At Meriter Health Services, Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is an educational process providing spiritual care to patients, families and staff while developing pastoral competencies through supervised reflection. The Meriter CPE Program offers a rich learning environment while seeking participants of diverse cultural and religious traditions.

Program Benefits

As a CPE participant, you will:

• Provide a person-centered approach to spiritual care as a member of the interdisciplinary health care team.
• Take part in a process of learning through:
  • Pastoral practice
  • Verbatim and case studies
  • Integrative theory and practice papers
  • Seminars
  • Peer group and individual supervision
  • Relevant reading
• Evaluate the effectiveness of your ministry style in relation to the needs of the persons being served while integrating perspectives from pastoral ministry, psychology, theology and other behavioral sciences. This takes place through supervised peer group reflection and individual consultation with a certified ACPE supervisor.

CPE Programs

Residency

The Residency Program provides a full year, intensive, postgraduate pastoral care training program. Meriter offers placements in the hospital acute care setting. Four units of CPE are completed in a year. Benefits include a competitive stipend, two weeks of vacation, six holidays, medical/dental coverage, an educational stipend, and rotating weekends on call. Interviews for this program begin in March.
Dates: September - August
Prerequisites: One unit of CPE and completion of Admissions Procedure

Internship (12 Weeks)

Four times per year, qualified applicants are admitted for an eleven-week, non-stipend internship in conjunction with the Residency Program.
Dates: Coincides with unit dates for Residency Program
Prerequisite: Completion of Admissions Procedure

Internship (26 Weeks)

This program is for people from all walks of life who want to achieve the goals of CPE while maintaining their employment. One unit of CPE is completed in six months. A minimum of 15 hours per week of pastoral ministry and education are completed at Meriter Health Services. This program is open to lay people, clergy, parish nurses, seminarians and parish visitation personnel. It is well suited for those who serve solo or in isolated settings, and for those who are looking for collegial support.
Dates: Begins in September and March
Prerequisite: Completion of Admission Procedure

Admissions Procedure

• Submit a Standard ACPE Application (available in the ACPE Web site or by calling (608) 417-6480).
• Admissions Interview – Admission decisions are made on the basis of learning readiness, ability to function in all aspects of the program applied for, and group composition. The program is in full compliance with ACPE standards and with Meriter's Equal Employment Opportunity and Equal Service Opportunity policies and standards.

Tuition (All Programs)

• First unit of CPE is $750.
• Subsequent units are $500.

Supervision Staff

Rev. Jeff Billerbeck, American Baptist, was ordained in 1984. He has served as a chaplain in psychiatric and geriatric settings, supervising programs of CPE since 1986. He became Meriter's Director of Spiritual Care in 2000. As the CPE supervisor, he brings a passion for the development and integration of one's pastoral functioning with oneís spirituality and the modern sciences through the CPE process.

12/3/2007