect with healthcare realities and outcomes which can be applicable in a variety of caregiving contexts. These topics include trauma informed care, racism, social determinants of health, homelessness, poverty, addiction, infant mortality, human trafficking, medical apartheid, incarceration and more. Workshop attendees will receive a robust collection of resources and ideas to create an engaging social justice curriculum with the potential for individual and group transformation.

Ojos Que No Ven, Corazón Que No Siente (Eyes That Don’t See, Heart That Does Not Feel)
Presented by: Rev. Silvia Tiznado-Smith, Kathryn Bird DeYoung and Rev. Marcos Collado 
Session II

By 2050, the United States will surpass Mexico, and become the country with the largest Spanish speaking population in the world. Yet, Spanish-speakers in the US encounter language prejudice and discrimination in the broader culture and with dire consequences in health care.

Workshop participants will gain a new understanding of the immigrant experience and the emotional and spiritual importance of a person’s native language. In addition, participants will gain a better understanding of the trauma of segregation or less-than categorization based on English proficiency and accent. Participants will also be encouraged to explore their own prejudices and how these impact CPE.

a. Small groups will read and discuss true personal immigrant stories.

b. Show the short film Lengua and discuss

c. Interactive role play: for workshop participants to gain a deeper understanding of what it is like to function in a second language.

d. Self-reflection exercise Harvard Implicit Bias Test Hispanic Americans/European Americans

Objectives:

1. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience through the following: discussions, role plays and multimedia presentations.
2. Participants will reflect on how they can use this deeper understanding of the immigrant experience to inform their professional practice.

Partnering with Congregations to Address Social Connection and Coherence
Presented by: Jay Foster & Anastasia Holman
Session I

Spiritual Care and chaplaincy in the Health Care Setting has traditionally focused on in-patient care needs of patients, their loved ones and team members. Similarly, ACPE has invested curriculum and outcomes for professional development weighted heavily towards this context. Anecdotally, chaplaincy tends to partner with colleagues in palliative care, ethics, social work, and providers. However, the United States spends much more on health care as a share of the economy (17.1 percent of GDP in 2017, using data from the World Health Organization [WHO][9]) than other large, advanced economies like Germany (11.2 percent) and the United Kingdom (9.6 percent), with lackluster outcomes in almost all measures. To improve health care outcomes, health care systems increasingly strive to improve preventative care and utilize community health efforts to move upstream by addressing social impediments to health. Spiritual Care can be more relevant in this current environment by 1) providing spiritual care in out-patient and community settings, 2) partnering with colleagues in Community Health, Community Benefit and Population Health, and 3) working with our natural allies in congregational settings and faith based-organizations to improve community health.

We advocate a robust integrated care model—spiritual care across the continuum, from in-patient to out-patient to community involvement, with spiritual care education and research as the critical backbone of the work. Indiana University Health’s Congregational Care Network launched in 2020 to partner with congregations to address social isolation and loneliness for older patients with chronic illness. CCN worked closely with IU Health Physician’s outpatient clinics, with our ACPE faculty, with our Community Health, Population Health, and Care Coordination departments to build this model of care. Positive outcomes to date: CCN has moved from grant funded pilot project to operations, from 1 partner to 35 congregations from different faith traditions, serving over 800 patients. Pre and post survey of the DeJong Gierveld Loneliness Inventory demonstrates statistically significant improvement in patient’s expressed experience relative to social isolation and loneliness. Hospital Readmissions have improved by 4 % for CCN patients as compared to a control group in a Quality Improvement project, and ED utilization demonstrates a decrease in ED volumes and increase in primary care utilization.

Based on this experience, we encourage our ACPE colleagues to consider enhancing educational offerings by including curriculum in public health literacy, population health outcomes and community organization/ leadership

Poetry As Healer: Vision, Voice and Vulnerability In Motion
Presented by: Trina Leshay Williams
Session III

It has been my experience in the 12 years of offering these types of workshops, that Poetry As Healer is an extension of the action/reflection/action clinical method of education. In my workshops, I adapt this model to a read/write/recite opportunity for shared vulnerability and connection. This is congruent to the theme of "Looking in, Reaching Out and Building Together as we celebrate our values, share our voices, and grow our vision together!"

