Spirituality Enters the Medical Field in Danbury

Clinical Pastoral Education is an exciting new spiritually focused training program beginning in September at Danbury Hospital.

 “Spiritual care is a relatively new term in the fields of counseling and religion. ” said Rabbi Jeffery M. Silberman, the Director of Spiritual Care at Danbury Hospital, who is also a certified educator in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).

 “The primary thing that we focus on are our listening skills, how to listen actively to people. Clergy and seminarians tend to talk rather than listen. Listening is more important than giving good advice, and we teach people how to be in the role of a religious person without feeling the need to say something.”

 “We help people access their own spiritual resources. Everybody has spiritual resources, whether they know it or not. For most people it's traditional religion, going to church, going to synagogue, praying, maybe reading Scripture. These may be traditional basic elements of one's spiritual life, but there are other kinds of things that people find meaningful; music, art, beauty of nature, so that when the chaplain intern will talk to the patient, they will use some additional language and traditional models," said Silberman.

 In this unique part time educational offering, CPE offers an opportunity for students to learn how to provide spiritual care by making visits to hospital patients, interacting with families and supporting staff in the difficult personal illnesses and situations while in the hospital.

 A recent study by Dr. Amy B. Wachholtz, a psychiatrist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School finds that 49 percent of Americans have used prayer to deal with a health concern. Dr. Lisa Saunders of the Yale University School of Medicine has written, “When a patient can tell his or her story, it helps the patient to understand how their own healing can occur. A primary focus of spiritual care is listening to the patient’s story and drawing upon the person’s belief system as a source of strength and healing.”

"We see people once or twice," said Silberman. "People no longer spend weeks on end in the hospital.  Today, it's about getting people well as quickly as you can and out as quickly as we can. We don't always see the epiphany that may occur. But we invite people into the process to look at where they are in their spirituality, which helps them move along the path of healing, which is still possible in the wake of illness."

In the course, interns participate in the same process of telling their  stories and listening to each other as they do with the patients in the hospital.  "People find telling their story is cathartic. They are just thrilled to be able to talk about what was happening to them.  One man had a few religious questions. I listened to what he was asking and helped him clarify what he really wanted to know.  People want a sense that they are moving in the right direction. They leave with some perspective they didn't have before.  I have had people over the years who call me, even months later, who tell me they value the time we had together."

 When CPE began in the 1920’s it was designed for seminarians and clergy, however, many people going into second careers, even accountants and attorneys have particpated and benefitted from this course. All manner of people from many religious backgrounds who find themselves on a spiritual journey enroll in the intense training that CPE offers.

 The part time program entails about 16 hours a week on a flexible schedule. There are 400 hours of the course, of which 100 hours is clinical, and 300 of those those hours are spent visiting patients.

 Interested persons can call the Department of Spiritual Care (203-739-7885) for more information. Applications can be obtained at the national website (www.acpe.edu) or by calling the Spiritual Care office at Danbury Hospital.