CPE is about visiting patients in various units, processing with the others in your group every few days under the supervision of a senior chaplain and in the process one sharpens their pastoral care skills. We are also given special training on Grief, PTSD, and exposure to many things.... everything from surgeries, illness, spirituality and healing, addiction treatment, mental illness, Spinal Cord injury, blindness, and so forth.
It is a rare and wonderful opportunity to be able to have this special training at a VA Hospital. There are also 2 other ANG chaplains in my CPE group here at the Palo Alto VA hospital and three civilian CPE residents, who have been doing this for almost a year. We have a CPE supervisor (like our teacher) who is a very experienced VA Chaplain, she is really a wonderful teacher / supervisor.
The VA hospital here in Palo Alto is one of the nicest, most modern and large VA hospitals I have ever seen. The Vets here get top notch treatment, as they should!
It might seem really scary or unpleasant to visit patients who are ill and be around suffering all day, but what happens is that you have compassion and very much care for them. You develop a love for them. It is love based, not fear based. And as you do this over and over, you have less anxiety about facing people's pain and suffering. You gain more confidence, and in the process, one becomes a better chaplain / minister / priest / rabbi / imam. And that is the other thing, we have all faiths here... Roman Catholic, various Protestant Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.
Yes, it is a real honor to serve the Vets here...and the learning never stops.
The photo here is in the Chapel. The stained glass window in the photo has a picture of the famous 'four chaplains' who went down with their ship, giving their life vests to others so they could live.
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