History of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE)
Clinical Pastoral Education was conceived in the 1920’s by Dr. Richard C. Cabot as a method of learning for pastors to proactively minister in a clinical setting under supervision. The concept was enlarged by the Rev. Anton T. Boise, a Congregational minister, to include a case study method of theological inquiry – a study of “the living human documents”. As clinical pastoral education has developed over the years, other leaders have opened the doors toward integration into pastoral care services with knowledge garnered from medicine, psychiatry, psychology, social work and other behavioral sciences. Helen Flanders Dunbar, Carl Rogers, Seward Hiltner, Carroll Wise, Howard Clinebel have been notable leaders in the field.
The standards and objectives for the CPE Program at Ecumenical Institute’s Cherokee Center are in accord with the national organization that sets standards and oversees the programs of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE).
Accredited centers such as Ecumenical Instiute offer programs of clinical pastoral education as:
- Training for institutional chaplains
- Training for pastoral care and counseling in the community
- Continuing education for ministry
- Part of theological education
- Training to become certified as a chaplain or as a CPE supervisor
- Training for other specialized pastoral ministries
- Training for anyone who desires to combine their faith with their work or volunteer activities
Our CPE program started at Cherokee Mental Health Institute (CMHI). CMHI was originally identified as the “Cherokee Asylum for the Insane” which sharply contrasts with the current mission, progressive and solidly established expertise in the field of mental health care delivery today.
- Was established in 1968 by ACPE Supervisor Rev. Robert C. Alexander.
- Has been ACPE accredited since 1968 and reaffirmed for accreditation in 1975, 1982, 1989, and 1999.
CPE Administrative History
Having read the signs of the times more than a decade ago, the Ecumenical Institute was founded and has directed itself untiringly to develop an adaptation model that offers hope for CPE to continue to be offered here in the country. A model has been developed and is now being delivered that offers complement to the long-standing health care institutional model that has been the focus of CPE for nearly all of its history. Medical care has dramatically changed and has shifted in larger and larger measures to outpatient services and to in-community and in-home health care services. Adapting CPE training opportunities to this reality has been the vision and the driving force expressed in the mission of Ecumenical Institute.
The Cherokee Mental Health Institute is administered by the Department of Human Services (DHS), a governmental department of the State of Iowa with central offices located at Des Moines.
The on-site administration of the CMHI facility is the responsibility of the Leadership Team, a 4-6 member administrative board that is made up of department heads. The current Superintendent is Cory Turner.
Until August 15, 2002, the CPE program and its staff were under the direct supervision of this administrative committee. It is now directed by the Board of Directors of Ecumenical Institute (organized in 1993) as a free-standing institute directed to offer certified pastoral education for Northwest Iowa.
Historical Information – Cherokee Mental Health Institute
- As the fourth state asylum for the insane to alleviate overcrowding at the other asylums
- On an 840-acre parcel of land which provided near self-sufficiency as well as work activities for its many long-term persons, from dairy operations to the making of brooms.
- Peaked in population/census at 1,729 persons in 1945 using the common moral model of treatment at state hospital/asylums current at that time.
- Gradually switched from warehousing to active treatment in the 1950’s with the advent of more effective psychiatric medications.
- Has served as a center for training in a host of occupations from dentists to social workers.
- Has consistently modernized itself, keeping pace with all current treatment modalities and economies, including managed care.
- Now serves 36 inpatients in a very active treatment model for an enlarged geographical area totaling some 900 psychiatric patient admissions each year. The CMHI campus is now actually a Regional Resource Center where multiple governmental and private agencies have located in the buildings that no longer house long-term patients who after acute treatment services at CMHI can now be effectively sustained in the community through varied resources with more freedom and dignity and at much lower cost.
