CPSP Little Rock Chapter

Over the years CPSP has been fortunate to have many good and dedicated individuals who have stepped up to the plate to volunteer their service for the larger well-being of the community. In fact, over the 25 years that CPSP has been in existence there have been countless hours of labor rendered by these good people who nurtured and supported a community growing from the original 15 founders to over 1200 members currently. Folks like Bill Carr, a founding member and CPSP’s first treasurer was one whose signature attested to the business of CPSP in the required filings for the state of Virginia, together with Raymond Lawrence, the General Secretary. As a treasurer of CPSP, Bill meticulously attended to the finances of the organization and the disbursement of its funds. In a similar way, CPSP is served by Charles Kirby, our current treasurer to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude for his dedication and unassuming service on behalf of the CPSP Community. Like Bill Carr once did, Charle...

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Clinical Pastoral Education training program focuses on the development of self-awareness, formation of pastoral identity, professional pastoral functioning, and the ability to address issues from a competent clinical and pastoral perspective. The CPE residency program is designed for the ordained person with a seminary degree and at least one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education.  Residency stipend: $25,500 plus medical benefits. On occasion, a lay person may qualify for admission. CPE residents and interns serve as ecumenical chaplains, under supervision, to assigned areas throughout the UAMS Medical Center and clinics. The setting provides a rich base for clinical experience and opportunities for continued personal, professional and pastoral development. The Part-time Extended Unit of CPE is designed for busy individuals who wish to complete CPE training on over an extended period of time on a part-time basis. This is not a s...

On behalf of the CPSP Leadership Team, we warmly invite you to join us for the 24th Annual CPSP Plenary in Virginia Beach, Virginia, March 30 – April 3, 2014.  We will meet at the Sheraton Oceanfront Hotel for informative speakers, dynamic group process and a fun filled evening of karaoke.   Dr. J. Harold Ellens will be the recipient of the Helen Flanders Dunbar Award. The CPSP plenary gathering is unique in many ways and one of the most important aspects of our gathering is the mutual sharing of our work and our lives in a small group context. Please come prepared to share yourself and your clinical work as we come together to hear and to respond to each voice in the community. Full details of the Plenary Registration, Schedule and workshops will be forthcoming

The organization that set out to change the face of Professional Chaplaincy and the Clinical Pastoral training movement, the Spiritual Care Collaborative, has been dissolved as a corporation.  “On May 14, 2012, the Steering Committee of the Spiritual Care Collaborative (SCC) voted to dissolve its formal Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) structure.”   In its founding the SCC was hailed as a new breakthrough in collaboration between pastoral care and counseling organizations.   The SCC announced that it was formed to “provide a common voice for professional pastoral care, counseling and education organizations in the United States and Canada.  With the goal “to speak with a unified voice as clinically trained, qualified pastoral/spiritual caregivers who serve as chaplains, pastoral educators and counselors in specialized settings including hospitals and other healthcare organizations, military, prisons, and the business workplace.” Rather than creating h...

In the recent decade, public attention on the work of care for the terminally ill has greatly increased, largely through government funding of such work.  The American Board of Medical Specialties approved palliative medicine as a new medical specialty in 2006, followed by the first board certification granted for physicians in palliative medicine in 2008.  Clinical Chaplaincy has been an integral part of this emerging model of care.  In response, CPSP has developed a subspecialty certification for Board Certified Clinical Chaplains, “Board Certified Clinical Fellow in Hospice and Palliative Care” (FHPC). This will be a subspecialty credential for those first credentialed as Board Certified Clinical Chaplains (BCCC) or Board Certified Pastoral Counselors (BCPC). Procedure: CPSP Chapters will receive requests from candidates for this certification, and will review the request.  The candidate for FHPC subspecialty certification may download the applicat...

