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News

  • For your professional ethics edification in March

    Mar 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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    Improving Access to Education

    Feb 25, 2022

    Our Foundation Board met in January to begin the work of prioritizing new funding opportunities. We discussed how to meaningfully use the expanded available endowment income of $175,000 annually to support our work, especially following through on our commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

  • Bits and Pieces

    Feb 25, 2022

    We are experiencing a minor thaw in my area. Chicago has been in the midst of a normal winter, with occasional snaps of cold bluster but nothing like I remember from my childhood when winds snatched children up, spun us around, and placed us back on the sidewalk with tears lining our eyes. Winters seem stronger from back then.

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    Un-numbing

    Feb 24, 2022

    Rev. Miguel Santamaria is a Certified Educator at Morton Plant Hospital and wrote the poem, "Un-numbing"

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    Hell, and Held

    Feb 21, 2022

    Rev. Miguel Santamaria is a Certified Educator at Morton Plant Hospital and wrote the poem, "Hell, and Held"

  • A Better Life

    Feb 21, 2022

    In the United States, you and I are more likely to have surgery in the last week of our lives than at any other time in our lives – A time in our lives when we are less likely to see its benefit. At an Institute of Medicine Conference recently, Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, shared this fact and noted that between 1988 and 2010 “the experience of people at the end of life is that they have more pain, more depression, more difficulties and confusion … they are all increased at the end of life without evident benefit.” And so, he says, what we have seen is a 50 year experiment with medicalizing mortality”.

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    Taking a Moment for Poetry

    Feb 16, 2022

    Each week, a “poem for reflection” is included in “This Week,” the ACPE newsletter. I am often asked where we find the poems that are included. I thought it might be helpful to share several of the resources I use to identify those poems, hoping they might prove helpful to you in your work.

  • ACPE’s Anti-Bias Working Group: What’s That?

    Feb 10, 2022

    Did you know ACPE has an Anti-Bias Working Group (ABWG)? Have you ever wondered what we do? As we begin work in 2022, we see our work as integral to ACPE’s mission, vision and values. ACPE’s mission is to positively affect people’s lives by nurturing connections to the sacred through experiential education and spiritual care. The ABWG’s mission is to resource ACPE to embed and embrace anti-bias and antiracism at every level and at every expression of our organization. ACPE’s vision is to create measurable and appreciable improvement in spiritual health that transforms people and communities in the US and across the globe. The ABWG’s vision is to champion the anti-bias and anti-racist orientation and practices that are essential to cultivating spiritual health and wellbeing.

  • COVID-19 and Clinical Pastoral Education

    Feb 9, 2022

    "COVID-19 and Clinical Pastoral Education: How ACPE Educators Pivoted Amid the Pandemic", examined how ACPE-certified educators responded to maintain program delivery. Survey results from 210 educators found a substantial and abrupt increase in both synchronous and asynchronous remote delivery for instruction and supervision as well as adaptations for maintaining clinical practice. The study identified the use and helpfulness of professional, organizational, and technology resources, including ACPE peers and feedback from students among those most valuable.

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    It’s time to take stock

    Feb 4, 2022

    The pandemic has impacted my body, among other things. For the first time in two years, I went to a yoga class last week and discovered just how inflexible my body had become during the pandemic. I used to feel like my sun salutations flowed (fairly) well. I was a little clunky when my 6’4” frame went down for an upward-facing dog; still, I appreciated the flexibility yoga had given me into my mid 50’s.

  • Homage to Stu Plummer. A kind of homily.

    Feb 3, 2022

    ACPE Retired Educator Alex Lukens wrote a homage to ACPE Emeritus Educator Stu Plummer who died on December 15, 2021.

  • For your professional ethics edification in February

    Feb 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

  • 2022 Psychotherapy Webinar Series

    Feb 1, 2022

    ACPE’s Psychotherapy Webinar Series brings leaders from the field of psychotherapy to ACPE members and guests. The program content is aimed at psychotherapists but will be of interest and value to educators, chaplains, and CPE students as well. Each webinar is approved for 1.5 hours of NBCC continuing education credit. ACPE provides these webinars free of charge to ACPE members. Non-members are welcome at a cost of $20 per webinar.

  • 2022 Conference Registration is Open

    Jan 31, 2022

    Register now for the 2022 Joint Conference "Freedom, Wonder, and Liberation: Anti-Bias Practices of Spiritual Care and Education" taking place May 9-12, 2022.

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    ACPE is Your Home For Spiritually Integrative Psychotherapy

    Jan 31, 2022

    There’s a local car dealership in Philadelphia that always ends its television ads with the owner of the dealership saying, “I’ve always been your dealer, even if you didn’t know it.” It may seem weirdly disjointed to summon a car dealer slogan for my inaugural newsletter entry as the new chair of the Psychotherapy Commission, but this slogan uniquely captures my sincere wish and desire: ACPE is your home for spiritually integrative psychotherapy.

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    Saying Goodbye

    Jan 27, 2022

    In 2017, I took what might have been the biggest risk of my professional life. I left a job and colleagues that I dearly loved to come work at ACPE. It was a time of great transition for ACPE, and I was excited about what I could bring to the role of supporting our educators and programs. We embarked on a two-year campaign to visit all our accredited CPE centers, to meet with stakeholders, answer questions about the changes, and build connections with the more centralized ACPE infrastructure.

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    Call for ACPE Service Award Nominations!

    Jan 24, 2022

    The Foundation for ACPE Service Awards Committee invites you to nominate yourself or a colleague for recognition of outstanding contributions or service to ACPE, the field(s) of spiritual care, pastoral counseling and/or psychotherapy. As an association, we are blessed with an abundance of talented, smart, and generous members. Who do you think deserves special recognition?

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    A New Chapter of Our Shared Story

    Jan 24, 2022

    In this new year the ACPE Foundation will open a new chapter. Our endowment has grown to over $8 million, and we have significantly more funds available for innovative grants.

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    2022: How do we continue building on the relational foundations that led to our successes?

    Jan 14, 2022

    Indie Arie sang about him in “One.” Bob Dylan sang about him in “They Killed Him.” Common and John Legend sang about him in “Glory.” U2 sang about him in “Pride.” And Stevie Wonder sang “Happy Birthday” to him.

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    For your professional ethics edification in January

    Jan 7, 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