The College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy is a theologically based covenant community, dedicated to "recovery of the soul" and promoting competency in the clinical pastoral field.
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Walker Evans, a famous American documentary photographer in the 1930s and 1940's, noted that many photographers have no trouble framing a photo and having light that reflects well off the subject in interesting ways. Greatness from his point of view lies, however, in those who have the gift to "capture the light that's in the air".
"Capturing the light that's in the air" is a metaphor. It speaks of those who have the uncanny gift of understanding what is happening in the culture, the times and who intuitively know the work that needs to be done and they set out to do it. It's about discerning the essence of time, space and need within a particular and often crucial moments of the cultural and the human predicament. If addressed, the world is a better place. If not, we all suffer because there was the failure to "capture the light that's in the air."
The College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy’s (CPSP) mission is dedicated to "capturing the light that's in the air" for the clinical pastoral movement. As a community its dedication is: To see what others have not seen, to embrace the new rather than cling to the old, to risk rather than play it safe, to reinvent itself rather than re-package the old, to imagine the unimaginable, to let go rather than holding on, to create rather than duplicate, and to dream dreams that have never been dreamed. All of this and more is CPSP's way "to capture the light that's in the air" for the clinical pastoral movement.
Many would say, and they have said, that an organization like CPSP committed to the foolishness of "capturing the light that's in the air" has created a perfect design for failure. Yet, CPSP has been and continues to be a vibrant movement for nearly twenty years. It continues to grow, expand and influence the whole clinical pastoral movement both nationally and internationally. How could this be? How could CPSP survive let alone grow and thrive as it has in the face of many powerful forces designed to cast darkness upon its light.
The only answer I have is that CPSP is blessed with the gift and it has been called to the mission of "capturing the light that's in the air". CPSP attracts those rare souls who are "outside the box" kind of people who find CPSP a better “fit” than the more traditional hierarchical pastoral organizational models. These adventuresome and creative spirits within CPSP want to "capture the light that's in the air". They believe that traveling with the CPSP community might enable them to change the world and that they will make a difference in the lives of people through their ministry.
As a community CPSP is blessed by such madness found within its membership. Let’s face it, it takes a special kind of person willing to join and give their time, energy and passion to an organization like CPSP committed to “traveling light”.
Amongst many things, “traveling light” as a community means that CPSP does not put money into owning or even renting office space. CPSP has no paid Executives/Directors/Staff “running” and “administering” the organization. No one has a job on the line. All are set free to dream, imagine, create, risk, to fail and to try again. A daring and creative spirit abounds within CPSP.
It’s not a stretch to say that CPSP Chapter life is the soul of the CPSP community. CPSP Chapters, small covenant communities whose members not only commit to one another’s professional and personal journeys, they are also invested with an enormous amount of autonomy, leadership, power, discipline and authority, even in the critical matters of certification and accreditation.
While others extol the virtues of being tied to the authority of the US Department of Education (DOE) to make its argument for the quality of its Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) programs, CPSP in contrast looks to the authority, creativity, imagination and integrity of its Clinical Pastoral Supervisors in consultation with their Chapters and the Chapter's Pastoral Consultant(s) to insure the quality of its clinical training programs.
It's this creative use of audacity and the transforming power of genuine community found within CPSP that becomes a precious gift beyond all measure. It becomes the gift that enables the CPSP to be about the business of "capturing the light that's in the air" for the clinical pastoral movement.
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To contact the author, click here.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 1:07 PM
CPSP rocks and so does Little Rock, AR where the 2008 CPSP plenary will soon convene.
Consider using the CPSP Chapter Life Blog as a CPSP MeetUp Space. Create a post to see who would like to share a taxi ride to and from the hotel, create a group night out on the town, share the expense of a hotel room, explore Little Rock's cultural offerings, etc. Check the blog during the Plenary to see what might be happening and/or to create your own event.
See you at the Plenary.
