Spiritual Care Services
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 Enhancing healing and wholeness by attending to people's spiritual needs.
"We cannot help seeing that there is the closest of connections between the soul and hope. I almost think that hope is for the soul what breathing is for the living organism. Where hope is lacking, the soul dries up and withers." - Gabriel Marcel
Because spirit is an important dimension of human wholeness and the healing process, our mission is to assist patients, families, loved ones, employees, and community members as they face the emotional and spiritual impact of illness and crisis. Chaplains (both staff chaplains and Clinical Pastoral Education students) help people deal with issues of fear, loneliness, hopelessness, ethical values, and questions of meaning.
We seek to embody compassionate, confidential support for people of all faiths and backgrounds who come to Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.
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Spiritual Care Services
Clinical Pastoral Education Program
Applying to CPE
Meet the CPE Supervisors
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Spiritual Care Services
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Our services at the medical center are provided free of charge. - Interfaith chapels are available at the Alta Bates, Summit and Herrick Campuses for people to pray, meditate, reflect, or simply sit quietly. A Roman Catholic chapel also is available on the Summit Campus.
- Copies of scriptures and holy writings are available from various faith traditions.
- Religious services and rituals, including prayer, emergency baptism, communion, and anointing are offered.
- We offer assistance with referrals to local religious leaders and faith communities.
- We help clarify spiritual issues and ethical dilemmas.
- We respond to emergency situations, both in the Emergency Department and throughout the medical center.
- We assist patients in completing their Advance Health Care Directives.
- We facilitate grief and cancer support groups.
- We accompany dying patients, their family members, and loved ones.
- We visit patients and their loved ones during hospitalization.
* To contact a chaplain at the Summit Campus (in Oakland), please call (510) 869-6784 or page the on-call Chaplain at (510) 801-5050. Chaplains are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
To contact a chaplain at the Alta Bates or Herrick Campuses (in Berkeley), please call (510) 204-6730 or page the on-call chaplain at (510) 801-5050. Chaplains are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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Clinical Pastoral Education Program
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Download and print our complete CPE Program Brochure.
Accredited professional training in the art of providing spiritual care.
"Education is about healing and wholeness. It is about empowerment, liberation, transcendence, about renewing the vitality of life. It is finding and claiming ourselves and our place in the world... We must be willing to join life where people live it - and they live it, and we live it, at this convoluted intersection of the sacred and the secular." - Parker Palmer
Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is interfaith professional education for ministry. It brings you into supervised encounters with people in crisis. Through intense involvement with people in need of spiritual care, and the feedback you receive from peers and teachers, you develop new awareness of yourself as a person, your abilities as a caregiver, and the needs of those whom you serve. Through reflection on specific human situations, you learn to utilize your faith tradition as a lens that informs your understanding and practice of spiritual care. Within the interdisciplinary team process of helping people, you develop skills in interpersonal and professional relationships.
In addition to the direction of certified ACPE supervisors, supervisors in supervisory education, and other professionals in Chaplaincy Services, our CPE program benefits from the expertise of health care professionals throughout our campuses. CPE students also regularly participate in educational workshops, didactic sessions with guest speakers, and retreats.
CPE students, either as interns (for a single unit) or residents (for four consecutive units), are people preparing to enter professional hospital chaplaincy, seminary students, interested laypersons, others in graduate programs, and spiritual caregivers seeking continuing education.
In our CPE program, we strive to facilitate diverse student groups whenever possible, including women and men of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds and faith traditions. We are committed to providing equal opportunity in our admissions process without discrimination based on age, gender, race, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or veteran's status.
What does CPE teach?
Our CPE program is designed to help you gain experience and expertise in the following ways:
- Pastoral Reflection -Reflecting on yourself as a person and spiritual caregiver in relation to people in crisis, your supervisor, and your peers, as well as the CPE curriculum and the hospital wherein you are serving.
- Pastoral Formation -Focusing on your personal and pastoral identity issues in learning and ministry.
- Pastoral Competence -Deepening your function as a spiritual caregiver, including skill development and knowledge of faith traditions and the behavioral sciences.
- Pastoral Specialization -Becoming competent and knowledgeable in a particular area of clinical health care service.
What do CPE students do?
As a CPE student, you can expect to participate in the following ways:
- Direct ministry with patients/residents, families, and staff. Most of your time will involve working as a chaplain in a particular area of the medical center, providing spiritual care to the people who come onto your unit and interacting with interdisciplinary staff members in rounds and team meetings. In addition, you will participate in the overnight and weekend on-call rotation, serving as the chaplain for the whole medical center on a rotating basis.