On behalf of the CPSP Plenary Organizing Committee, we warmly invite you to join us for the 2013 gathering of the CPSP Community.  We will meet March 17 through March 20, 2013, at the Golden Nugget Resort in downtown Las Vegas. A block of rooms have been reserved at a special rate of $49 per night.  You can reserve your room online by selecting the following link: Golden Nugget Resort in downtown Las Vegas Full details of the Plenary Registration, Schedule and workshops will be forthcoming.  George Hankins Hull CPSP Plenary Secretary

The Class of 2011-2012 Clinical Pastoral Education Residents And Summer Interns University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences CPE Faculty: George Hankins Hull, Dip.Th., Th.M. George Buck, Ph.D Supervisors in Training: Susan McDougal UAMS Staff Chaplain Bill Briant, Staff Chaplain M.Th.    Read the Pastoral Report the online newsletter of the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy 

CPSP History & Tradition CPSP has maintained a tradition of consensus decision-making since its inception. In making decisions at the Governing Council we do not vote.  When conflicts arise they are resolved through discussion, debate and collaboration. Voting is Divisive In the main, when groups vote using the majority rule principle or Parliamentary Procedure, a competitive dynamic evolves within the group because it is being asked to select between two or more possibilities. In this dynamic it is as acceptable to attack and diminish an opposing viewpoint as it is to promote and endorse one’s own position on a given issue.  The goal and object of voting is to defeat the opposing viewpoints by a majority and means acting on a 51-49 decision.  Even an 80-20 division can be divisive in a community, especially if those who carry the vote want above all else to carry the day.  This is especially problematic when there are complex or multiple issues involve...

Kimberly Garner, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.F.P. will be the Plenary speaker at the 2012 Gathering of the CPSP community. Dr. Kimberly Garner is a staff physician at the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is also an assistant professor of Geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Garner is the medical director of the Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System which is a specialized intermediate unit which provides an interdisciplinary team approach in an inpatient setting. The GEM specifically addresses relatively recent and potentially reversible loss of physical or cognitive function using a rehabilitation model. This involves a multidisciplinary, including occupational and kinesiotherapists, assessment. The primary goal is to promote functional well-being that allows re-entry into the community at the most independent and le...

George Hankins Hull Rabbi Eugene Levy Abrahamic Traditions Dinner The theme of the program was "Fasting in Abrahamic Traditions" since Muslims around the world observe the month of Ramadan in which they fast 30 days. Three speakers from three Abrahamic faiths; Rabbi Eugene Levy, George Hankins Hull, and Dr. Mehmet Ulupinar. This dinner was the first one in Little Rock and will continue to take place every six months for the members of the faith community.

The 2012 CPSP Plenary March 25th-March 28th 2012 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The 2012 CPSP Plenary gathering will take place at Doubletree Hotel & Suites Pittsburgh City Center. The hotel is situated in a prime location, which is right in the middle of Pittsburgh’s vibrant downtown. A block of rooms have been reserved March 24, -March 28, 2012. The special room rate, $119.00, will be available until March 4th or until the room block is sold out. You can reserve your room by clicking on the following link: Doubletree Hotel & Suites Pittsburgh City Center We look forward to seeing you in Pittsburg March 25th-March 28th 2012. Visit the Pastoral Report for more information about CPSP: Pastoral Report CPSP is committed to making Clinical Pastoral Training affordable George Hankins Hull CPSP Plenary Secretary

UAMS Clinical Pastoral Education Residency Program The Clinical Pastoral Education training program focuses on the development of self-awareness, formation of pastoral identity, professional functioning, and the ability to address issues from a competent clinical and pastoral perspective. The CPE residency program is designed for the ordained person with a seminary degree and at least one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education. On occasion, a lay person may qualify for admission. CPE residents and interns serve as ecumenical chaplains, under supervision, to assigned areas throughout the UAMS Medical Center and clinics. The setting provides a rich base for clinical experience and opportunities for continued personal, professional and pastoral development. The UAMS Clinical Pastoral Training programs follow the standards set by the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy (CPSP), the accrediting organization. A typical unit of CPE requires a minimum of 400 hours of supervised mi...