Perry Miller, Editor
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 7:22 PM
Mary Davis has posted on the CPSP Chapter Life Blog the CPSP Chapter Convener Manual. All Chapter Conveners and Chapter members are encouraged to review and provide consultation. In particular, those who will be attending the 2008 CPSP Plenary's Chapter Life Pre-Conference on Sunday, March 30 at 1:15 PM are urged to review the document and be prepared to discuss it at the Pre-Conference.
If you are a member of the CPSP Community and have not registered to be a member of the blog, please send your name, and the names of your Chapter and its Convener to the Chapter Life Committee.
Perry Miller, Editor
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 4:55 PM
The gathering of the CPSP community for the 2008 CPSP Plenary will occur in Little Rock, AR starting March 31.
In addition to a well planned and exciting conference, the city of Little Rock offers attendees of the Plenary many opportunities to explore and experience art, music, entertainment, restaurants and the charm of the city and its people.
Listed below are a list of such opportunities to not only help you plan your stay prior to your arrival but as a quick reference resource during the Plenary. All are within walking distance or a short trolley ride from the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel and the CPSP Plenary.
Transportation
River Rail Trolley System -http://www.cat.org/rrail/
Downtown North Little Rock Restaurants
in the Historic “Argenta District”
Argenta Seafood CompanyArt, History & EntertainmentMr. Brian Isaac
521 Main Street
North Little Rock, AR 72114
(501) 375-5800
Fax: (501) 376-3366
Website Link: www.arseafood.com
Only three blocks from the CPSP Plenary Wyndham Riverfront
Cregeen's Irish PubMr. J.B. Williams
301 Main St.
North Little Rock, AR 72114
(501) 376-7468
Website Link: www.cregeenspubs.com
½ Block from the Wyndham Riverfront
Cornerstone Pub & GrillMr. Mike Kent
314 Main Street
North Little Rock, AR 72119-9095
(501) 374-1782
Fax: (501) 372-6982
Website Link: http://www.cstonepub.com/
Only three blocks from the Wyndham
Reno's Argenta CafeMr. Louis R. France
312 N. Main Street
North Little Rock, AR 72114
(501) 376-2900
Fax: (501) 376-2906
Website Link: www.renosargentacafe.com
Only 3 Blocks from the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel
Ristorante CapeoMr. Brian Isaac
425 Main Street
North Little Rock, AR 72114
(501) 376-3463
Fax: (501) 376-3366
Website Link: www.capeo.us
Only 4 blocks from the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel
Museum of Discovery - www.amod.orgClinton Presidential Center - http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/ or http://www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org/
Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum – http://aimm.museum/
Little Rock River Market - www.rivermarket.info
Arkansas Travelers Baseball & Dickey-Stephens Park - www.travs.com/
All of the above are within walking distance or a short Trolley ride from the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel and the CPSP Plenary.
Local Newspaper and TV Stations
Local NBC affiliate: http://arkansasmatters.com/
Local Fox station: http://www.fox16.com/Default.aspx
Local ABC affiliate: http://www.katv.com/
Local CBS affiliate: http://www.katv.com/
Local Newspaper site for Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: http://www.wunderground.com/auto/arkansas/AR/Little_Rock.html
Perry Miller, Editor
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:07 AM
Eighteen years ago today CPSP was created. Fifteen persons meeting
near Roanoke, Virginia, to discuss the question of whether a new,
alternative certifying body was called for, unanimously agreed to
create CPSP. Then President of ACPE, Julian Byrd came to offer counsel
to us and was the sixteenth person present. He urged us not to take
this action, but he did so in a collegial way without acrimony. Since
then more than six hundred certified persons have joined us. We look
forward to the future with commitment and optimism.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 4:17 PM
At the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences cooperation between the Pastoral Care department, the Medical Center Auxiliary & Volunteer department and the Healing Arts committee has resulted in a creative approach to patient pastoral and emotional support. Working together these departments have developed a pilot project to bring on board the services of a Therapeutic Harpist.
