Spiritual Care
Your spiritual health matters
What is Spiritual Care?
Spiritual Care focuses on nurturing your spiritual health and well-being. Our department, staffed by a team of Spiritual Care Practitioners and educators, provides professional spiritual care. We offer one-to-one support, organize spiritual gatherings, rituals and celebrations, share resources and partner with volunteers, students and the community. Our focus is on providing spiritual care for St. Joseph’s patients, residents, clients and loved ones.
What is Spiritual Health?
St. Joseph’s is committed to caring for the overall well-being of everyone we serve: body, mind and spirit. This includes caring for your spiritual health. Spiritual health care is about finding meaning and purpose, understanding your identify or connectedness with humanity, nature, God or the Transcendent.
Who are Spiritual Care Practitioners (SCP)?
Spiritual Care Practitioners are important members of the healthcare team. They provide compassionate and culturally-sensitive support and counselling. SCPs have graduate level training in spirituality and counselling, and follow the certification process of the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care. Many on the team are also members of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario.
In whatever way you understand spirituality, we are here to support you.
How can a Spiritual Care Practitioner (SCP) help you?
Respectful of all beliefs and traditions, SCPs can help by:
- Providing comfort when you are feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, isolated and anxious
- Supporting you in crisis situations that may include end-of-life, unfavourable news, change in prognoses or sudden loss
- Helping you make decisions in line with your spiritual beliefs and values
- Connecting you with the spiritual supports that are important to you
- Assessing your spiritual needs and offering choices for spiritually-focused therapeutic care, and in some areas offering spiritually-integrated psychotherapy
What other spiritual resources are available?
SCPs can help connect you with:
- Reflection and prayer spaces and Chapels
- Sacred texts, spiritual reading materials, symbols and other sacred objects
- Local spiritual communities and organizations
Clinical Psychospiritual Education
Watch the Clinical Psychospiritual Education video on YouTube
Placement Process
What is Clinical Psychospiritual Education?
Clinical Psychospiritual Education (CPE) is an experiential-based, educational program that provides students with learning opportunities in the art, science and practice of spiritual care within a clinical health care setting. With a history dating back to the 1960’s in Canada, CPE courses have enabled our Spiritual Care team at St. Joseph’s Health Care London to continually refine and improve our experiential-based education program.
Program Structure:
Spiritual, psychological, psychotherapeutic, sociological and ethical themes are woven throughout each training unit. We use an adult based teaching style to build on the knowledge base our students bring to the course.
Each CPE course is comprised of 400 hours of training. Approximately half of those hours are spent providing spiritual care to patients, family members and staff, in a variety of clinical areas across St. Joseph’s four main sites. The remaining hours are spent within a group reflective process, where clinical experiences are analyzed to support learning. Written assignments also form part of the program structure.
CPE fosters each student’s personal learning goals; helping them achieve their potential in providing spiritual care to others. By working directly with patients, their families and interprofessional team members across a variety of health care disciplines, students build the skills needed to support others on their unique sacred paths.
Each CPE course consists of a minimum of three students to a maximum of six students. Courses are offered on a full-time and part-time basis:
• Full-time intensive CPE courses are 12 to 14 weeks in length and are offered from May to July
• Part-time extended CPE courses are 30 to 32 weeks in length and are offered from September to April.
Three levels of CPE training are offered at St. Joseph’s:
• Basic Level CPE: Successful completion of two Basic Level CPE units are required to move onto the Advanced Level
• Advanced Level CPE: Successful completion of two Advanced Level CPE units are required to move toward certification as a specialist in pastoral care
• Supervisory Education: for those who have achieved Specialist Certification and are interested in training as a supervisor-educator
Tuition:
The tuition cost of the CPE program is payable to one of the affiliated universities listed below, directly by the student.
More information about professional certification is available on the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care’s website.
Placement Options:
St. Joseph’s Health Care London consists of four main sites: St. Joseph’s Hospital, Parkwood Institute, Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care and Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care. Within these facilities, spiritual care services support the following areas of care: rehabilitation, acute ambulatory care, surgical care, specialized mental health care (including forensic mental health care), long-term and specialized geriatric care, veterans care, complex care, palliative care and specialized outpatient clinics supporting a wide variety of illnesses. Successful student applicants are offered placement opportunities at one of the above listed sites, depending on the availability of a teaching supervisor and on enough successful student applications. Our Spiritual Care Team comes from diverse faith backgrounds and the team collaborates on the support of students’ learning opportunities across our various locations.
Evaluation Process:
Students are evaluated utilizing the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care’s (CASC) standardized and competency-based, evaluation tool. Evaluations are completed by both the supervisor-educator and the student themselves. Students are then graded as either “Successful” or “Incomplete,” which is recorded on the student’s transcript at the school of their registration.
Accrediting Body and Professional Association:
St. Joseph’s CPE program is accredited with CASC as an official teaching centre for Clinical Psychospiritual Education. Our Supervisor-Educators are certified members of CASC and are registered with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario.
Local university affiliations include:
• Emmanual College (Toronto School of Theology)
• Huron College (Western University)
• Knox College (Toronto School of Theology)
• Martin Luther University College (Wilfred Laurier University)
Application Process:
• Applications to begin CPE are welcome from people of all world views
• The application process includes a written application, references and a face-to-face interview.
• A bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) is a prerequisite for applying
• Some academic training in a faith or spiritual tradition is helpful but not required
• See the CASC/ACSS website for information about establishing equivalency of past education and for academic requirements for advanced and supervisory training
• Applications are only considered once the application form and all supporting documents have been received
• Applications for spring/summer intensive/full-time CPE courses are due by December 31, annually
• Applications for fall/winter part-time extended CPE courses are due May 15, annually
• Late submissions are only considered if open spaces remain in the program
To initiate the application process, contact Stephen Yeo, supervisor-educator: Stephen.yeo@sjhc.london.on.ca.
Registration:
Successful student applicants will be required to participate in St. Joseph’s corporate orientation process, which includes the completion of a number of e-learning modules, submission of a Vulnerable Sector Check and a Health Review Form documenting immunizations. Students will also be registered with one of our affiliated universities and tuition will be paid directly to the university. In addition, students will be oriented to their assigned clinical placement location/program by a staff chaplain and include those who cover that program/clinical unit. Didactics provide orientation to processes such as charting, spiritual assessment processes, etc.