While most Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE)programs are sponsored by hospitals or human service institutions, most CPE students eventually serve as pastors in congregations. They will not only provide pastoral care but also provide pastoral leadership within their congregations and communities. Can a CPE program foster a student's development as an effective leader as well as a caregiver? This book shows how emotional intelligence, as a significant quality for effective leadership, and family systems theory, as a conceptual framework for understanding relational dynamics within congregations, can be integrated in a congregational CPE program to offer pastoral leadership training. The book begins with a rationale for congregational CPE, includes an overview of several of such programs in the history of ACPE, and summarizes what has been written about this topic. It identifies some relevant theological themes in congregational CPE and concludes with a reflection on some benefits and challenges of this type of program. The author makes an important contribution to the discussion of developing CPE programs in congregational settings.

Spiritual Care in Psychological Suffering: How a Research Collaboration Informs Integrative Practice highlights spiritually integrative research and demonstrates the evolution of a national partnership of psychologists and chaplains collaborating for optimal results. Interdisciplinary teams are the gold standard in spiritual care provision, and this book orients the purpose and promise of such collaboration for research and practice. Recent work in the psychology of religion and spirituality has emphasized the importance of relational spirituality, distinctions between harmful and helpful effects of religion and spirituality on mental health, and the relevance of spiritual struggles for psychological well-being; however, these dimensions have not been examined in the context of a collaborative and culturally diverse partnership, nor have they been comprehensively examined in psychologically distressed populations. This volume seeks to make an important contribution to the psychology of religion by providing an in-depth look at translating integrative research into integrative practice in a population that has experienced significant psychological suffering. It is hoped that insights from this volume will contribute the following: foster more rewarding chaplain-researcher partnerships; offer a deeper understanding of the intersections among spiritual experience, virtues, and psychological distress; and demonstrate approaches for inquiring about individuals' spiritual lives in the midst of psychological suffering.