Discernment and assessment in selecting CPE supervisory education students

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Discernment and assessment in selecting CPE
supervisory education students

• The Rev. Judith R. Ragsdale, Ph.D.
• The Rev. Marla Y. Coulter-McDonald, M.Div.

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Who are you?

• ACPE Supervisors with an interest in CPE
  Supervisory Education
• Persons interested in ACPE and invested in
  improving the supervisory education process
• People with experience in discernment who can
  bring your wisdom to the conversation
• People who may learn more about how to discern
  who to recommend for/invite to consider
  Supervisory CPE

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Who are we?

• Marla Coulter-McDonald
• ACPE Supervisor
• Board Certified Chaplain
• Manager of Chaplaincy and Pastoral Education at
  Indiana University Health Center North
• AME Pastor
• Co-leader of the CPE Discernment Unit
• Person attending AME Annual Conference and very
  sorry to miss todays session

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And

• Judy Ragsdale
• ACPE Supervisor
• Assistant Professor doing qualitative research
• Director of Education and Research at Cincinnati
  Childrens Hospital
• United Church of Christ pastor
• Co-leader of the CPE Discernment Unit

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Why Discernment?

• A lot of people dont make it through the process
• Mutual Discernment
• Implied Reflection
• Good stewardship of time and other resources

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Discernment Defined

• The Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling
  defines discernment in two ways
• 1. spiritual discernment isa general ability to
  understand and interpret a persons spiritual
  state and religious experienceWise pastors are
  generally able to discern those under their care
  who are endowed with particular gifts and
  gracesConversely, they should be able to guide
  good and faithful people whose immaturity may be
  leading them along false paths of prayer.

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Discernment Defined

• 2. the contemporary pastor might prefer to deal
  with spiritual experience in terms of
  misinterpretation and self-deception, and to
  interpret the Spirits leading by sanctified
  rational thoughtIn ordinary pastoral practice,
  the concern is with a correct interpretation of
  these common levels is this or that experience a
  genuine disclosure of the will of GodGod is
  unlikely to provide a detailed career
  blueprint...Ministry requires certain qualities
  intellectual ability, leadership, compassion, a
  thirst for prayer. God can overrule any
  deficiency, but the plain lack of all such
  qualities makes the vocation suspect.

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Discernment Quote

• Pastoral discernment in supervision refers to
  the stewardship of the supervisees gifts and
  calling for pastoral care and counseling
  ministry. The pastoral supervisor exercises a
  gate keeping function in the selection, training
  and commissioning of designated pastoral
  caregivers and counsellors. Gate keeping in
  pastoral supervisory ministry is a function of
  discerning Gods activity. B.T. Morrison

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How we arrived at the idea of a Discernment Unit

• A history of not selecting successful candidates
  for Supervisory CPE
• Memory of good guidance from Jane Litzinger
• Testing the portion of a model for Selecting SESs
• Interested potential SESs

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First Dimension Selecting Supervisory Education
Students (SESs)

• So I think picking well is half the battle
  this idea of spiritual and emotional maturity is
  a must.
• it requires a unique set of skills and
  among them, is willingness to become vulnerable
  and openness to the external critique.

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First Dimension Selecting Students
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First Dimension the Shadow Side

• I found pretty quickly that there are people
  who wanted to do supervisory education because of
  the wonderful experience theyd had with CPE, and
  they were kind of evangelists. But they did not
  really understand the demands of becoming a
  supervisor. And they often could not get past
  kind of theI guess the good feeling you have
  when you went to church camp, came home, after
  the night, the final nightsinging Abide with
  MeThey just have a good feeling about CPE. And
  they want to pass it on. And of course I think,
  when that happens, I dont think its the
  students responsibility, I think its the Center
  and the person that takes them on thats made a
  mistake. And I made some mistakes.