During our time together, I will facilitate the group in the reading of a poem, sacred text or literary fragment. Then we will engage in a time of reflection through writing - writing what has come up from the reading. Finally, I will offer a courageous space to the sharing of what was born from the writing process.

Portraits, Photographs, Pastoral Care, and Impossible Masculinity
Presented by: Jamar Turner
Session IV

This presentation is one chaplain’s process of integration of self as public artist, public theologian, and spiritual care professional. Birthed from his ongoing scholarship on womanist care for black men, this presentation looks at the role of African American portrait artist and critical artist intervention to form a theory of artcare that disrupts black male stereotypes and provides care recipients with artistic outlets from pre-womanist art therapy pioneers.

Recasting CPE as DEI: Spiritual Care Education as a pillar of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Presented by: Wesley Sun
Sessions II & IV

University of Chicago Medicine has recently relaunched its CPE program after a 10-year hiatus. This new era of CPE learning, training, and exploration has been enthusiastically embraced through migrating the entire Spiritual Care Department to its new home under the Urban Health Initiative’s DEI division. By recasting Spiritual Care as a pillar of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, we have been allowed unprecedented levels of interdepartmental learning and interdisciplinary collaboration, while also being given new tools and resources for self-study and program innovation. Through this workshop, we will offer case study for review and present new CPE models for learning that others in the ACPE world might emulate, modify, and custom tailor to their own contexts. Our pilot programs truly live into the themes of looking in, reaching out, and building together – and we just can’t wait to share with you this exciting and innovative work. As a department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, our CPE program has already included nurses, massage therapists, social workers, and palliative care physicians – all in just our first year. By the time the ACPE Annual Conference rolls around in May 2024, we will have further case studies to offer from conversations already underway with Public Safety, Patient Transport, Child Life specialists, Medical Students, Violence Recovery Program (VRP) workers, and more.

Because DEI programming is inherently interdepartmental and includes an emphasis on education and training, colleagues from multiple service areas have been quick to sign on. As DEI, Clinical Pastoral Education now holds the same interdepartmental value and relevance as, for example, ameliorating implicit bias, growing in LGBTQ health awareness, and developing transformative justice training, to name just a few. Likewise, this recasting has prompted us to develop new Verbatim models and clinical assignments to live into the fulfillment of our DEI commitments. Fortunately, our revised ACPE Outcomes and Indicators happen to graft very well onto these efforts, Likert scale and all. To this end, our workshop will also include ways to correlate our new CPE curriculum with these pioneering DEI efforts. The workshop itself will be offered in an engaging, interactive, multimedia conversation. Because we seek to invite and amplify culturally, religiously, and professionally diverse voices in the conversation, colleagues from around the country will be zoomed in, offer pre-recorded remarks, and offer their uniquely lived experiences and perspectives. These guests will include colleagues and former students who can participate in this workshop from their experience as differently abled, neurodivergent, multilingual, and drawing from non-theistic wisdom.

A far cry from routinely cycling through Power Point slides, I will tap into my work as a visual storyteller and creative writer to convey information and invite discussion through a variety of media. Part of being a pillar of diversity, equity, and inclusion is recognizing that conference attendees will inhabit a wide variety learning styles, types of intelligence, means of expression, and ways of processing information. Therefore, this workshop is steadfast in its commitment to communicate through media beyond written and spoken English words, so that all may join in and participate fully. If accepted, this workshop will seek to not only recast CPE as DEI, but to reinvigorate and challenge the way we communicate together at our annual conference.

Religious and Spiritual Implications For Functional Anger
Presented by: Carol ZA McGinnis PhD, SIP, BC-TMH, NCC, LCPC (MD)
Session III

Dysfunctional anger has risen as a national problem as evidenced by the increase in hostile interactions between citizens that include incomprehensible violence and shootings. Counselors are faced with anger in session on a regular basis and need to have tools that will help the client to make sense of this powerful emotion for positive outcomes that will impact not only their own life – but that of others. There is a paucity of research on functional anger despite a recent emphasis in our profession for positive psychology and wellness models and it can be difficult to understand how religious and spiritual beliefs influence the angering process.  This workshop promises to introduce a new way to approach anger as a positive way to help clients build empathy and understanding at a spiritual level.