- Clinical Supervision -You will receive both individual and group supervision in all areas of your training (100 hours of supervised education for every 300 hours of clinical work), including a final evaluation at the end of each unit of CPE.
- Peer Group Work -You will join a group, with other CPE students and a supervisor, where you meet to present cases based on your clinical work, reflect on your faith tradition, simulate incidents and practice spiritual care responses, and engage in interpersonal group relations.
- Didactic Workshops and Seminars -You will attend presentations on topics related to spiritual care and assessment, ethics, behavioral sciences, hospital chaplaincy, cultural sensitivity, interfaith awareness, and other issues.
- Reading and Writing Assignments -You will be expected to do supplemental reading and prepare papers related to your learning goals and the ACPE objectives, which you can find at ACPE's Web site.
When is CPE offered?
Our center is accredited to offer four formats of CPE:
- Residency (Levels I and II)
Four units of training in a calendar year. Residents work full-time, five days a week, with on-call responsibilities, and they receive a stipend.
- Internship (Level I)
One unit of training, usually in the summer. Interns work full-time, five days a week, with on-call responsibilities.
- Extended units (Level I)
When offered, students attend CPE classes one day a week and serve clinical placements outside of the hospital. This program is designed for clergy, religious, and lay persons who have full-time ministry positions.
- Supervisory Training
Training to become a certified ACPE supervisor.
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Applying to CPE
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To receive more information about our CPE program, please contact:
Department of Chaplaincy Services
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center
2450 Ashby Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705-2067 USA
Telephone (510) 204-6730
FAX (510) 848-6119
Email: Reverend Carrie Buckner, M.Div., BCC, Director of Chaplaincy Services, ACPE Supervisor
Email: Reverend Peter Yuichi Clark, Ph.D., BCC, Chaplain Administrator, ACPE Supervisor
Program Application
To apply to the CPE program, click here to download a Program Application.
For international applicants, get information on J-1 Visas and CPE Residency.
If you are unable to open these PDF files, please click here to download a free version of Adobe Reader for your computer.
In accordance with ACPE Standards, applicants for CPE must either have a high school diploma or GED certificate or ordination or its equivalent by a faith community or commission to function in ministry by an appropriate religious authority. Applicants for Levels I and II CPE at this center normally hold undergraduate degrees and have recent theological education and clear learning goals, as well as the ability or potential to reflect on the psychodynamics and spiritual implications of significant events in their lives. Applicants for Supervisory CPE must have completed at least four units of CPE (with at least two units at Level II) and demonstrate a readiness to utilize supervisory training.
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center is accredited to offer Levels I and II CPE and Supervisory CPE by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. (ACPE), an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. You may contact ACPE by calling (404) 320-1472, or visit their website at www.acpe.edu.
ABSMC is also affiliated with ACPE's Pacific Region. For more information about the Pacific Region, go to www.cpepacificregion.com.
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Meet the CPE Supervisors
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The CPE program is an intense training experience in which people work very closely with supervisors, Rev. Carrie Buckner and Rev. Peter Yuichi Clark. While you learn more about the CPE program, here is more information about the supervisors and their backgrounds.
 Rev. Carrie L. Buckner is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA, and is a certified supervisor with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE). She is also a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains. Carrie returned to Alta Bates Summit Medical Center as director in January 2003, having previously served as chaplain administrator from 2000 - 2001. Before coming to the medical center, Carrie served as manager of spiritual care services at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and at California Pacific Medical Center, both in San Francisco. Carrie holds a B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a M.Div. degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. Carrie is active in her denomination, having served six years on the Committee on Preparation for Ministry, one year as Chair. She has served on the ACPE Pacific Regional Council, the regional Accreditation Committee, and is the Treasurer of the ACPE Pacific Region. Carrie has been involved in transformational learning communities, including Healing the Heart of Diversity and Visions, Inc.
 Rev. Peter Yuichi Clark is an ordained minister with the American Baptist Churches (USA) and a certified supervisor with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. Peter joined the Alta Bates Summit chaplaincy team in May 2002 from Seton Medical Center in Daly City, CA, where he was the coordinator for spiritual care services. He is a board certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains who has served almost 20 years in psychiatric hospitals, community hospitals, geriatric care facilities, and the United States Air Force. Peter holds a B.A. degree in religion from Baylor University, a M.Div. degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. degree in religious studies from Emory University. He is also associate professor of pastoral care at the American Baptist Seminary of the West, a member school of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Peter is involved with the Pacific School of Religion’s Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion (PANA Institute), and he has served on the board of directors for Kokoro Assisted Living, a senior housing project affiliated with the Japanese American Religious Federation of San Francisco.
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