Commenting on the pilot project George Hankins Hull, director of the Pastoral Care department related “It took a significant degree of cooperation between the Pastoral Care department, the Auxiliary & Volunteer department and the Healing Arts committee to bring the Therapeutic Harpist on board. We have had a wonderful response from staff and patients for this creative and leading edge venture. This is a success story in terms of vision and cooperation to better support the emotional and spiritual of our patients. We are very happy to have secured the services of Andrea Sadler, Ph.D. as our Therapeutic Harpist for our pilot project.”
Dr. Sadler's article, Therapeutic Music and Patient Care, was recently published in the Pastoral Report.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:47 AM
What is Therapeutic Music?
Music is therapeutic in a variety of ways. Most people have experienced feeling cheered up by listening to music when in emotional distress. The everyday experience of listening to music in order to relax, cheer up, etc., can be likened to use of an over-the-counter analgesic. It is self-administered and very effective for many situations. Therapeutic music in a medical setting is analogous to a prescription drug; the therapeutic musician chooses music “prescriptively” in order to effect a deeper level of care for more serious conditions.
The field of therapeutic music is an emerging modality of whole-patient care. While the term “therapeutic musician” is general, my own training is that of Certified Music Practitioner (CMP); other titles, such as Harp Therapist, are conferred by other training programs.1
In the work of a CMP and other trained therapeutic musicians, therapeutic music is defined as live, individualized music provided at a patient’s bedside to create an environment wherein healing can occur. “Healing” is an open-ended term to describe a move toward balance; it is distinguished from “curing,” i.e., the cessation of disease symptoms. In practical terms, the healing offered by a therapeutic music session can occur on one or more of the following levels:
Physiological (pain is lessened or monitors show a quantifiable metabolic normalization);
* Emotional (anxiety is lessened, a patient’s spirits seem lifted, or an emotional release takes place); Physiological (pain is lessened or monitors show a quantifiable metabolic normalization);
* Emotional (anxiety is lessened, a patient’s spirits seem lifted, or an emotional release takes place);
* Spiritual (a patient responds in religious or spiritual terms);
* Social (the music seems to connect the patient and family), or
* Integrative (a patient appears to shift into a deeper state of relaxation in which self-healing forces can be marshaled).
CMP’s play for patients in many settings: ICU, CCU, Oncology, Alzheimer’s units, outpatient dialysis, and others. Different types of music are appropriate for different categories of patients; familiar music can be comforting at times, while unfamiliar music can move the patient out of his or her habitual responses. Critically ill patients need music that assists in stabilizing body rhythms. Moreover, the CMP responds to patients’ needs dynamically with changes in tempo, pitch range, rhythm, and other musical parameters. In a sense the CMP is “listening” to the patient, with a similar therapeutic effect that listening to patients’ stories has, yet verbal communication is in the main bypassed.
The music itself is a kind of witness of the patient’s condition and this witnessing is the agent of change. In addition, there are physiological effects from the musical tones themselves; some of these effects are only now beginning to be understood. All of these considerations depend on the music being live, not recorded, and one-on-one, not in a group. People do benefit from recorded music and music played for a group; one might say that live, individualized sessions are the most “potent” application of music-as-medicine.
In contrast to music therapy, which is oriented toward the patient’s own music-making as a psychological therapy, therapeutic music is a receptive modality. The music is simply received by the patient for healing on one or more of the levels outlined above. As such, it is an especially useful intervention for patients who do not have the life-force to engage actively with music.
While a variety of instruments have been used in this work, I use harp and voice in my sessions with patients. Both have a seemingly innate power to soothe. The physical effect of the resonance and sustain of harp strings, as well as the psychological effects of the human voice (even recalling the mother’s voice in infancy), are surely factors in patient response. In the sterile environment of the hospital, the mere presence of a beautiful wooden object with graceful lines has a therapeutic effect, and many hospital visitors comment with admiration and awe when riding an elevator with me and my harp.
