Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) 
at ClinicalChaplaincy.org

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is the gold-standard pathway for preparing professional chaplains to serve people and systems facing illness, loss, uncertainty, crisis, and change.

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At ClinicalChaplaincy.org, CPE combines rigorous action-reflection learning with a psychodynamically informed approach grounded in systems thinking and contemporary affective neuroscience. Trainees learn to work skillfully with patients, families, staff, and interdisciplinary teams—reading the living human document and the institutional context together.

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Participants complete their clinical work at an approved local site while engaging online in cohort learning, case consultation, individual and group clinical supervision, didactics, and reflective practice.

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• Format: Cohort-based distance learning with locally arranged and ClinicalChaplaincy.org-approved clinical placements.

• Unit length: Approximately 12 weeks for a regular unit or 24 weeks for an extended unit. Each unit includes at least 400 hours: approximately 300 clinical hours and 100 hours of education and supervision.

• Cohort size: 4–8 trainees.

• Applications are now being accepted for 2027 regular and extended CPE units.

• Accreditation status: Approved by the CPSP Nautilus Pacific Chapter for pre-accreditation; formal CPSP listing is pending.

• Who it is for: People preparing for professional chaplaincy, those entering or transitioning into spiritual-care roles, and experienced chaplains seeking additional CPE and advanced clinical formation.​

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2027 CPE SCHEDULE

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Regular Units — 12 weeks

Unit 1: January 6–March 30, 2027
Unit 2: March 31–June 22, 2027
• Summer Recess: June 23–July 6, 2027
Unit 3: July 7–September 28, 2027
Unit 4: September 29–December 21, 2027
• Winter Recess: December 22, 2027–January 4, 2028

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Extended Units — 24 instructional weeks

An extended unit spans two consecutive regular-unit periods. Scheduled summer and winter recesses are observed when they fall within the extended-unit calendar.

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HERITAGE AND OUTCOMES

ClinicalChaplaincy.org continues the tradition of clinical training launched and led by David Roth, PhD, Diplomate in Pastoral Supervision/CPE Supervisor, for more than a decade at Kaiser Permanente.

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Graduates of programs he led have become board-certified clinical chaplains, spiritual-care managers and directors, and CPE supervisors. ClinicalChaplaincy.org carries that standard forward through a rigorous, flexible, multisite distance-learning model.

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