Learning Objectives:

1.  understand how religious/spiritual beliefs and values can impact anger in psychotherapy
2. engage in psychotherapy with a client according to ethical competencies and codes
3. implement psycho-spiritual interventions to help the client navigate anger in a therapeutic session

Spiritual and Behavioral Applications of the Beatitudes
Presented by: Darla Roundtree and Patricia Wilson-Cone
Session II

This workshop will build upon ACPE's commitment to Anti-Bias Efforts in the following areas: Gender Identity, Ableism, and Race. Our proposal emphasizes the importance of the Spiritual and Behavioral applications of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11). The Certified Educator, LCSW, and participants decide on the version. Daily affirmations and therapeutic exercises will accentuate self-care, unity, health maintenance, and stress prevention. Participants will be taught how to embody these principles in daily life.

We will facilitate transparent sharing in small groups, encourage participants to
write a statement about where they find themselves in their journey.
Exercises will be interactive and affirming. We will incorporate the ACPE Outcomes and Indicators from a Behavioral health and collectivist perspective.

For example, we will utilize motivational interviewing to apply the beatitude ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit”.A person who fully acknowledges their need for help is signifying that they are not functioning from a place of denial. Acknowledging and unearthing your challenges makes room for healing that would otherwise be repressed with shame, pride, and fear. It is not our job to know all the answers. Simply acknowledging what you lack and opening up to support opens a door for healing.

Gather in groups of 3 and ask/answer the following questions:
In what areas in your life can you adopt the ability to ask for help?
What challenges do you tend to conceal?
What keeps you from opening up about your challenges?
What might you need to relinquish to let in the support you need?
Who are 3 individuals that you trust to support you in your journey?
How do we support our friends/loved ones who have limited abilities to ask for help?

Spiritual Care at the Courthouse: Supporting Victims, Survivors, Witnesses at Violent Hate-Crime Trials
Presented by: Rabbi Naomi Kalish
Session IV

In this workshop we will present two case studies for providing care to people at the courthouses for federal trials after incidents that involved the intersections of violence and hate crimes. The two cases, the 2023 trial for the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue building in Pittsburgh 2018 at which eleven people were murdered and the 2016 trial for the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in 2015 at which nine people were murdered, both involved attacks against groups that were both religious and racial or ethnic at houses of worship during religious activities. In both cases, the perpetrator survived, stood trial and the death penalty was a potential conviction.

The Pittsburgh Jewish community gained both guidance and support from the Mother Emanuel Church as they prepared for their own trial, including to meet the ongoing emotional and psychological needs of a traumatized community and to prepare for the intensification of trauma during the trial itself. The Pittsburgh community reached out to me in my capacity as the Director of Pastoral Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary to organize the provision of chaplaincy services at the courthouse. As “courthouse chaplaincy” is a new frontier for caregiving, I connected with Chaplain Eric Skidmore who oversaw chaplaincy in Charleston, South Carolina during the Mother Emanuel trial. (To read more about the Pittsburgh trial chaplaincy, see At the Tree of Life trial, I learned that a courthouse could be a place of healing | Naomi Kalish | The Blogs (timesofisrael.com)). Chaplain Skidmore and the Mother Emanuel Church have created a case study of their experience to help Army Chaplains learn about providing pastoral care in the aftermath of violent hate crimes.

CPE and the provision of chaplaincy in the United States take place in the most violent high-income country in the world. In research compiled by the University of Washington, among high-income countries with populations over 10 million, the United States ranks number one (4.5 per 100,000) and has the highest percentage of childhood deaths caused by firearms (approximately 8%) (see On gun violence, the United States is an outlier | The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (healthdata.org)). Further, the United States has seen an increase in hate crimes. Collecting date for bias-motivated hate crimes regarding race/ethnicity/ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender, the United States Department of Justice reported an increase from 10,530 crimes in 2021 to 11,288 crimes in 2022, a 7% increase (Hate Crimes | United States Department of Justice | Hate Crimes | Facts and Statistics).

CPE students, CPE educators, and chaplains function within this societal context and encounter aspects of violence and hate in a variety of ways, including direct pastoral caregiving to victims and perpetrators of crimes, spiritual care and support during community crises, and navigation of these realities when they touch their lives directly. As CPE groups are often diverse, incidents of bias and violence affect different CPE groups members differently, prompting the learning challenge of caring for others in their distinctive suffering.

