Sutter Medical Center Clinical Pastoral Education

The ACPE Certified CPE™ program at Sutter Medical Center provides interfaith professional education for those seeking a career in spiritual care and those who require ministry training. It is accredited by the ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education in Atlanta, Georgia, the only CPE organization which is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. The center maintains a rigorous accreditation process and certification process for its educators. The program is designed for those who have completed undergraduate degrees and have had some theological education. It is student-centered, vigorously reflective, and potentially transformative. Students assume responsibility for their clinical work and learning, while serving as professionals within the hospital. The educational approach relies upon group process, is clinically based, and is grounded in the dialogue between theology and the behavioral sciences.

Students who have completed ACPE Certified CPE™ units have multiple professional opportunities:

• Institutional chaplaincy (hospital, prison, hospice)
• Community ministry
• Lay ministry
• Teaching
• Pastoral counseling
• Spiritual leadership in any faith tradition
• CPE Education

There are three levels of training: Level I, Level II & Certified Educator CPE.

The CPE Education Model

CPE brings theological students and leaders of different spiritual and religious communities (pastors, priests, rabbis, imams, religious orders, and others) into supervised encounters with persons in crisis. CPE education helps you develop new awareness about yourself and the people you serve. You learn from the behavioral sciences while also reflecting theologically and spiritually, so that you can draw from both an understanding of the human condition and the role spirituality plays in your own life and the life of others. While reflecting on the care you provide to others, you develop as a spiritual care provider.

What to Expect as a Student

One unit of CPE at Sutter Medical Center requires a minimum of 400 clinical and educational hours. You must have a minimum of 100 hours of individual and group education and 250 hours of clinical work within the hospital setting for each unit of education.

Direct Spiritual Care with Patients, Their Families, and Hospital Staff

As a CPE student, you become part of the Sutter interdisciplinary team. You work as the chaplain on specific clinical areas of the hospital, providing spiritual care to those on your assigned units. As a member of the interdisciplinary team, you attend patient care rounds and communicate closely with other disciplines caring for patients. You also rotate overnight and weekend coverage. When on call for hospital emergencies, you have opportunity to interact with many different professionals and situations in all areas of the hospital.

Didactic Seminars and Workshops

You are educated throughout the program curriculum. We provide weekly didactic presentations during CPE units. Every CPE unit includes resources to enhance your knowledge of the hospital institution, medical diagnosis, behavioral sciences, trauma informed care, culture, interfaith awareness, chaplaincy research, medical ethics, and other topics related to contemporary spiritual care. We use the Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento staff and our greater Sacramento community as resources to examine modern concerns in healthcare chaplaincy. Each unit the curriculum will vary to reflect cutting edge issues in spiritual care.

Clinical Supervision

Individual education is a critical component to your learning process. This one-on-one time with your educator provides you opportunities to share and reflect upon your clinical and peer group experiences. Working with your educator, you bring forward areas of growth to help you become a competent spiritual care provider.

Work within a Peer Group

Group work is foundational to CPE. You join a peer group that is a learning resource and provides support and encouragement throughout the CPE process. You meet with the other CPE students and the educator as a group to reflect upon your religious/spiritual tradition, to present specific encounters of your clinical work, to hone spiritual care skills, to engage in interpersonal group relations, and to learn about group dynamics. At the end of the program, you will participate in a final self-evaluation with your peer group and engage feedback.

Reading and Writing

To integrate your learning, there are writing and reading assignments directly related to professional chaplaincy. Weekly reflections along with clinical presentations, theological essays, and other assignments help you to share yourself and your process with the peer group and to receive support as you integrate your learning.

Specialization

Because students are on-call for the entire hospital, you learn to care for people in varied situations. Still, there is opportunity to specialize. You have opportunities to focus in pediatrics, neonatal intensive care, cardiac care, psychiatric patient care, adult ICU care, and palliative care. We also offer a second year residency if you wish to deepen a specialization.

To enroll you need to complete an ACPE application form and then interview with an ACPE educator or a designated person familiar with the program.

Frequently Asked Questions

CPE Programs

Inquiries regarding CPE at SMCS should be directed to Kate Kennedy at Kathryn.kennedy@sutterhealth.org at (916) 887-4322.

CPE Residency

This program is offered at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento.

