News
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Strange and Stranger FruitMay 20, 2022
Strange fruit may no longer hang from poplar trees Nor do black bodies swing freely in the Southern breeze Yet our blood still flows at the roots Black folks blood Flows in the streets Flows in the church Flows in the aisles Flows in our homes Flows from our black bodies Flows
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Reflection on the Laguna Wood Taiwanese Church Shooting IncidentMay 20, 2022
The Laguna Wood Church shooting incident became a wake-up call for me. Receiving a text from my sister in Taiwan, informing me that my uncle’s church in California was the target of the shooting was shocking to me. There are different kinds of hate crimes; usually, they are racially motivated in the US context. However, this one is different. It is a politically motivated hate crime: A Chinese man decided to kill the Taiwanese because he hated them.
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Executive Director ArticleMay 13, 2022
We have enjoyed what has felt like an exceptionally beautiful spring in this part of the world. The temperatures have been mild, and the rain has come just often enough to make everything burst with life. It feels like the mood of the last two years has begun to lift. As we make our way around town, we see fewer masks, more hugs, and people gathered in restaurants, theaters, stores, and at the airport. We cannot help but be drawn together, especially after many months of separation and physical distancing.
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"Am I Qualified?"May 11, 2022
Ms. Susan Rogers[1] was a devout member of the Tabernacle Church all of her life. She taught Bible Study, led the Women’s Ministry, and was the most gifted baker in the small New England city where she resided for over 80 years. She managed to get by on her deceased husband’s pension, knowing her tithe and support of extended family required a modest lifestyle in the community known for low income, close-knit neighborhoods, and violence related to lack of jobs and limited housing.
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Built to EndureMay 3, 2022
A recent meeting with a supervisee led us to the topic of resilience for the psychotherapist and it occurred to me that I have reframed that for myself spiritually as being “built to endure.” I find myself reflecting on memories of living on a small farm in my youth. Ours was a simple yet hard lifestyle of making “do” with equipment that we had – keeping in mind the usefulness of particularly “dirty” jobs that required getting muddy or covered with dirt.
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For your professional ethics edification in MayApr 28, 2022
Once a month the ACPE Professional Ethics Commission (PEC) posts a couple of statements from our Code of Professional Ethics for ACPE Members. Each posting is accompanied by a brief personal reflection from a member of the PEC discussing some ways this person lives these commitments
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Looking Ahead in 2022Apr 28, 2022
The 2022 ACPE Annual Conference is presented jointly with the Association of Professional Chaplains. We’ve teamed up to offer “Freedom, Wonder, and Liberation: Anti-Bias Practices of Spiritual Care and Education.” I want to thank the conference planners for putting together a powerful tapestry of offerings. The conference speakers bring psychological and theological theories that give grounding for our deepening work as an anti-bias organization. As I’ve done some pre-conference reading from our speakers’ bodies of work, I realized the planning committee has knit together content that helps stretch us in our learning and more deeply integrate what we’ve known.
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Your Gifts at Work: “Taking CPE to the Streets”Apr 25, 2022
Thanks to the support of our faithful donors, in 2020, the Foundation for ACPE granted $21,000 in Innovative Program Awards to support “Taking CPE to the Streets,” an initiative led by ACPE Certified Educator Danielle Buhuro and Eden Theological Seminary Dean Sonja Williams. This project created an ACPE accredited CPE program in a context where seminarian CPE students could learn in a community – justice-oriented context. In doing so, they engaged the multiple pandemics of COVID-19 and police brutality as well as addressed the systemically biased based oppressions of urban communities made of people of color.
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It’s all connected … an Earth Month meditationApr 21, 2022
In this generation of climate-changing human impact, it can feel hard to know how and where to stand. The scale of change feels too huge and daunting for any one human. Human appetites for water and oil, food and convenience drive many of these challenges, but what difference can one human being make? And how do we keep our fatalism from proving fatal to more and more of us, more and more species, and the planetary home we share?
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Station ElevenApr 18, 2022
The church I attend here in Asheville, Circle of Mercy, meets on Sunday evenings in space shared by a host church, Land of the Sky United Church of Christ. On Good Friday each year, Land of the Sky creates a stations of the cross experience in their sanctuary, and this year, for the first time, I decided to go.