Therapeutic Music: An Oasis of Sound
He is not yet 30 years old, and he has had cancer for several years. The nurses tell me he’s non-compliant, jacks his bed up high, refuses medication, and throws them out of the room with colorful language. Surprisingly, he agrees to let the therapeutic harpist (that’s me) into the room to play. He’s a combination of virile young manhood and the bone-crushing weariness that cancer and its treatment bring. His guard is maybe half down.
I’m a Certified Music Practitioner (CMP) and provide therapeutic music through a grant from the UAMS Auxiliary. I’m trained to provide live, individualized sessions of music to patients at their bedside. Unlike music therapy, which seeks to engage patients in music-making, in a therapeutic music session the patient need only receive the music. Pain reduction, relaxation, and emotional release are just some of the possible effects of a session.
As a CMP, I assess a patient as soon as I walk in the room. Unfamiliar music usually helps patients let go better than familiar music, but to establish rapport I often begin with a piece that will be familiar to my patient. In a typical day I may play Gregorian chant, Willie Nelson, Celtic music, and Baptist hymns—all depending on the patients I see.
Most patients I see are older, and I realize with a sinking feeling that I probably don’t know even one song my young patient likes to listen to. Rap is a genre I haven’t yet figured out how to do on the harp. I start with “Unchained Melody”—I learned it the first time it was popular, but maybe he’s seen the movie “Ghost.” He listens attentively, comments politely on the harp. I find out he plays drums. He hasn’t thrown me out yet. I keep playing and notice how tired he is, his eyes close and I softly segue into an old lullaby as he allows himself a few moments of rest. He’s been fighting his condition and the constraints of the hospital so long, but he can’t stay asleep, he’s got to keep fighting. His eyes open and I play the old Motown hit “Jimmy Mack,” rhythmically but at the same time delicately, mirroring what’s in front of me. Again his eyes droop and I switch to another lullaby. He’s so tired. I’m alternate lullabies and Motown right along with him as he struggles to keep his defiance up in the face of this weariness. When he naps I see just how weak he is, how much he needs this respite. Finally he very politely asks me to stop because he “has some things to do.” We both know perfectly well he’s stuck in this bed and he can’t bear it. I’m glad he was able to let it all go for a little while.
My job as a CMP is to create an environment for each patient where healing (literally, to make whole) can occur. While I can’t make this young man’s cancer go away, or even make him accept its reality, I can perform the powerful act of witnessing his journey through the unique medium of music. I can lead a patient gently toward a state of wholeness and balance. It’s a mysterious process and success is often measured by the subtlest signs an alert look at the end of a neurological patient’s session, a more relaxed facial expression of a patient in pain, or simply being accepted by a young man acting out his anguish.
When I tell the resident chaplain about the session and how it ended she laughs and says, “Honey, you should hear how he tells the nurses to leave.” As a therapeutic musician, I’m honored that this young man let me accompany him for a few steps of his long journey. Providing an oasis of sound serves patients in a different way than chemotherapy treatment. Perhaps true healing encompasses both.
-Andrea Sadler, Ph.D., Certified Music Practitioner
-----------------------------
Andrea Kielpinski Sadler is a singer, harpist, and therapeutic musician. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music from University of Illinois-Chicago, with conservatory training in voice and piano from DePaul University School of Music and the American Conservatory of Music. She studied voice with Anne Perillo and piano with Julian Leviton at DePaul, and she studied voice with Eileen Deneen at the American Conservatory of Music. Andrea’s harp studies were with Sile Harriss, an award-winning harpist in the Scottish tradition, and Jane Taylor. Andrea is particularly interested in the therapeutic aspects of music and studied music thanatology with Therese Schroeder-Sheker. Andrea is trained and certified to provide therapeutic music in medical settings as a Certified Music Practitioner. She co-founded Healing Hands of Missoula, an innovative collaboration of harpists and body workers providing therapeutic sessions in nursing homes in Montana. Andrea now uses harp and voice therapeutically at the bedside for patients at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Center in Little Rock. She also performs as a free-lance harpist and leads workshops in Gregorian chant. Andrea holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and conducted research in nuclear safety for ten years.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:43 AM
Al Henager, CPSP Clinical Chaplain, is attending the 2008 national conference of the Association of Professional Chaplains in Pittsburgh, March 6 -13. He is sending updates about the conference especially regarding CPSP. He is calling his reports "Blogging from the Spot."
