Grandview CPE Continues to Grow

Clinical Pastoral Education at Grandview and Southview Medical Centers does more than help pastors and seminarians improve their ministry to the sick and troubled. The skills they learn apply to all parts of their lives, giving the program an impact well beyond the hospital.

"I had pastors who came and took the training and…they were changed pastors," said Program Director Basharat Masih, explaining that Clinical Pastoral Education focuses on self-awareness, as well as awareness of others. "They each went back to their parishes and their homes a changed person."

Masih came to Kettering Health Network in 2004 to establish Clinical Pastoral Education at Grandview and Southview. Kettering and Sycamore Medical Centers also have a longstanding program, which runs independent of Grandview's.

Clinical Pastoral Education is intended for pastors, seminarians and church laity who wish to improve their skills in crisis intervention ministry, and it's for those who want to become certified as clinically trained chaplains. "When I came on board, I hardly had three students," Masih said. "Year after year, it started growing."

The program, accredited through the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, now averages 18 to 20 students a year. Overall, about 90 people have taken the training, which includes classroom studies and hands-on work in the hospitals.

Asked about the program, recent graduate Junann Johnson of Kentucky related a number of experiences she encountered that seemed to move her. Times when she went in to pray for patients and they prayed for her; when she realized a touch or a simple "hello" can make a difference, or when patients shared secrets - even one kept hidden 30 years. "You never know what you'll get when you walk into that room," she said, "but somebody can use something - you or them or both."

Johnson took her first CPE unit while studying at United Theological Seminary, then went back after earning her master's of divinity degree. Now she's looking for work, in chaplaincy she hopes. "The program helped me to see how to minister to people without beating them over the head with the Bible," said Johnson, who completed the program in July. "It helped me to see that sometimes (as) Basharat always told us, 'you don't have to do, you have to be.' "

Masih said chaplains play an important role in a hospital. They're called in for patients and families who face terminal illness or a tough diagnosis; they're part of the team that responds to a crisis call; they're available to help the staff.

And, he said, his program provides the hospital with a regular supply of chaplains - in the form of interns getting clinical experience - at no additional cost. He also waives the $600 per unit tuition for participants who agree to donate 50 hours service to the hospital. "We are reaping the benefits. I think the hospital saves a bundle every year," he said.

A year ago, the hospital gave Masih permission to take the program into the community. For one unit, students got their clinical experience working with Dayton's homeless population. It's something Masih - who was homeless himself as a teenager in India - hopes to do again.

He would like to build outreach into the program and he hopes to see it grow. Eventually, he said, "instead of 18 to 20 people (a year), we may have, who knows, 30 to 40 people."

To learn more about the Clinical Pastoral Education Program at Grandview/Southview, contact Basharat Masih, senior division manager for Spiritual Services and Missions on pager 636-3870.

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