The St. Anthony Hospital and St. Anthony North Hospital CPE programs are accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education for Level I, Level II and Supervisory CPE. We currently offer both year-long CPE residency opportunities as well as single unit CPE internships.
Through critical reflection on patient care in verbatims and seminars, peer group consultation, and individual supervision, students learn the art of building supportive, healing relationships with patients and loved ones in the here-and-now moments of crisis, suffering, and transition. Along with the staff chaplains, CPE residents and interns are an integrated part of the spiritual care team and often take on leadership roles in the department as part of their professional development. The CPE program at each site is open to seminarians, spiritual and religious leaders, lay persons, and other students of ministry.
Clinical Pastoral Education is a dynamic learning experience that blends active ministry service to patients, their loved ones, and staff with engaged and supervised reflection. Members of various faith traditions are drawn to CPE to activate their caregiving passion and develop pastoral caregiving skills from reflection with peers and their supervisor on the many facets of the human condition—physical, emotional, spiritual, social and relational. Spiritual and theological reflection, relational systems and “living human webs” of care are explored together.
The learning opportunities for each of our program sites include the following topics:
- Advance Directives
- Behavioral Health
- Death and Dying
- Empathy & Compassionate care
- End of life or Terminal Diagnosis Care (Palliative Care)
- Family Systems Theory
- Grief, Loss, and Mourning
- Healing and Meaning-making
- Biomedical Ethics
- Spiritual Assessment
- Trauma and Crisis Care
- Worship and Ritual
- Health and Wellness (inpatient and outpatient)
- Working as part of an interdisciplinary care team
There are also opportunities during a unit to learn collaboratively with the other CPE sites within CommonSpirit Health.
St. Anthony North Hospital – Westminster, CO
Rev. Janet Barriger, M.Div., ACPE Certified Educator
- Phone: 720-627-0045
St. Anthony Hospital – Lakewood, CO
Rev. Dr. Judith Roska, ACPE Certified Educator
- Phone: 720-321-1779
Our ACPE-accredited CPE programs require a minimum of 400 hours of learning for each unit, approximately 300 hours spent in clinical ministry, and 100 hours of group and supervised reflection and learning. Clinical time includes a variety of learning opportunities, including regular visitation during the week, with referrals and introductory visits, and on-call responsibilities to meet emergency needs within the hospital. Opportunities for ministry and relational care include care to patients, their families and loved ones, and staff in the hospital and some of our outpatient settings.
Year-Long Residency
The year-long CPE residency programs at each site cover three CPE units including fall extended, winter/spring extended, and summer intensive units. A prior unit of CPE and formal graduate level theological education is required to be considered for admission into the residency program. CPE residents are full-time hospital associates with salaries and benefits including Paid Time Off (PTO) and eligibility to participate in the CommonSpirit Health Benefits Plan.
Single Unit Internship
CommonSpirit Health CPE programs offers single unit CPE internships throughout the year and include fall extended, winter/spring extended, and summer intensive units. There is no stipend for single unit units.
Tuition cost per unit: $1,250.
To apply for the Year-Long Residency Program or Single-Unit Internship, please complete the ACPE Application. A completed ACPE application, Bachelor's Degree (or Master's Degree in the case of the Residency Program), and an interview are required for consideration for admission. Attention is given to developing a CPE group with optimal possibility of learning (i.e., diversity). Both CPE programs encourage early applications.
There is no application fee. A non‑refundable $250.00 admissions fee is required upon acceptance into a Single-Unit Internship and is applied toward tuition. A refundable $250.00 admissions fee is required upon acceptance into the Residency.
Both the St. Anthony Hospital program, based in Lakewood, CO and the St. Anthony North Hospital program, based in Westminster, CO, are accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. ACPE is the premier, Department-of-Education-recognized organization that provides the highest quality CPE programs for spiritual care professionals of any faith and in any setting. We do this through a rigorous accreditation and certification process for centers and educators that provide CPE. The depth of our training enables students to realize their full potential to strengthen the spiritual health of people in their care as well as themselves. This ACPE accredited program does not discriminate against persons because of race, ethnicity, religious/spiritual tradition, sexual orientation, gender identitiy, gender expression, age or disability.
For more information, visit ACPE.
St. Anthony Hospital is a Level I Trauma Center that includes Flight for Life Colorado, the first air-medical transport program in the country, serving a nine state region. Our program offers students clinical experience in trauma, emergency, intensive care, medical surgical units, inpatient rehabilitation, oncology, biomedical ethics, and palliative care among other specialties. Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) Board Certified staff chaplains also provide mentoring to CPE students.
CPE Offered
St. Anthony Hospital offers full-time year-long CPE Residency positions. We also offer CPE intern positions during the summer.
St. Anthony North Hospital is a growing community hospital (Level III Trauma Center) located at 144th in the booming north central suburbs of metro Denver. Our hospital strives to connect to its natural surroundings in construction and reflections of nature by over 400 artists throughout the care site.
Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) residents and interns cultivate the art of providing spiritual and emotional care in our clinical setting, including trauma, emergency (two sites), intensive care, medical surgical units, oncology, biomedical ethics, and palliative care. We also have a vibrant family medicine residency program and interns in other disciplines. Teamwork and compassionate care hold great value in our learning and service at St. Anthony North Hospital.
CPE Offered
St Anthony North Hospital offers year-long CPE Residency positions (both full-time and part-time). We also offer CPE intern positions throughout the year.