Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is a “learning by doing” ministry under Association for Clinical Pastoral Education supervision in an accredited CPE center. The student gains experience and skills in pastoral care while being closely supervised and participating in integrative educational classes.
Intern CPE: 400 hours of training as an unpaid student chaplain. Spring and fall units are 25 hours per week for 16 weeks. Summer units are 40 hours per week for 10 weeks.
Resident CPE: An employee on a one-year stipend who takes three additional CPE units.
Complete the ACPE Application
No application fee required.
The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) is nationally recognized as an accrediting agency in the field of clinical pastoral education by the U.S. Secretary of Education through the U.S. Department of Education. Norton Healthcare is accredited by ACPE as Norton Hospitals Inc., a part of Louisville CPE Cluster.
The Norton Healthcare Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program is open to seminary and divinity school students, clergy and qualified laypersons from any religion or faith group. Growth in pastoral reflection, pastoral formation and pastoral competence is the expected outcome.
CPE is theological and professional education for ministry. Students acquire pastoral skills and grow in their pastoral vocations in a clinical setting under certified ACPE supervisors. The CPE program emphasizes the integration of pastoral ministry, theology, psychology and other behavioral sciences. Norton Healthcare’s unique setting offers CPE students the widest range possible of pastoral experiences: from prenatal care for mother and baby to care for the aged; from newborn crises, pediatric trauma and chronic illnesses to cancer, heart disease, surgeries and bereavement care. The organization’s facilities serve people encompassing a full range of religious, cultural, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. Norton Healthcare’s CPE program provides enough variety of in-depth pastoral experiences and guidance to touch and influence the rest of each student’s ministry.
During the CPE program’s dynamic and experiential educational process, students provide pastoral care to patients, families and staff, and then reflect on these interactions with peers and their supervisor. Each participant will develop learning objectives relevant to his or her needs. These objectives are addressed through direct pastoral care, seminars, case conferences, interpersonal relations groups, individual supervision, weekly written reflections and assigned readings.
The program seeks to help students understand how their personal history and faith tradition affect the nature of the pastoral care they offer. Participants learn to increase their pastoral effectiveness through personal growth and the development of professional competence.
The CPE Program at Norton Healthcare continues the tradition of caring and preparation for ministry that is at the heart of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education’s mission. Students are given the opportunity to:
Norton Healthcare is a not-for-profit hospital system based in Louisville, Kentucky, with additional locations in Southern Indiana. Norton Hospital for adults and Norton Children’s Hospital, Kentucky’s only full-service, free-standing pediatric hospital and trauma center, are located in downtown Louisville. Norton Hospital is known for its cardiology and orthopedic care. Both hospitals work closely with the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Norton Audubon Hospital, located in Central Louisville, is known for its cardiology services and has one of the busiest emergency rooms in the region.
Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital in East Louisville is known for its oncology services and women’s services, with nearly 6,000 babies born there each year.
Norton Brownsboro Hospital opened in 2009 in northeastern Jefferson County, Kentucky. It is an innovative model hospital for the best in patient-centered care, medical technology and a healing aesthetic, including large patient rooms, gardens and a labyrinth.
Located in Madison, Indiana, Norton King’s Daughters’ Health became Norton Healthcare’s first hospital outside of Louisville in 2022. In 2023, Norton Clark Hospital in Jeffersonville and Norton Scott Hospital in Scottsburg further expanded the system’s reach into the Southern Indiana market.
Norton West Louisville Hospital will begin operations in late 2024, bringing Norton Healthcare to a total of nine hospitals.
Norton Healthcare has a rich history of ecumenical and community support. Individual hospitals were founded by various faith groups: Norton Hospital by Episcopalians; Norton Healthcare Pavilion (formerly Methodist Evangelical Hospital) by the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ; Children’s Free Hospital, a predecessor to Norton Children’s Hospital, was founded by women of a Presbyterian Church; and Norton Audubon Hospital (originally St. Joseph Infirmary) by a Roman Catholic religious community. This history expresses itself in the present commitment to pastoral care and clinical pastoral education.
CPE students have opportunities to serve in all Norton Healthcare’s Louisville hospitals. A major strength of the CPE program is the diversity of ministerial experiences offered. The culture of each hospital presents its own unique learning opportunities.
The mission of the Norton Healthcare Clinical Pastoral Education Program is to use our multifacility hospital setting to educate and train pastoral practitioners to be competent, caring, integrated professionals, able to self-evaluate, reflect theologically and consult while providing spiritual care to patients, their families and staff.
The mission of the Norton Healthcare Pastoral Care Department is to promote spiritual health and initiate timely, competent, compassionate and, as appropriate, confidential spiritual care to patients, their families and staff, and to provide training in the caring art to pastoral practitioners.
Norton Healthcare’s purpose is to provide quality health care to all those we serve, in a manner that responds to the needs of our communities and honors our faith heritage.
Norton Healthcare’s values
This program is accredited by:
ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education1 Concourse Parkway, Suite 800Atlanta, GA 30328Phone:(404) 320-1472Fax: (404) 320-0849Email: acpe@acpe.edu
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