Spiritual health professional education opportunities

The spiritual health teaching program at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is fully accredited by the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC). This type of training has been known for decades by the terms "Clinical Pastoral Education" (CPE) and "Supervised Pastoral Education (SPE)". We have been conducting both basic and advanced levels of CPE through our Spiritual Health and Multi-Faith Services department at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) for decades and were approved by CASC to add Richmond Hospital (RH) as a teaching site in 2019. Basic, Advanced and Supervisory levels of education are currently provided at VGH. Other teaching sites may start operating in hospitals under the VCH program.

CPE is taught in a multi-faith context with and for persons from all faith traditions and walks of life. After completion of two basic units and one advanced unit, if one has a M.A. degree in Theological studies or equivalent one can become eligible to apply for positions in B.C. public health facilities to work as a Spiritual Health Practitioner. Theological schools may also require their students to take CPE units as part of their training to be a minister or denominational chaplain. Please see below under VST for more information.

Fall and winter extended unit

Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) offers an extended unit of CPE with a schedule designed to meet the needs of students taking other coursework, working part-time or in a flexible full-time position. An extended unit would require 13 hours per week, typically from the 2nd or 3rd week of September to the first week of April. We expect to run two groups, possibly 3, at VGH this year. Each group can have a maximum of 8 student interns.

• VGH Group A: Tuesdays, Sept 9, 2025 – Friday, March 27, 2026 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. (with30-minute break for dinner).
• VGH Group B: Thursdays, Sept 11, 2025 to Friday, March 27, 2026 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. (with 30-minute break for dinner)
• The above group meeting times may be changed only if all students and the supervisor agree. A 3rd CPE group may be added if enrollment is particularly high in any given year.

Time slots for individual supervisory sessions and ward assignments will depend upon the schedule of each hospital ward as well as each student's availability. Students are expected to average 8 hours per week on the hospital wards, to be delivered on 2 separate 1/2 days each week between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday – Friday. This time is spent, providing bedside spiritual health and attending inter-professional team meetings. Average weekly commitment on site for all functions will normally total 13 hours. All advanced students and basic students who are deemed to have sufficient competencies may also provide a week of on call after-hour service. 

Students enrolled in Vancouver School of Theology intercession week are not required to be at the hospital for their clinical hours for the week of Jan VST Intensives but are expected to attend Tuesday group session. 

December holidays, will be observed so that there will be no group sessions for the week leading up to and following Christmas Day but students remaining in the city may elect to continue ward visitations as long as the supervisor is on site, in order to reach their 200 clinical hour requirement. 

The group session continues to meet during VST and Regent College reading weeks. 

During the first two weeks of class, there will be some additional group session times negotiated in addition to the regularly scheduled group times in order to prepare new students for the wards. 

Application

The normal application deadline is July 10 but may be extended if the unit is not filled by that date. Application forms cannot be processed until after a screening interview is conducted by the Supervisors at VGH.

Spring and summer intensive unit

At Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), a spring/summer intensive unit is also offered most years. An intensive unit involves a commitment of 40 hours per week on site over the course of 12 weeks. 

Summer Intensive unit: Mon 28 April, 2025 – Fri July 18, 2025 (following week can be used for individual evaluations)

The content and design of the unit is the same as the fall/winter unit described above despite being condensed into a 12 week period of time. 

Application

The normal application deadline is February 28, but may be extended. Credit for an intensive unit is the same as for an extended.

For further information, or to make application, contact Eileen, the Administrative Assistant listed below or one of the CPE supervisors. Application forms cannot be processed until after a screening interview is conducted by the supervisors at VGH.

For more information, please contact:

Arun Chatterjee
Education Leader and CPE Supervisor
Vancouver General Hospital
Phone: (604) 875-5050
arun.chatterjee@vch.ca

Beth Burton
Spiritual Health Education Leader
Vancouver General Hospital
beth.burton@vch.ca

General Inquiries
Spiritual Care & Multi-Faith Services Program
Vancouver General Hospital - Doctor's Residence
206 - 2775 Heather Street
Vancouver, BC  V5Z 1M9
Office: (604) 875-4151
cpe@vch.ca

Subsequent to completing all CPE units students may apply for a residency that includes a stipend. This may be formatted as one full-time position or two half-time positions. The prospective student completes the residency at VGH through directed studies in an area of specialization in conjunction with the Vancouver School of Theology and the VGH Teaching Supervisor. Residencies are renewable up to two years. A post-graduate diploma may be incorporated.

Spiritual Care Residency/Fellowship information sheet

We have partnered with VST and Regent College, so that students are able to incorporate CPE within a Master's degree in Public and Pastoral Leadership program (MAPPL) and Masters of Divinity Program respectively. The Spiritual Care stream of this degree was designed to meet the certification requirements of the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care and the Province of British Columbia's Framework for Spiritual Care Practitioners.

VST's MAPPL in Spiritual Care Graduate degree program

Regent College’s M.Div. with Chaplaincy concentration Graduate degree Program

The BC Ministry of Health requires all Spiritual Care Practitioners, to have achieved the equivalent of 2 basic units and one advanced unit of Clinical Psycho-Spiritual Education. In Canada this training is provided by supervisors certified by the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC). CASC is a national organization, committed to the professional education, certification and support of persons providing spiritual health, pastoral counselling, education and research. It welcomes persons of all faith traditions. It provides educational programs for persons who are preparing to become professional providers of Spiritual Health and Pastoral counselling in a variety of institutional and community settings such as health care, corrections, education and private practice. It also welcomes ministers, priests and faith leaders of all traditions who may simply wish to take a unit of CPE to augment their professional work as clergy.

Canadian Association for Spiritual Care website