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Today, Wednesday, March 13, the APC conference officially ends. All-in-all it has been a good conference with what I believe to be a lot of good will gained for CPSP.
Earlier at the "Dialogue with the Board," (of APC) someone asked how the relationship between APC and CPSP is progressing. Mary Whetstone, APC President, reported that she had met with Jim Gebhart, CPSP President, and myself in Columbus this year, along with Ted Lindquist, APC Certification Chair, by conference call. She said that the dialogue is continuing and things are in process.
I also reported that CPSP had adopted the Common Standards of the Spiritual Care Collaborative this last year, with the caveat we be added to the list. In addition, Mary told me personally that the APC Board will consider our membership in the SCC this coming Thursday, March 14. She said she has every hope that APC will concur with our membership in the SCC.
Mary is attending our 2008 Plenary in Little Rock. She says she hope to bring us good news. The picture is of Mary Whetstone and myself at the APC conference.
See you all in Little Rock at the end of the month! Ya'll come! Ya hear?
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:42 PM
Until CPSP came on the scene, never before in the history of the CPE Movement, CPE training in a Correctional Facility included inmates as trainees in a regular CPE training group. This is the creative genius of CPSP.
A special forum will be held at the 2008 Plenary, on Sunday afternoon, March 30, for those who want to know more about this pioneering effort as well as to explore developing similar endeavors. Principals who are involved in this project, including possibly inmates who were CPE trainees will be on hand to share their experience and insights.
An article about the trainees’ CPE experience was recently published in The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling (Winter 2007, Vol. 61, No. 4).
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 5:45 PM
Al Henager, CPSP Clinical Chaplain, is attending the 2008 national conference of the Association of Professional Chaplains in Pittsburgh, March 6 -13. He is sending updates about the conference especially regarding CPSP. He is calling his reports "Blogging from the Spot."
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Today at the APC conference in Pittsburgh, CPSP Diplomate Ken Blank received his 25- year membership award. The picture shows Ken receiving his award from Mary Whetstone, APC President.
By the way, Mary Whetstone will join us as our guest at the CPSP 2008 Plenary in Little Rock.
Speaking of the CPSP Plenary, it is coming up right away. If you haven't registered yet, shame on you. And, as we say in Arkansas, "What in the world are you a-waitin' fer?"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 5:12 PM
Al Henager, CPSP Clinical Chaplain, is attending the 2008 national conference of the Association of Professional Chaplains in Pittsburgh, March 6 -13. He is sending updates about the conference especially regarding CPSP. He is calling his reports "Blogging from the Spot."
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Greeting again from Pittsburgh! I cannot tell you the amount of interest I am seeing in CPSP from chaplains here at the APC conference. It is only Sunday, and we have almost run out of brochures already. Luckily, we had 1000 flyers printed just before I left. These match the display and have www.CPSP.org listed for more information.
Today, Sunday, I am to co-present in a 90-minute workshop. Dr. Reed Thompson, Medical Director for the Palliative Care Service at UAMS Medical Center, where I serve as Staff Chaplain, is joining me today to present "Transforming Death into Healing at the End of Life."
Often in the medical community, death is seen as the “ultimate failure.” Drawing on the discipline of palliative care and the traditions of the hospice movement, this workshop tries to equip chaplains with strategies for transforming the dying process into one of “healing” for patients, for their families, and for the medical staff. Goals of the workshop are to identify and explain the four domains of care at the end of life, to engage in six strategies of care to persons at the end of life, and to articulate what the concept of “dying healed” means.