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Practical Tool The CPE Discernment Unit

• Participants
• Howard
• Ben
• James
• Application and Interview process
• Curriculum
• Description of the Unit

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Application and Interview process

• Standard ACPE application plus an essay about why
  interested in Supervisory CPE
• Consultation with supervisors in other centers

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Curriculum

• Retreat
• Written requirements
• Why I want to be a CPE Supervisor
• Verbatim presentations
• Discernment Paper
• Evaluations
• Reading Assignments
• Interpersonal Relations Group
• Individual Supervision
• Didactics

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Didactics

• Group Theory and IPR
• Balancing Work life and Supervisory Education
• ACPE Standards and Certification Manual
• Theological Reflection / Using the Verbatim for
  Reflection
• Didactic on Process and Content and Parallel
  Process in CPE
• Clinical Reflection tools The JoHari Window
  The Ladder of Inference

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Didactics

• Learning Goals vs. Professional Goals
• Identity Formation Making the transition from
  student to professional to Educator
• What is Theory Theologically, Personality,
  Educational
• Stages of Group Development, from the book The
  Different Drum, by M. Scott Peck
• The History of CPE

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Didactics

• Pastoral Identity and Pastoral Authority
• Reading Seminar Chapters from --- Supervision
  in the Helping Professions by Peter Hawkins and
  Robin Shohet
• Reading Seminar Supervision by Thomas W. Klink

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Description of the Unit

• Retreat for group forming
• Weekly meetings beginning with lunch
• Slow re-entry into IPR
• Slow re-entry into presenting verbatim material
• Realization this was not Introductory Supervisory
  CPE, but rather Level II for most

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What the Students Learned

• All affirmed this unit as a positive experience
• One felt drawn by personal needs
• One needed to continue counting the cost
• One could have entered Supervisory CPE
• Learned to trust self and CPE process
• Observation of Marlas supervision extremely
  helpful

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What we learned

• Four units of CPE and significant pastoral
  experience does not mean one is prepared to enter
  Supervisory CPE
• For a professional pastoral care provider to
  become a vulnerable CPE student is more difficult
  than we had imagined

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What we learned

• Articulating pastoral theology is not a given for
  professional pastoral care providers
• Defining learning goals was complicated
• Self-supervision skills were not in evidence
• The Discernment Unit will typically be Level II

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Learning from Others

• This idea was not unique to us
• Rhonda Gilligan Gillespie had also been offering
  this type of CPE
• Workshop suggestion Hold a Retreat for potential
  SESs

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In case you are interested in our article

• Ragsdale, J. R., Coulter-McDonald, M. Y.
  (2012). The Discernment Unit as a Tool in the
  Applicant Selection Process in Supervisory
  Clinical Pastoral Education. Reflective Practice
  Formation and Supervision in Ministry, 32.
  Available online at http//journals.sfu.ca/rpfs/in
  dex.php/rpfs/article/
• viewFile/67/66.

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Next Steps Emerging theory for CPE Supervisory
Education
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Discerning a Vocation to do Supervisory CPE

• Participant quotes
• Ever since I did my first unit of CPE I said,
  That was a transformative experience that
  changed everything for me, and my zeal and
  motivation for CPE was to, I guess, engage
  students in a transformative process where they
  could experience the same thing.
• I guess what I would suggest is that people even
  supervisors decide that its important to take
  the time for the process is this an appropriate
  time for someone to take on the new student, what
  does that mean, what does that look like
•  

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Elements of Discerning

• finding CPE to be a life-changing experience
• realizing a desire to become a CPE supervisor
• counting the cost in terms of logistics both
  personal and professional
• experiencing a strong desire to persist through
  difficult feedback and sometimes painful
  realizations
• student and supervisor(s) agreeing on the
  students ability and potential (pastoral,
  emotional, intellectual)

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Discernment is Mutual

• Potential SESs must discern
• own desire and potential
• supervisor/programs capability
• Potential Supervisory Education Supervisors must
  discern
• whether an applicant is qualified
• their own level of commitment and ability at this
  level

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Parker Palmer The Courage to Teach

• Any authentic call ultimately comes from the
  voice of the teacher within, the voice that
  invites me to honor the nature of my true self.
• A vocation that is not mine, no matter how
  externally valued, does violence to the selfWhen
  I violate myself, I invariably end up violating
  the people I work with.
• is it my vocation? Am I gifted and called to
  do it?

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Conclusion

• The Call to Teach includes from both student
  and supervisor the call to discern.
• The Discernment Unit of CPE is one path toward
  the difficult process of selecting CPE
  Supervisory Education Students.
• Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you
  about discernment.
• This is your opportunity to offer thoughts or
  raise question.