Greetings Dear Readers,
I'm a graduate of the program I started a year ago at UCSF Medical Center. I have done 4 units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) in addition to my first unit from 2011 bringing my total to 5. (each unit is equivalent to 400 combined educational and clinical hours) So, yeah! While this isn't a formal degree, it is easily the most challenging and demanding work I've done educationally or vocationally, and I feel a mixture of pride, happiness, stillness and also feel a little spent, like I'm staggering across this threshold finish line. But if it doesn't change you in painful ways, it isn't learning. One of my training NCO's at the Army Chaplain Schoolhouse put it this way: "There are only two ways people learn: repetition and blunt force trauma". This CPE program has been a mixture of both, but the results have been transformative for my entire cohort of 15 chaplains at two hospitals. Not only have we grown up together in this respect, but I have a profound and deep connection to them, it's been a total revelation of the phrase "labor of love".
I'm also feeling a surreal amount of good fortune. This year has been stressful and challenging, and I've also been anxious about 'what's next', like we humans do. being present in the moment doesn't come naturally. All the diligence and desire on my part has come to fruition as I've been welcomed to join the Faculty of the program I just completed as a student. I will be a Certified Educator Student, and continue my studies in how to be a supervisor of a CPE program. This is basically the same principles of learning, but cranked to 11 for 2-4 years. Then when I graduate again I'll be a CPE supervisor.
Maybe that's more detail than is necessary, but basically, I'm going to be a learner and practitioner of spiritual care for (hopefully) the rest of my life, and hopefully spending a lot of that time helping other chaplains learn and grow. This is another big step in the process of big steps.
Also, we moved and adopted a dog the same weekend I found out I got the job. Crazy, right? We are staying in SF for a while!
We love our new place, we love little Rocky; Cristin started working more, still part time and is thriving despite the hardship so far, and I'm super proud of her. I recognize that I wouldn't have made it through the program without her combined support and challenge.
In some ways it feels like it has been a long road and we've experienced so much in a single year. But the road is long before us, and full of twists and turns. This feels like only the beginning.
