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April 20, 2020
Trace Haythorn
This is one of those times where I wish I knew who had time to read it. I'm not worried about what I'm  writing;  I'm worried about all of you. Some of you have been involved in more deaths in the last couple of weeks than you would normally encounter in a year. Some of you are actively fighting the virus, grieving the loss of a loved one (or loved ones) who died from it, or struggling to figure out  the next best step   for you, your programs, your clients, your students,  and  your colleagues. It. Is. All. So. Much.  
 
And yet... chaplaincy is having a moment. For so many years, chaplaincy has been treated or perceived as a secondary form of ministry, something less than congregational ministry. It was seen or characterized as the place where people who  didn't  fit in congregational ministry might still  practice.  

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Pam Lazor
The Accreditation Commission continues to meet weekly to discuss all things accreditation. As our commissioners are in touch with centers on a regular basis, we understand the extra pressures that many are facing in their programs during these unprecedented times. We want to remind everyone that we are here to support you and to work with you on any areas of concern that you might have. Please don't hesitate to be in touch with your assigned commissioner at any time.

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Cecilia Walker
I hope that you are all staying healthy and well during this unprecedented time. The Certification Commission continues to meet on a monthly basis and to support our CECs and the ACPE Certified Educators who are working diligently to maintain their progress in the certification process.
 
Based on feedback that Commissioners are receiving, we are happy to share that we will be holding a series of Q & A sessions related to the certification processes. These small group sessions will be facilitated by members of the Commission and the ACPE Office and will be an open forum for you to bring your questions.

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Bernard Kynes
I am hopeful that each of you is well and remaining safe and healthy during this unique time in the world's history.
 
On behalf of the SIP CoP planning committee (formerly Kanuga SIP), I want you all to know that we are working to have a meaningful gathering this fall.  After our last meeting, Friday April 10, 2020, we moved to a deeper level of acceptance regarding the grave reality of this COVID-19 pandemic.  That is to say, that even if by October 30 through November 1 physical distancing is lifted, we want each of you to remain safe and healthy.  We also realize that due to the economic impact of the pandemic on each of us, many people will be hesitant or unable to travel or spend funds due to necessity or caution.  


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ACPE Website Notice for May 11 - 12
On May 11 and 12, 2020, ACPE will perform maintenance on its cloud servers. During this time, educators and students will not be able to access the Student Unit Database. Educators will not be able to register unit credit and students will not be able to enroll in units. Access to event registrations and invoices will also be down.
 
While we do not anticipate other disruptions to the website during this time, please prepare for sporadic outages. Thank you for your understanding and patience while we perform required maintenance to keep our servers updated and safe.
The 3-part filmed conversation features ACPE Certified Educator David Fleenor from Mount Sinai Center for Spirituality and Health in New York, NY who has been in the epicenter of the COVID crisis for several weeks and ACPE Certified Educator Shawn Mai of the Park Nicollet-Methodist Hospital CPE Program in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who is looking ahead towards when the peak is predicted to reach Minneapolis. 

Shawn and David, colleagues and friends, reach out to one another for moral support and shared wisdom as they both face new and unimagined obstacles and heartbreaking scenarios. They share learned lessons and navigate ethical challenges together, as they lean on each other.

Who? What? When? Images from ACPE's Past
Do you recognize these folks or the event in the photo above? Send us a note at  webmaster@acpe.edu

Last week's photo featured Denise Hill, Matt Rhodes, Lou Serio, Janise Randall, K'Lynne McKinley, Crystal Schmalz and Mark Feldbush at the 2017 ACPE Annual Conference.

Have any photos from your personal ACPE archive that you would like to share? Send them to webmaster@acpe.edu to be featured in an upcoming newsletter.
COVID-19 News
COVID-19 Response and Accreditation Updates
COVID-19
ACPE is actively monitoring the COVID-19 (commonly known as the coronavirus) situation. The health and safety - of our students, members, and the community we serve - are our paramount priority.

We are committed to providing updates and information as the COVID-19 situation continues via email and the website. We encourage you to monitor the CDC website for additional information.

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact the office at (404) 320-1472 or acpe@acpe.edu.


COVID-19 Resources for Members
In the midst of these uncertain times, many of us are hungry for information - information that can inform our decisions, help us process what we're experiencing, and connect us with those around us.
 
The Professional Well-Being Committee is working to gather such resources and make them available to our members. Here you will find articles, videos, and reflections that will bolster our resilience and strengthen our practice in the days and weeks ahead.
 
If you or your Community of Practice has a resource that you would like to submit to share with our members,  please email Katherine Higgins .