The picture above shows Dr. Thompson and myself presenting the workshop. Also, for those who attended the workshop, I am attaching the PowerPoint presentation for them to download. Of course, anyone who wants the presentation may download it as well.
Download file: Transforming Death into Healing at the End of Life
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 4:37 PM
“If you knew that you would be alone,
Knowing right, being wrong,
Would you change?” - From a song by Tracy Chapman, entitled “Change”
I was asked recently to do a brief reflection on the above lines from a Tracy Chapman song, “Change” for a worship service at the seminary I attend. The song asks, in effect, “What will it take for you to change?” I felt compelled to offer a response from the point of view of the people that I minister with—people who are snowed under with a mental health disorder, or a terminal illness, a chronic disease that is slowly narrowing their world to a sliver of its former self, or the sudden death of someone they love.
When people hurt deeply, they almost always feel alone. That aloneness feels like forever – there is no sense of time. In the midst of grief, or intense fear, or physical or emotional pain, one moment can feel like a thousand years.
From the outside, being deeply hurt can have many faces:
a bitter, hostile person who has nothing good to say about anything;
an arrogant, condescending person who knows better than anyone else;
a timid, fearful person who refuses to take a stand;
a cheerful back-slapper who listens to everyone’s problems but who never listens to themselves or ponders the depth of his own soul;
A competent person who conscientiously performs good work but never honors her own needs and limits.
Though it seems like it should, not even being a person of faith automatically heals this hurt. We are broken people, some more broken than others.
The brokenness we carry within us shapes our whole being—body, mind, and spirit. We grow into our brokenness, and as we do every part of us shifts and changes, like a wisteria vine grows around a wire until the wire is enveloped and it’s hard to tell the wire from the vine.
Even from the inside, we can’t always tell what’s our true, unique and precious self and what’s not. Our brokenness becomes our identity, who we are, the way we know ourselves. The glass through which we see ourselves is so dark, so murky and so distorted, that we can’t see ourselves or God clearly.
It’s a funny thing about our sense of who we are: no matter how painful it feels, or how shameful, we cling to it as if our very lives depended on it. You’d think we’d be so glad to get rid of it that we’d be asking everyone we know to help us find healthy release and freedom. But we don’t.
It feels as if our lives do depend on it, because without this distorted identity the person we know ourselves to be—ceases to exist. And we have nothing to put in its place. Leave my abusive husband? What would become of me? Go out and get to know people to ease my loneliness? Then I might have to let them see how flawed I am. Give up my drugs? How would I bear the pain?
Is it any wonder we resist hearing a word of grace? Over time, it becomes safer and even easier, as strange as it sounds, to see ourselves as damaged beyond repair. It feels safer. This is just who I am. I’m at home here. It may be a minefield, but I know how to navigate this landscape. I know the rules.
We know, deep down, how sinful we are. We’re working overtime to keep it at bay, out of our line of sight. We’ll do most anything so that we don’t have to face who we fear we really are: the lost, the unloved of God, the unredeemable.
If you want us to change, don’t come at us with easy answers. Give us a safe space. Stick with us as long as it takes. Don’t take your helplessness out on us. Respect us. Acknowledge our pain. Hear us. Show us God’s grace and God’s caring. Expect to do it for years with no results, while we test you until you’d like to throw up your hands in frustration. Our land is so cracked and dry that our roots are buried down too deep for cheap grace. Walk alongside us, keep faith with us. Believe in us.
If we can trust you enough--and we’re the only ones who get to say how long that takes--maybe we’ll be able to come out from hiding—to you and to ourselves. Maybe we’ll be able to take a deep breath, begin to learn to look compassionately at ourselves, and think about gently lifting away those parts of ourselves that shadow the face of God.
________________
Alexis Versalle, Chaplain
Margaret R. Pardee Hospital
800 N. Justice Street
Hendersonville, NC 28791
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 4:09 PM
Al Henager, CPSP Clinical Chaplain, is attending the 2008 national conference of the Association of Professional Chaplains in Pittsburgh, March 6 -13. He is sending updates about the conference especially regarding CPSP. He is calling his reports "Blogging from the Spot."
