Pastoral Care

The Department of Pastoral Care at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center offers a dynamic and challenging learning environment for students interested in professional and personal growth through Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). Our program is accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education Inc. (ACPE) to offer Level I, Level II and Supervisory CPE.

Residency Program

Each year Cincinnati Children’s offers four full-time, first-year Clinical Pastoral Education residency positions. Residents receive credit for each successfully completed unit of CPE. They also receive a stipend and additional benefits, including excellent health and dental insurance, meal tickets, paid vacation days and holidays observed by the medical center. Our Clinical Pastoral Education residency program helps residents prepare for a variety of ministries including institutional chaplaincy, pastoral ministry in a congregation setting, volunteer ministries and pastoral counseling.

The residency is structured to provide students with a clinical area of the hospital for which they are solely responsible. Residents are also supported in learning through mentorship in two critical care areas of the hospital on a half-year rotational basis. In addition, first-year residents participate in an on-call rotation where they gain extensive experience in trauma ministry and providing supportive care in times of crisis.

Learning Opportunities

Residents in the Clinical Pastoral Education Program have the opportunity to:

• Develop perspective and skill in a family-systems approach to pastoral ministry
• Learn to assess and respond pastorally to complex theological and ethical issues that accompany the serious illness of an infant, child or adolescent
• Learn to provide pastoral care to members of the staff and to understand spiritual / theological issues at the organizational level

Children and families come in every conceivable combination. Ministry events at Cincinnati Children’s are filled with opportunities for learning. Although Clinical Pastoral Education in the pediatric setting equips the resident with specialized skills in working with children and families, the overall program focuses more broadly on competence in pastoral care.

Please contact us for specific information regarding programs currently being offered.