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In Case You Missed It
Notice for Individual Membership Invoices
Because of the current COVID-19 situation, we have extended the due date for individual ACPE memberships to April 30, 2020.  If you have experienced an unexpected delay in payment, please let us know the status of your payment or if you are experiencing a hardship.

Email accounting
A Spiritually Integrated Mindfulness for Treating Depression Webinar
Clark Echols
Mindfulness meditation has been shown to give patients control over their own depression and anxiety levels and can cut the recurrence of depression. Recent discoveries in neuroscience both confirm many practitioners' experiences, and give direction to developing therapeutic interventions. This webinar will be facilitated by  Clark Echols, PC,
MDiv, and MA in Mental Health Counseling.

Register

Weekly Highlights
This Week's Reflection
So often, poetry seems reflective, a contemplative exercise, a word-play with what has been perceived. Sometimes, poetry is prophetic or at least anticipatory in the way it captures a moment. This poem, by Daniel Halpern from 2013, is more of the latter:

Pandemania
By Daniel Halpern

There are fewer introductions
In plague years,
Hands held back, jocularity
No longer bellicose,
Even among men.
Breathing's generally wary,
Labored, as they say, when
The end is at hand.
But this is the everyday intake
Of the imperceptible life force,
Willed now, slow--
Well, just cautious
In inhabited air
As for ongoing dialogue,
No longer an exuberant plosive
To make a point,
But a new squirreling of air space,
A new sense of boundary.
Genghis Khan said the hand 
Is the first thing one man gives
To another. Not in this war.
A gesture of limited distance
Now suffices, a nod,
A minor smile or a hand
Slightly raised,
Not in search of its counterpart,
Just a warning within
The acknowledgment to stand back.
Each beautiful stranger a barbarian
Breathing on the other side of the gate.

Source: Poetry (March 2013)
extra
While you may not get to hear, or perhaps you are right in the middle of it, there is a chorus or praise every evening in neighborhoods around the world for the courageous, faithful, relentless work of health care folks during this horrible time. This essay beautifully describes the experience of the writer, who lives in Brooklyn, very near Brooklyn Hospital Center. And I am completely crying as I read it, but the tears are so much more than the pain of the moment. They are also the abiding trust in our collective human spirit and the way we are striving to respond, sometimes with global policy, sometimes with two hands coming together in appreciation:

Sarah Goodwin
Sarah Goodwin is a chaplain resident at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare. She graduated from Iliff School of Theology in 2018 with a Master of Theological Studies; she is currently a Member In Discernment with the United Church of Christ and is hoping to answer a call to pastoral ministry after completing her CPE residency. Sarah wrote a reflection on the Book of Esther.

April 20 
Easter Monday (Orthodox Christianity)
Easter Monday is a day to finish leftover Easter meals that were not eaten the day before. The menu may include: lamb, spanokopita (spinach pie), dolmadakia (stuffed vine leaves), and loukoumathes (honey balls). Easter Monday is also referred to as "Bright Monday" or "New Monday" in many Orthodox churches. 

April 20-May 1 
Festival of Ridvan  (Bahá'í)
Annual festival commemorating the 12 days when Bahá'u'lláh, the prophet-founder of the Bahá'í Faith, resided in a garden called Ridván (Paradise) and publicly proclaimed his mission as God's messenger for this age. The first (April 20), ninth (April 28), and twelfth (May 1) days are celebrated as holy days when Baha'is suspend work.

April 21 
Yom Hashoah  (Judaism)
"Holocaust Remembrance Day" memorializes the heroic martyrdom of six million Jews who perished in the Nazi Holocaust. 

Groundation Day (Rastafarian)
Groundation Day is an important Rastafari holy day, and second after Coronation Day. It is celebrated in honor of Haile Selassie's 1966 visit to Jamaica

April 23
Saint George's Day (Christianity)
This day commemorates Saint George, one of the most prominent military saints, and patron saint of England, Greece, Russia, Ethiopia, Palestine and Portugal (among others). Saint George's Day is observed in different fashions, including flying Saint George's Cross Flag and participating in parades.

April 24-May 23 
Ramadan (Islam)
Observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad.

April 25
Feast of St. Mark (Christianity )
Mark is said to have founded the Church of Alexandria, one of the most important episcopal sees of early Christianity. His feast day is celebrated on April 25, and his symbol is the winged lion.