In presenting these case studies, I, along with a panel of chaplains from other trials, will connect the presentation of the history of these incidents and description of the provision of care to Category B of the ACPE Outcomes and Indicators: Awareness of Self and Others. The presentation will discuss trauma-informed approaches to self care while providing spiritual care in this context (Category 1). As these incidents are related to bias and hate crimes, the presentation will also discuss Outcomes 2, Justice-seeking Awareness of Bias, and Outcome 3: Intercultural and Interreligious humility.

Supporting Families in Transition: Evolving Gender Identities in Family Systems Perspective
Presented by: Natalie Kertes Weaver, PhD
Sessions I and II

My goal is to establish a theoretical framework for considering how gender transitions are not exclusively individual journeys but rather whole community transitions. Reframing transitioning through a developmental-communal perspective may have therapeutic benefits for transitioning individuals and their loved ones.

Through the lenses of personhood, sexual maturation, and psycho-social differentiation as eschatological realities, transitioning may be reframed as a systems growth opportunity for how we narrate and manifest gender-becoming. Such a reframing saves gender transitioning from its pathologized story for individuals and families. Even more, this reframe invites broad and constructive possibilities for dynamic gender experiences in the spheres of self-actualization, family relationships, and social participation.

My workshop will include a formal presentation of my ideas, with an accompanying paper available before the meeting, to be followed by guided discussion and feedback from attendees.

The workshop goals will be:
1) to advance new framework possibilities for
understanding transitioning;
2) to generate ideas for supportive clinical practice and education;
and
3) to establish a network of individuals invested in this work.

Teaching and Learning Swing Dance: An Experience-based Metaphor for A Cancer Staff Inservice
Presented by: Jack Evert
Session IV

Goals:
1. Why experience-based metaphors are central to changing a person’s perspective.
2. Why experience-based metaphors are person-centered and work well with resistance.
3. How the Presenter can draw on life experiences to determine what metaphorical concepts might be needed and what expressive activities embody them.
4. Understand the role of the Presenter when the experience, and the responses, makes up the content of a presentation.

PART A. Using a brief dance lesson to understand what emotional dynamics come into play. Both experienced and beginning dancers are welcome. This will parallel what experience-based metaphor was used with the staff of an outpatient Cancer Program. The goal of the in-service was to instill or gain a perspective that results in “Compassion.” (30 min.)

PART B. Case Study. Inservice for an Outpatient Cancer Program (60 min. )
Presenting Problem: Difficulties relating to active alcoholics, addicts and those with a mental illness coming into an Outpatient Cancer Treatment Program for treatment. The in-service was 1 ½ hour in length. A sack lunch was included.

Discuss the approach taken to develop the in-service.
1. What perspective/metaphorical concept is needed for the staff to gain compassion?
2. How is changing their perspective towards this population in their best interest?
3. How does the Presenter draw on their experience to identify the needed perspective and identify which expression embodies this perspective. Create an experience which is inviting, emotionally engaging, could learn something about what they bring to the experience of relating to this population.
4. Staff would share what caught their attention in the experience of “Teaching and Learning Swing Dance.” The responses would be discussed and shown relevance to this population.

EVALUATION.
Jack, Thank-you for taking the time to craft an in-service for our staff. It was fresh, effective, and helped staff to look at life a little differently. And we had a great time too! I am very grateful we have you here, even if it's but for a short while. You have already made a difference. M.C. VP of Oncology Services. After the completion of the Inservice, the staff asked for two more in-services. Those in-services drew on how they could view Medical Histories through the lens of J. Bowlby’s Attachment Theory. 1. explain, 2. summarize. 3. illustrate, 4. Apply

The Impact of Liturgical Dance on Spiritual Distress
Presented by: Sarita Wilson-Anderson
Sessions II & III

Dance is an expressive art form that allows an individual to communicate either with oneself or another individual through movement. Some believe dance has therapeutic meaning and value as well as being aesthetically pleasing. One such form of dance, also known as dance or movement therapy is “based on the empirically supported premise that the body, mind and spirit are interconnected” (American Dance Therapy Association, 2009, para. 1). According to the ADTA (2009), dance/movement therapy is “the psychotherapeutic use of movement to further the emotional, cognitive, physical and social integration of the individual” (para. 1).

