JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (June 26, 2018) -- Community Hospice & Palliative Care® has taken another significant step in enhancing its 40-year legacy of compassionate care to communities across Northeast Florida. Through full accreditation from the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. (ACPE), Community Hospice & Palliative Care is now an official, independent Level I and Level II Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program. This accreditation was granted in May at the annual ACPE Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and will remain in effect until 2028. ACPE is the premier U.S. Department of Education-recognized organization providing the highest quality CPE training for spiritual care professionals of any faith and setting.
CPE is an interfaith education program that trains individuals for institutional ministry assignments. It brings ministerial students, laypersons and clergy of all faiths (pastors, priests, rabbis, imams and others) into supervised encounters, helping patients who are facing death.
Respect and value for the individual is one of the core principles that inspire Community Hospice & Palliative Care’s service to patients and families. The organization honors spiritual beliefs that provide meaning and comfort to those facing the end of life. Students will receive training and education that best positions them to provide effective spiritual care.
Offered by the Department of Spiritual Care and through the Charles M. Neviaser Educational Institute of Community Hospice & Palliative Care, the first fully independent, accredited CPE unit began June 4 with a class of six students. Several applicants have already been accepted for an extended unit, which begins in October. Since 2012, as part of the accreditation process, Community Hospice & Palliative Care has been providing clinical pastoral education as a satellite of Baptist Health System’s Jacksonville-based CPE program.
For more information about the accredited CPE program, please visit https://www.communityhospice.com/info-for/patients-families/clinical-pastoral-education-cpe/ or contact Community Hospice & Palliative Care ACPE Certified Educator, Sam Chinn, at 904.407.7236 or schinn@communityhospice.com.