April 26 
Akshaya-Tritiya (Jainism)
This day celebrates the breaking of the year-long fast by the first Jain teacher, Tirthankara Rishabhdeva. Any meaningful activity started on this day will be successful.
Visit the ACPE website for more dates and information. 
  • ACPE Certified Educator Joseph Yao-Kotay has lost father Rev. Joseph H. Cannon, Sr. and mother Mrs. Earnestine Cannon due to COVID-19. Rev. Cannon died on April 5, 2020 and Mrs. Cannon died on March 31, 2020. Mr. and Mrs. Cannon lived in Chicago, Illinois.
  • ACPE Annual Campaign Chair Brooks Heard welcomed a beautiful and healthy baby girl. Brooklyn Zoe Heard was born on April 15, 2020 at 6:29 am weighing 7lbs 15oz and measuring 20.5 inches. Her name means streams of life.
Visit the ACPE Memorials and Milestones page for more details. Please email webmaster@acpe.edu to add someone to our thoughts.
This Week's Career Opportunities & Residency/CEC Openings
Career Opportunities
Position
Center/Organization

Location Posting Date
CPE Program Manager Lutheran Hospital  Fort Wayne, IN 4/17/20
CPE Manager St. Mark's Hospital Salt Lake City, UT 4/17/20
CPE Manager Centra Health Lynchburg, VA 4/3/20
CPE Program Director Erlanger Health Chattanooga, TN 3/27/20
CPE Manager Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, TN 3/20/20
CPE Educator Catholic Health Services of Long Island Rockville Centre, NY 3/20/20
CPE Educator PIH Health Hospital - Downey Downey, CA 3/13/20
CPE Educator VA Midwest Health Care Network St. Cloud, MN 3/6/20

Residency/CEC/CPE Unit Openings

Position
Center/Organization

Location
Posting Date
2020-2021 Residency St. Luke's Hospital Chesterfield, MO 4/17/20
2020-2021 Residency University Medical Center New Orleans New Orleans, LA 4/3/20
CPE Residency Baylor Scott & White - Temple Temple, TX 3/20/20
CPE Residency Covenant HealthCare Saginaw, MI 3/20/20
CPE Residency Baylor Scott & White Health - North Texas Dallas, TX 3/20/20
2020-2021 Residency UnityPoint Health - Des Moines Des Moines, IA 3/20/20
1st and 2nd Year Residencies Baylor St.Luke's Medical Center Houston, TX 3/20/20
CPE Residency Gundersen Health System La Crosse, WI 3/20/20
CPE Residency Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare Tallahassee, FL 3/13/20
Second Year Fellowship Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati, OH 3/13/20
Chaplain Residents Baycare Spiritual Care Clearwater, FL 3/6/20
CPE Residency VA Midwest Health Care Network St. Cloud, MN 3/6/20
CPE Residency Ochsner Medical Center New Orleans, LA 2/28/20
CPE Residency Providence St. Peter Hospital Olympia, WA 2/28/20
CPE Residency East Jefferson General Hospital Metairie, LA 2/21/20
CPE Residency Valley Baptist Medical Center Brownsville, TX
Harlingen, TX
2/14/20
2020-2021 CPE Residency UCSF Medical Center San Francisco, CA 2/7/20
2020-2021 CPE Residency CHRISTUS Spohn Health System Corpus Christi, TX 2/7/20
2020-2021 CPE Residency Kettering Health Network Dayton, OH 1/10/20
Summer CPE Program St. Cloud Hospital St. Cloud, MN 12/13/19
2019-2020 Residency Program Mayo Clinic Health System Eau Claire, WI 12/13/19
Yearlong Residency Albert Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia, PA 11/1/19
1st & 2nd Year Residencies
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, OH
9/13/19

Visit the ACPE website for a complete list of Career Opportunities and Residency/CEC Openings Want to advertise with ACPE? Learn more.
Other Educational Opportunities

Event
Location
Date
Compassion Fatigue, Burnout and Secondary Trauma
Online
April 21, 2020
Online
May 1, 8, 22 and June 5, 2020
Online
May 18 - 21, 2020
Oates Institute Symposium: Trauma Informed Spiritual Care Online
June 1 - 15, 2020
Durham, North Carolina
August 10 - 14, 2020
Evolution of Psychotherapy Anaheim, CA
December 9 - 13, 2020
Transforming Chaplaincy
Online Spring and Fall sessions
Chaplaincy Innovation Lab
Online N/A
Online
Self-Paced
San Francisco Theological Seminary/Online
Rolling Enrollment

ACPE members and centers may post "happenings" in the weekly newsletter. ACPE does not accredit, review, or endorse the events listed above. Send your "happening" to webmaster@acpe.edu.
ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education
(404) 320-1472 | Email | Website 
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. 

ACPE is also the professional home of a growing number of spiritually integrated psychotherapists and pastoral counselors. ACPE supports Psychotherapist and Practitioner members through continuing education programs, networking, and leadership development. 

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