There is a vast amount of academic data to support the therapeutic benefits of dance therapy on the mind and body through several genres of dance and body movement, including creative movement, modern dance, ballroom dancing, and yoga. There is, however, another form of dance – liturgical dance that is prevalent in many Christian churches as well as in other faith traditions. The use of liturgical dance in Christian churches or sacred dance forms in other faiths has been described as a tool that promotes therapeutic healing and a connection with a higher power.
Liturgical dance is a means of spiritual self-expression that allows the participant to experience healing from spiritual distress and mood disorders. Differing individual interpretations of movement suggests that liturgical dance initiates in the heart of the dancer and is authentic and pure. As the liturgical dance movement commences from the deepest most spiritual prayers and pours out of the dancer’s body, it becomes evident that the movement is a genuine means to communicate with the divine.

Liturgical dance creates a sacred place for one to dialogue with God. This form of dance is a phenomenon of self-expression as the dancer allows their spirit, soul, and body to unite with God. Through this connection, the soul is awakened to cry out, lament, petition, pray, listen, reverence, worship, and celebrate with God. Whether through choreographed movement or free-form self-expression, whether simple or highly skilled, whether with a group or through one's unique movement, liturgical dance allows one to tap into the healing of power of God that lies within their hearts through movement. Once one accesses this divine power and inspiration, there is healing, deliverance, and the fullness of joy.

Liturgical dance may be considered an effective coping technique that can easily be incorporated in pastoral counseling regimens. Pastoral counselors can recommend the utilization of liturgical dance as a stand-alone mode of coping or in conjunction with talk therapy.

The Pastoral Care Specialist Program as Training for Healthcare Chaplains in Frontline Colleague Care
Presented by: Aaron Pawelek & Bill Foster
Session IV

The Pastoral Care Specialist Training Program (PCS) is a 48-hour curriculum developed to train parish and community-based faith leaders in basic knowledge and skills from the behavioral sciences. The objective of this program offered by ACPE psychotherapists is for participants to enhance their ministries of care by improving their capacity to respond to care receivers effectively, ethically, and safely.

During the latter stages of the Covid 19 Pandemic, the spiritual care leadership team at Trinity Health (TH), a nationally scoped and Catholic sponsored health system, recognized that front-line healthcare worker wellness had reached a crisis point. TH chaplains, recognized for their care of frontline colleagues as part of their patient care during the height of the pandemic, were identified as being best positioned to provide ongoing frontline colleague care, but now with specific methods and goals in mind to include daily care rounding on frontline colleagues, assessment of emotional need with supportive intervention as appropriate, and referral to organizational colleague support (EAP) as needed. A method for colleague care confidential data collection, reporting, and response was piloted for an eventual system rollout. Additionally, a training program for chaplains doing what is essentially “workplace chaplaincy” was also needed. TH sponsored an initial PCS training for 16 Spiritual Care managers and/or chaplains during 2023, led by ACPE psychotherapist, Aaron Pawelek, LICSW.

Attendees of this workshop will receive:
1. An overview ACPE's PCS curriculum
2. A review of the ways in which TH spiritual care leadership, the program participants, and the facilitator adapted the program to align with TH’s objectives
3. An opportunity to think broadly about integrating psychotherapy program offerings into the broader mission of ACPE

Those are My Spiritual Toes You Just Stepped on – Interreligious and Multi-spiritual Conversations
Presented by: Julie Hanada
Session III

Don’t you think it’s about time we had some interreligious, interfaith, multi-spiritual conversations? Or at least tried it out?
As religious and spiritual beings, we provide spiritual care for those in our care, and/or those we are educating to do this work. ACPE educators teach individuals to have conversations with people from any religious, spiritual or nonbelief, in all circumstances, facing all kinds of, and often in the worst of tragedies. In our association, we are learning to talk about most anything, including racial bias and discrimination, thanks to the work of the Anti-Bias Work Group. But in our association, we do not, or perhaps not enough yet, had much interreligious dialogue. Why do I think this is important? Because as a Buddhist, I do not belong to the religious majority. As a member of an underrepresented religious group, my experiences of feeling religiously and spiritual unwelcomed, ignored, and/or tokenized, in our association and at association events are consistent. If that is my experience, how do those in our care feel? As religious and spiritual beings, I believe we can do better. I do not know how it will work out, but I do believe we can try, and I invite you to join the conversation.