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Greetings from Pittsburgh! The rain continued, but I had more work to do at the APC conference. This year, CPSP arranged to have a display in the exhibitor's area of the conference. For the last several months, in consultation with Raymond, Perry, and others, we had developed a professional CPSP display unit just for such exhibitions. It packs light and travels well. As soon as I was allowed to do so, I set up the display at table 816 reserved for CPSP.
Almost immediately, people began to stop by to ask questions. There is an amazing interest in CPSP with chaplains from all over. Just in the first hour, I handed out dozens of brochures and flyers, all directing folks to our website for more information.
There are several CPSP folks attending the conference. Among them are Charles Kirby, Beverly Jessup, David Plummer, Phil Pinkard, Don Marsh, David Baker, Ken Blank, and myself.
In the picture, CPSP Diplomate Beverly Jessup talks about CPSP with an APC conference attendee at the CPSP booth. As pastoral caregivers, one of major tasks is "ministry of presence." That is exactly what we are doing at APC. The value of our presence here cannot be measured.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 10:09 AM
Al Henager, CPSP Clinical Chaplain, is attending the 2008 National Conference of the Association of Professional Chaplains in Pittsburgh, March 6 -13. He is sending updates about the conference especially regarding CPSP. He is calling his reports "Blogging from the Spot."
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I arrived in Pittsburgh on Thursday evening greeted by cold, rainy weather. Ironically, my wife told me when I phone her that it was snowing in Little Rock! In fact my daughter's school was closed the next day. The rain, however, did not dampen my spirits.
The first big thing on my agenda was, on Friday, March 7, to present a four-hour pre-conference workshop called "Forging Relationships of Understanding -- Communicating what Chaplains Do."
Often chaplains are unable to explain exactly what they do or how they make a difference. This workshop was designed to help chaplains articulate what they do in a way that others, particularly in administration, can understand. I tried to focus on ways to measure their productivity, common outcomes of their work, and a common language to describe what chaplains do.
There were about 20 people who attended, which is really good for a pre-conference workshop. I received quite a few compliments on the workshop, and I am posting the PowerPoint presentation here for downloading anyone who would like it. Download file
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:20 AM
b. 10:45 a.m. Sunday – “There is No Suffering in the Hospital” c. 1:00 p.m. Sunday – “Chapter Life Workshop"March 4, 2008
Two reasons to COME EARLY to the 2008 Plenary!
1. The Pre-conference Workshopsa. 9:00 a.m. Sunday – “Community Based C.P.E.”
2. To visit these historic sites:
a. The Clinton Presidential Library
b. The Old Mill – site of the opening scene of “Gone with the Wind”
c. Central High School – site of the “Little Rock Nine” historic school desegregation
d. The Little Rock River Market
e. Alltel Arena – site of 2008 NCAA regional men’s basketball tournament
f. Villa Marre – the house on the sitcom “Designing Women”
g. Heifer Project International Green Building
h. MacArthur Museum of Military History
i. Old State House Museum
j. Arkansas Museum and Historical Restoration
k. Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum/USS Razorback (WWII submarine)
l. Arkansas Riverboat Queen
m. River Rail Streetcars & Trolley System
(For additional sites and information on tourism, visit: http://www.littlerock.com/sight-seeing/ or http://www.northlittlerock.org/ )
Plenary Rate of $79.00 good Friday and Saturday prior to the conference at convention hotel – Wyndham Riverfront.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:14 AM
The deadline for the $79.00 hotel rate for the 2008 CPSP Plenary is March 8, 2008, After that date, the rate reverts to the regular room rate of $129.00 per night.
Save yourself some money, and reserve your room NOW!
Call 1-866-657-4458 or the hotel directly at 1-501-371-9000.
Hurry so you won't be dissappointed!
Thanks,
--Al Henager
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:07 AM