The Center for Pastoral Counseling offers a variety of opportunities for continuing education, for both professional growth and personal interest.

Residency in Pastoral Counseling is for graduates of Masters and Doctoral programs in counseling, pastoral counseling, marriage and family therapy, clinical social work or clinical psychology.

Luminea Institute is our newest addition!  Adults and children who want to deepen their understanding of themselves and their relationships are offered a variety of courses led by our staff.

The Art of Pastoral Care is an affiliate program to the Center for Pastoral Counseling.  Students are guided to a deeper understanding of their pastoral presence through didactic exercises and clinical hospital rounds.

The Residency in Pastoral Counseling is for graduates of Masters and Doctoral programs in counseling, pastoral counseling, marriage and family therapy, clinical social work or clinical psychology.

PROGRAM HALLMARKS

• Clinical and supervision hours toward licensure/certification and/or APA intern equivalent
• Focus on integration of psychological and spiritual dimensions of human experience
• Individual and group supervision
• Multi-disciplinary faculty
• Income potential
• Flexible scheduling
• Didactic seminars
• Continuing education programs
• Participation in the life of a counseling center

• The Residency in Pastoral Counseling provides new clinicians with counseling experience and supervision in a pastoral counseling setting. The Residency serves as a stepping stone from academic training to clinical practice and licensure/certification.

• Residents receive one hour of individual supervision and two hours of group supervision each week from Center for Pastoral Counseling supervisors (Licensed Psychologists, LCSW, LPC, LMFT, AAPC).
• Group supervision includes case presentations as well as seminars on topics such as spiritual growth, faith development, systems theory, object relations theory, and play therapy with children among others.
• Residents are allowed considerable flexibility in choosing the content of seminars to further their training in areas of special interests.

• Residents receive administrative support from Center for Pastoral counseling, including voice mail, CPC business cards, and liability insurance.

• Tuition for the program is $100 per week, or $3,000 per year. The residency year consists of two terms: 15 weeks in the fall and 15 weeks in the winter/spring, with the option of continuing over the summer.

• Residents receive 70% of all client fees they collect
• Residents are expected to take initiative in building their caseload

• Residents work in CPC of Va. centers throughout Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia
• Placements are made in consultation with residents and faculty

• See our list of Residents.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

Douglas M. Thorpe, Ph.D.
Center for Pastoral Counseling of Virginia
P.O. Box QQ
McLean, VA 22101-0700
(703) 903-9696 ext. 236

CENTER FOR PASTORAL COUNSELING OF VIRGINIA

• Center For Pastoral Counseling Of Virginia is a private, non-profit [501©3] counseling center with over a dozen office locations throughout Northern Virginia and two in the District of Columbia

• CPC of Va. has a multi-disciplinary staff of pastoral counselors, licensed psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed professional counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists and child specialists.

• CPC of Va. is an Institutional Affiliate of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.

• Client fees at CPC of Va. are set on a sliding fee scale based on family size and income.

The Art of Pastoral Care

The Art of Pastoral Care as a course has been developed as a method of learning new pastoral care skills and enhancing those that may already exist within a person. It emphasizes in depth listening skills and the concept of 'simple presence'. The course covers a nine month period, extending from the first Wednesday of September thru the end of May. The class meets on Wednesday evenings from September thru November, followed by the hospital clinical experience that occurs on Saturday mornings in January and February, and in March thru May we go back to the classroom.

The classes are held in the CPC center at Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church on North Glebe Road in Arlington, just a few blocks north of the Rt. 66 intersection.

The Rev. Don Lowe and Deaconess Kathy Garrison are the instructors and facilitators for the class. For more information, please call Kathy at (703) 903-9696 ext. 240.

See accompanying article: Simple Presence by Deaconess Kathy A. Garrison, R.N. Director of The Art of Pastoral Care.

What does it mean to be a lay care giver?

• Have you always wanted to respond to people’s problems — but didn’t know what to say?
• Have you felt overwhelmed by another person’s emotional needs?
• These difficulties are not insurmountable. We believe that you can overcome them by learning to be more effective caregivers.
• You can learn to understand what it means to "be with" rather than "doing for" others

• The Art of Pastoral Care program is designed to be available to persons who work full time
• Classes meet from September through May in three semesters; the first and third are held on Thursday evenings, the second semester, held in January and February meets at Alexandria and Sibley Hospital
• Individuals come to these classes from widely divergent faith communities, from a variety of educational and career backgrounds and are of different ages
• They have a common sense of searching, of wanting to find deeper meaning in their lives, and a desire to be of service in their communities, churches, synagogues, work and families
• The Art of Pastoral Care class was once described by a student as a place where a small group could discover together "the freedom to be, for oneself and for those being cared for; the acceptance of self and forgiveness."
• Students leave the Art of Pastoral Care program knowing that they learned to listen with their hearts and that pastoral care is essentially and simply being there for others

THE ART OF PASTORAL CARE CURRICULUM

Semester I

12 weeks — September to December — Thursdays, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

1. Getting started, introductions, expectations
2. What is a verbatim? Visiting
3. Visit to an elderly person
4. Hospital visitation
5. Existential death
6. Kubler-Ross theories about death and dying
7. Hospice care
8. Death of a loved one
9. Obituaries
10. Death of a child
11. Suicide
12. Theology of pastoral care, evaluations and closure

One Saturday Workshop on Communication Skills

Semester II

8 weeks — January and February — Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• This semester, the classes meet at Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, D.C. and Alexandria Hospital, Alexandria, Virginia
• The first hour is spent in a case study seminar. Students present verbatim reports on hospital visitation for feedback from the class and faculty
• Under supervision of the chaplains service, students are given regular unit assignments and visit the patients on their unit
• The students then gather for reflection and instruction on the various approaches to the ill and on the appropriate uses of pastoral care resources

Semester III

12 weeks — March through May — Thursdays, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

1. Regrouping, transitions, newcomers, leaving, retirement
2. Depression/Stress
3. Vocational Transitions
4. Issues of marriage
5. Impact of a new baby on the family, parenting issues
6. Adolescence — school problems, health, drugs, alcohol, pregnancy
7. Issues of divorce/single parent and blended families
8. Aging parents/Children of aging parents
9. HIV/AIDS
10. Alcoholism/Drug abuse
11. Alternative life styles in the faith and secular communities
12. Evaluations and Closure

One Saturday workshop on Pastoral Care of Self and Contracting

Classes Meet at:

• Center for Pastoral Counseling of Virginia’s Center at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, Glebe Road and 16th Street in Arlington, Virginia

• Center for Pastoral Counseling of Virginia
• The Pastoral Counseling and Consultation Centers of Greater Washington

For more information or enrollment contact