This workshop time will be an interactive, participatory activity of interreligious, multi-spiritual beings talking together about why we love this work, how our own faith and spiritual foundations inform and shape us, how to not step on each other’s toes when we talk together, and how to navigate the conversations when we do. And, how to support our students to provide care that attends to and focuses on the religious and spiritual issues of those in their care. We will refer to and make connections with all the categories in the Revised Outcomes and indicators. Discussion facilitators will be comprised of a variety of underrepresented religious and spiritual individuals.

Three Approaches to Improv in Spiritual Care Education: Play, Embodiment, and Use of Self
Presented by: M. Colette Alleman Gaffney, Krisha Arvin and Mark Feldbush
Session IV

Participants will come away from this workshop not only with diverse theoretical positions but also games, tools, and exercises they can do with their own students to integrate embodied learning into the group learning experience.

Krisha Arvin is the Manager of Clinical Pastoral Education for Norton Healthcare. She is an ACPE Certified Educator trained in Atlanta, Georgia and is also an APC Board Certified Chaplain certified in Palliative Care & Hospice Chaplaincy. Krisha is known for her innovative incorporation of Improv Theory into the education of Chaplain Interns & Residents, as well as medical students, Medical Residents & Fellows, and nursing students. Krisha earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Emory University and her Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology (in Atlanta, Georgia). She is an African-American woman of Christian faith in her mid-forties, the former wife of a librarian from Kentucky, and the mother of two biracial sons (ages 14 &12).

Mark Feldbush is a European American man who coordinates the CPE program at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH. He and his wife have two adult daughters and two loveable dogs. Mark has incorporated aspects of improv into his curriculum since 2014. He holds a DMin from Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit where he wrote his dissertation on the use of applied improvisation in his CPE curriculum. Mark also contributed the chapter, "The Improvising Chaplain" in the book Love Does Not Control.

M. Colette Alleman Gaffney (they/them/theirs) is a White queer, agender, disabled, Disciples of Christ chaplain and CPE Educator who supervises the CPE program at Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, LA. Colette fell in love with improv in 2020 during the COVID pandemic on the eve of being certified as an ACPE Educator in the current process and completing their DMin at Union Theological Seminary. If given the chance Colette would write their entire theory using improv in CPE and church ministry. In addition to using improv in CPE they have been adapting improv to their ministry as pastor of First Christian Church of Gulfport. Improv has helped them embrace their multi-dimensional self (including their clown, Tinsel the Truth Teller), find community after discharging from the US Army Reserves, and learn to play in the practice of spiritual care and education.

Krisha, Mark, and Colette met at the 2023 ACPE Conference in New Orleans where Colette presented on Improv in CPE. Since then, they have emailed and shared more about their distinct approaches to improv in CPE and thus a new workshop proposal has been born. These three Educators seek to bring to the 2024 ACPE Conference an experiential workshop that shares not only how they each use improv in CPE but how it uniquely informs their 3 different theories of supervision and education.
• Krisha draws from improv theory itself and makes direct correlations between the tenets of improv and the "rules" of CPE. For the purposes of translating improv language into CPE language she explains to her students that "Improvisation is the experiential use of self to respond in the moment to the spiritual care needs of persons." Krisha uses improv as both an educational theory and a modality.
• Through the use of applied improvisation and action explorations, Mark teaches his CPE students to pay attention to their world, to listen deeply to one another, and to become fully embodies spiritual care practitioners. Mark’s theory of improvisational spiritual care draws on the work of Upright Citizens Brigade, Improv Wisdom by Patricia Madson, Jacob Moreno’s Sociodrama theory, and Rollo May’s existential work.
• Colette draws upon their experience as an improvising clown. Clowns, like spiritual caregivers, tell the truth and reflect the human experience in profound ways through performing their own humanity and in play. Colette does not use improv so much as a theory but as a way of being in the world and as a modality that engages students in holistic learning.

Transforming Chaplaincy Education: What Do Chaplains Really Need to Know?
Presented by: David Fleenor
Session I

Chaplaincy education programs are proliferating in theological schools to meet the increasing demand for chaplains. Unfortunately, there is no consensus among seminary professors and clinical pastoral educators about what aspiring healthcare chaplains need to learn, resulting in long and costly educational processes. These problems have led thought leaders to call for significant educational reforms including the development of new curricula for academic degrees and CPE. This workshop will present information from two studies of novel stakeholders – early career chaplains and healthcare chaplaincy hiring manager – about what they think aspiring chaplains need to know to be successful healthcare chaplains. Participants will work together to brainstorm the core curriculum components (objectives, content, and learning experiences) of future healthcare chaplaincy training programs.

