Clinical pastoral education
We offer interfaith training in spiritual care, helping students build practical skills through supervised patient support at Atlantic Health Morristown and Overlook.
Interfaith professional education
Our programs at Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center and Atlantic Health Overlook Medical Center provide a space for the development of skills in interpersonal and interprofessional relationships.
Our program
Clinical pastoral education is interfaith professional education for spiritual care. It brings laypersons, theological students and clergy of all faiths into supervised encounters with people in crisis. Out of an intense involvement with persons in need, and the feedback from peers and educators, students develop new awareness of themselves and of the needs of those to whom they serve. From theological reflection on specific pastoral encounters, they gain a new understanding of the value and depth of spiritual care. Our programs at Atlantic Health provide a space for the development of skills in interpersonal and interprofessional relationships.
Clinical pastoral education serves as a part of one's preparation for parish ministry, chaplaincy, lay ministry, and life in general. Each semester provides students with an opportunity to craft individualized focus on their personal and professional growth and learning. Some students enroll in four units in order to become board certified chaplains. Others enroll in a unit as a requirement by their theological schools and degrees. Some can take courses for credit at their schools or as a discernment of a new path.
Our residents and interns are integrated into the interdisciplinary team in a safe and supportive learning environment. Students will have firsthand experience to offer spiritual care to patients and their loved ones in a variety of specialties. This includes palliative care, cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, emergency and trauma care, pediatrics, behavioral health, intensive care units, labor and delivery, rehabilitation, geriatrics, outpatient services and chronic illnesses.