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Side EffectsApr 15, 2022
Rev. Miguel Santamaria is a Certified Educator at Morton Plant Hospital and wrote the poem, "Side Effects"
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This Work Matters
Apr 14, 2022
Have you seen the call for nominations for awards? As with every year, we want to celebrate our colleagues and recognize those who have been leaders in the movements of clinical pastoral education and spiritually integrated psychotherapy. These awards are a way of celebrating all of us, of making our increasing commitment to appreciative inquiry come alive in the stories and practices of colleagues. It is a way of reminding us who we are and why we do what we do.
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The Journey of Professional Spiritual IntegrationApr 11, 2022
About 90% of my clients indicate that they are either religious or spiritual. When I see this self-identification, I usually feel especially hopeful about my work with the person seeking healing. It gives me permission to ask about more than meets the visible eye, more than what the DSMV can capture.
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The Work of the Religion and Values Task Force of the Anti-Bias Work GroupApr 11, 2022
As our entire organization moves more deeply into its commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), the Religion and Values Task Force (RVTF) of the Anti-Bias Work Group is tasked with exploring religious and values-based exclusion in the ACPE.
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-full-color--small-zoomed.jpg?sfvrsn=275892ec_1 "RParker Headshot (Spring 2021) full color- small,zoomed")
Join the ACPE Behavioral Health Settings Community of PracticeApr 6, 2022
The ACPE Behavioral Health Settings Community of Practice was created for the intention of bringing together ACPE Certified Educators, CECs, and Clinical Members who serve in the unique contexts of Behavioral Health Settings and might benefit from context-specific consultation, continuing education, and community formation. This CoP was originated by Carl Yusavitz (ACPE Certified Educator, Penn Foundation), who served as convener until his retirement October 2020. Prior to his retirement, Carl asked for volunteers to serve as convener. Ryan Parker (Mental Health Chaplain/ ACPE Certified Educator, Durham VA Health Care System) is currently serving as convener.
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RitualApr 6, 2022
The following collaborative poem was created by the CPE group at MCFStillwater during an opening reflection. The particular form of the poem is called an Exquisite Corpse. Each member of the CPE group begins with a piece of paper, a pen, and their creativity. After receiving a prompt for inspiration, each member writes a poetic line and passes their paper to the right. Then each member reads the line written by the previous person, takes inspiration from that line, and writes their own corresponding line.
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Cracks in our grief make room for hope and new lifeApr 4, 2022
In the Lutheran church I attend, we are observing Lent. Since I was a boy, something has touched me deeply during mid-week and Sunday worship. Although I couldn’t articulate it as a young person, I’ve come to express it as this being a time of seeking deeper intimacy with the sacred. The Muslim tradition of Ramadan has also given me a framework during this time of year when I redirect my heart to that which gives my life meaning and purpose. Part of what I deal with during this time is an intentional reflection on grief. In my faith, I’ve come to experience that walking through my grief leads me to new possibilities and new life. During this time of year, it feels fitting that we observe such major religious traditions as Passover, Ramadan, Lent, and Easter that we are utilizing this time in our association’s life to reflect and search inward.
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For your professional ethics edification in AprilApr 3, 2022
Once a month the ACPE Professional Ethics Commission (PEC) posts a couple of statements from our Code of Professional Ethics for ACPE Members. Each posting is accompanied by a brief personal reflection from a member of the PEC discussing some ways this person lives these commitments
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Pulse CheckMar 30, 2022
Chelsea May LaRue is a Chaplain Resident at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, MO. In this resident year, Chelsea May is specializing in working with pediatric patients, their loved ones, and staff. Chelsea May uses journaling and poetry as a way to reflect on experiences in chaplaincy and CPE.
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Soulful Presence WelcomeMar 28, 2022
Whither pastoral counseling … or spiritually integrated counseling … or ACPE psychotherapists … or whatever the myriad descriptions (both adjectives and nouns) that we use to describe who we are and the work that we do? I have enjoyed participating in the formation of a Commission and membership within ACPE named “Psychotherapy.” I was a Fellow in AAPC for many years even though my primary livelihood and identify were much more connected to ACPE education. As a staff member for ACPE I supported the transition task force that made initial decisions about how to receive AAPC members into ACPE and how to shape the initial work of that group. Later I was elected as a Commission member. Through these iterations, I have frequently wondered, how do the various names and adjectives that we apply to our work matter? Undoubtedly, they matter, but how?