On behalf of the CPSP Plenary organizing committee, we warmly invite you to join us for the 21st gathering of the CPSP community . We meet at the Sheraton Oceanfront Hotel Virginia Beach, Virginia March 27th -30th. We are delighted to have the Rev. Dr. John Patton as our plenary speaker. Dr. Patton served as the Director of the Georgia Association of Pastoral Care & Counselling. He is Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia and a retired ACPE Supervisor. He is a pastoral counsellor and marriage therapist. Dr. Patton is a prolific writer in the clinical pastoral field. Some of his writings include: Is Human Forgiveness Possible , Pastoral Care in Context , Pastoral Care : An Essential Guide and From Ministry to Theology: Pastoral action & Reflection. He is also an associate Editor of Abington’s Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling and a retired Methodist minister. The CPSP plenary gathering is unique in many ways and on...

Representatives from the ACPE and CPSP met in Philadelphia on November 30, in an attempt to mediate their twenty-one year conflict. They used the services of JAMS, and in particular, retired federal court judge Diane Welsh who served as mediator. The results of this mediation exceeded our expectations, as you can see in the joint statement below. I want to thank the members of our delegation and to praise them for their wisdom and conciliatory posture. Our team consisted of Jim Gebhart and George Hankins-Hull who with me were mediators, as well as Perry Miller highlighting and Charles R. Hicks, our attorney, were also present and participated in the decision. (Our original six-person team of mediators and consultants was reduced to five with the death of John Edgerton.) On the ACPE side were Teresa Snorton, Sally Schwab, and Tim Thorstenson. If we succeed in living up to this agreement we will have marked a sea change in the clinical pastoral community. This will mean that ACPE and CPS...

I welcome the letter from the Association of Religious Endorsing Bodies that challenges the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education and the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy to work collegially together in the best interests of those they train. The Religious Endorsers are quite rightly concerned for their constituents who are caught in the middle of the rift between ACPE and CPSP. Challenging the ACPE & CPSP to put the professional wellbeing of those they train above the politics of self-interest is not only the right thing to do it would also be the best possible pastoral response. George Hankins Hull Read the Pastoral Report the online Journal of the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy

A MESSAGE TO THE CPSP COMMUNITY FROM RAYMOND J. LAWRENCE We are heartened by this public expression of concern by the Religious Endorsing Body representatives (REBS) meeting in Nashville last fall. They have the interest in the wider religious and therapeutic community at heart in this call to reconciliation. There is plenty of work to be done in the field of clinical pastoral supervision, chaplaincy, pastoral counseling and psychotherapy. No one organization can respond to the current public needs. The expenditure of time and money in efforts to undermine each other is wasteful and disgraceful. We in CPSP hope that this letter from the REBS signals the end of hostility between the various clinical pastoral organizations, and the end of triumphalism on the part of any one organization or group of organizations. Raymond J. Lawrence, CPSP General Secretary

"One of the public issues that deeply concerns us is the chasm between CPSP and ACPE." AN OPEN LETTER to CPSP and ACPE Association of Religious Endorsing Bodies P.O. Box 340007, Nashville, TN 37203-007 January 11, 2010 To: CPSP and ACPE From: Association of Religious Endorsing Bodies (AREBS) Dear Colleagues in Pastoral Care Ministry,We have been fortunate to be in conversation with all of the cognate groups in Nashville.These meetings have helped us to clarify our identity as endorsers. That search for identity continues to drive us to more clarity and to deepen our relationships with all the cognate groups. We thank you for your patience with us as we have learned about your organizations, your organizational requirements, and also, your help in clarifying our understanding of your identity. What we have discovered is that we share one thing in common and that is our dedication to the goal of providing the best in pastoral care. We all strive for excellence in that process a...