Transforming Spiritual Care: An Anti-Bias Workshop for Chaplain Educators
Presented by: Dr. Jamie Eaddy
Session I

In an evolving world, chaplains' roles have become increasingly complex, requiring a deep understanding of diversity, inclusion, and anti-bias efforts in the realm of spiritual and emotional care. A cursory survey of chaplaincy programs demonstrates a lack of attention to the needs of those with two or more “marginalized” identities. The "Transforming Spiritual Care" workshop empowers chaplain educators with the knowledge and skills needed to meet the diverse needs of their chaplaincy programs. Join us on a journey to explore interlocking systems of oppression, confront our biases, assess curricula, and cultivate a decolonizing pedagogical approach for clinical pastoral education while pondering what it truly means to "do no harm."

Using Expressive Art Forms with CECs, CPE students, Chaplains, and Clients
Presented by: Rev. Dr. Jan Mccormack
Session I and IV

This interactive, 90-minute workshop explores the history, rational, and benefits of using expressive arts with CPE and CEC students. Several key modalities of the expressive arts will be addressed with an emphasis on the visual arts, music, and media arts. Through lecture, demonstration, and hands on workshop experiences, attendees will be exposed to a gamut of creative art forms that can be utilized to form their professional educator and chaplain toolboxes.

Using the Family Sculpture in the CPE Curriculum
Presented by: Paul Gaffney
Session III

This workshop will introduce the use of the Family Sculpture as an educational tool in the CPE curriculum. The Family Sculpture is a Psychodrama activity introduced by experiential family therapists David Kantor, Fred Duhl, and Bunny Duhl; further developed by Virginia Satir. In this adaptation, the exercise can help an Educator identify students’ learning issues and help students identify family dynamics and patterns of behavior which may show up in their spiritual care encounters or other ministry work.
This exercise engages CPE Outcomes A1, A2, C1, C2, C3, E3, E4.
This adaptation of the Family Sculpture invites the student to remember a scene from their family of origin, assign roles, lines, and movements to peers, set them in the physical space of the classroom, and interact with the scene as it is played out. The student and peers then reflect on their experiences from their points of view in the activity. The student is then offered the opportunity to reconstruct the scene in “magical space” where anything is possible and the scene can be created in whatever way the student can imagine. Peers and student then reflect on their experiences and the differences between the two scenes.

Objectives of the workshop are:
• To introduce an adaptation of Family Sculpting for use with CPE students
• To demonstrate the Family Sculpture in real time and provide step by step guidance through the process
• To provide an opportunity to CPE Educators to discern whether to use the exercise in their program
Engaging the exercise, students may have some catharsis or embody a somatic expression. This may further inform their learning by providing an experiential touchstone in their CPE journey. The Family Sculpture also contributes to group cohesiveness and provides opportunities for empathic connection between and among peers.

What About Movement? - Integrating Movement Intervention In Spiritual Care
Presented by: Chaplain Dana Rainey
Session IV

Movement is a meaningful and enjoyable activity that promotes physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellness. It allows for non-verbal expression and can be part of a ritual. Within health care settings, patients with acute and chronic conditions can safely engage in small movements and observe our movements as part of our spiritual care work. This workshop invites you to explore creative movement and discover ways movements can spiritually and emotionally support patients.

Workshop participants will engage in creative movement warm-up exercises, group movement, case studies, and discussion. They will be equipped to provide movement intervention to patients as a part of their spiritual care work.

When Words Don’t Matter: Teaching Feelings and Socio-Emotional Skills in CPE
Presented by: Dani J. Buhuro
Sessions I & IV

“People may forget what you said, but they never forget how you made them feel.” This popular saying by noted author Maya Angelou sums up how we ultimately define socio-emotional skills. Western civilization would cause us to believe that the sum of our lives is defined by our academic, material and economic achievements, however these are superficial measures to say the least. Eastern civilization teaches us to value our socio-emotional status more. This workshop will teach participants how to embody and teach the 5 S’s of socio-emotional skills in CPE: Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Self-Motivation, Social Relationships and Social Skills. Thus, by the end of the workshop, participants will learn how CPE students’ leadership identity and skills will drastically improve as a result of learning and embodying these five characteristics in CPE.