Clinical Pastoral Education

Clinical Pastoral Education is interfaith professional education for ministry. It brings theological students, ordained clergy and qualified laypersons into supervised encounters with people in crisis.

Intense involvement with patients and family members plus feedback from peers and teachers give CPE students a new awareness of themselves and those to whom they minister.

They gain new perspectives on their ministry through theological reflections on real-life situations, and they develop skills through interpersonal and interprofessional relationships.

The CPE Program at Providence Sacred Heart is accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. and offers credit for units of CPE. One unit includes a minimum of 400 hours of clinical supervision and education.

Type of Units Offered

We have two types of programs, Intensive and Extended. We offer Extended once a year from the last week of September to April for 30 weeks with 4 hours of class time a week and 15 hours of clinical hours per week. Intensive programs run each quarter of the year, Fall (Sept – Nov), Winter, Spring and Summer with 12 weeks and one week break between units with clinical work only. Students will need to find a Clinical Site with which we sign a contract for a Clinical Site Agreement to fulfill the required 300 hours. Currently, 100 hours of class/group time utilizes the online option. The tuition is $600 per unit; for non-Providence hospital affiliation as a clinical site, the tuition cost is $3000 per unit of CPE.

Additional Links

• ACPE Application Form
• Association for Clinical Pastoral Education website
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Admissions to CPE Units
• Financial Requirements for Clinical Pastoral Education Students

11 Week Intensive Unit Schedule