• Twelve-month program (four units offering level IA, Level 1B, Level 2A, and Level 2B CPE)
• Full-time: forty-hours a week plus night on-call for emergencies
• Students are paid hourly and receive benefits

CPE Extended Units

There are two part-time programs or "extended units" at Sutter Roseville Medical Center. The first requires a commitment of 24 hours per week with mandatory group meetings on Monday afternoons and Wednesday mornings. The second is a 12-hour per week commitment with mandatory group meetings on Wednesday afternoons.

Inquiries regarding internships at Sutter Roseville Medical Center should be directed to Gerald Jones at jonesg@sutterhealth.org or (916) 781-1147.

CPE Certified Educator Training

Inquiries regarding Certified Educator training may be directed to Gerald Jones at jonesg@sutterhealth.org or (916) 781-1147.

CPE Training Dates

Our residency year starts at the end of the summer (late August), as is reflected in the following dates. Please note that residents are contracted through one full year and the following dates show only CPE class schedules.

2023 – 2024 Residency

Fall: August 21, 2023 – November 25, 2023 (14 weeks)
Winter: November 26, 2023 – February 24, 2024 (13 weeks)
Spring: February 25, 2024 – May 18, 2024 (12 weeks)
Summer: May 19, 2024 – August 18, 2024 (13 weeks)

2024 - 2025 Residency

Fall: August 19, 2024 – November 23, 2024 (14 weeks)
Winter: November 24, 2024 – February 22, 2025 (13 weeks)
Spring: Feb 23, 2025 – May 24, 2025 (13 weeks)
Summer: May 25, 2025 – August 17, 2025 (13 weeks)

2025 - 2026 Residency

Fall: August 18, 2025 – November 15, 2025 (13 weeks)
Winter: November 16, 2025 – February 21, 2026 (14 weeks)
Spring: Feb 22, 2026 – May 18, 2026 (12 weeks)
Summer: May 19, 2026 – August 16, 2026 (13 weeks)

2026 - 2027 Residency

Fall: August 17, 2026 – November 21, 2026 (14 weeks)
Winter: November 22, 2026 – February 20, 2027 (13 weeks)
Spring: Feb 21, 2027 – May 15, 2027 (12 weeks)
Summer: May 16, 2027 – August 15, 2027 (13 weeks)

Sutter Roseville extended units/part time programs have the following schedule:

2024

18 Hour (2 unit) – August 19, 2024 to July 31, 2025
12 Hour (1 unit) – October 14, 2024 to June 30, 2025
11 Hour (1 Unit) – October 14, 2024 to June 30, 2025

2025

18 Hour (2 unit) – September 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026
12 Hour (1 unit) – October 13, 2025 to June 30, 2026
11 Hour (1 Unit) – October 13, 2025 to June 30, 2026

2026

18 Hour (2 unit) – August 30, 2026 to July 31, 2027
12 Hour (1 unit) – October 13, 2026 to June 30, 2027
11 Hour (1 Unit) – October 13, 2026 to June 30, 2027

CPE Educators

Reverend Kate Kennedy

Rev. Kate Kennedy is an ACPE Certified Educator and a Board-Certified chaplain through the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC). She is the Interim Manager for the Spiritual Care Services Department. Originally from Philadelphia, Kate completed her undergraduate degree at Villanova University and received her Master of Divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA. She is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister with two decades of chaplaincy experience in several healthcare contexts, including her CPE Residency at John Muir Health in Concord, and as a chaplain and educator with VITAS Hospice, Stanford Health Care, and Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. Kate serves as Co-Chair of the Inclusion Council and Team Lavender for Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento and is a core team member of the Multicultural Resource Group for Sutter Health.

Gerald L. Jones

Gerald L. Jones is an ACPE Certified Educator and the Director of Chaplain Services at Sutter Roseville Medical Center since June 2002. Gerald is also a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains, which he attained in 2001. He received his Master of Arts degree from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, focusing on the theological history of American religions. He is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has served in various capacities in his church.

Gerald grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. While in seminary at the GTU, he completed his CPE residency at Mt. Diablo Medical Center (now John Muir Medical Center, Concord Campus) and later worked for Sutter VNA and Hospice as a hospice chaplain in Concord, CA. After three years of work with the hospice, Gerald came to Sutter Roseville. He began ACPE Supervisory Training with Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, in 2003 and became a fully certified ACPE Supervisor in October 2009.