Learning to Care for the Spirit

Combining ACPE accredited spiritual education with the premier medical care of North Memorial Health Hospital.

 

Learn the sacred practice of ministry and reflection with a supervisor and peers. Clinical Pastoral Education, or CPE, includes in-depth study of “living human documents,” meaning both the people who are receiving care and the self.

Background image is People holding hands in prayer
Illustration of patient in hospital bed with two family members

Clinical Pastoral Education

Students meet as a group to review case studies, discuss issues of practical theology, critique each other’s pastoral work, and participate in didactic seminars. Students also receive individual consultation with an ACPE Certified Educator. Accredited by ACPE, we are devoted to providing education and improving the quality of ministry and pastoral care offered by spiritual caregivers in a multicultural, multi-faith setting.

North Memorial Health Hospital Advantage

Our program offers a respectful, safe, small-group environment that focuses on action-reflection learning.

We foster your professional development through:

  • Personal goal-setting and ongoing reflection
  • Theological and spiritual reflection
  • Facilitated peer discussion
  • Collaboration with hospital staff and customers
  • Mentorships with chaplains
  • Consultation with ACPE Certified Educator
  • Evaluation process

Why North Memorial Health? See what our medical residents have to say!

North Memorial Health Hospital’s wide range of clinical settings offers incredible opportunities for practicing ministry, including:

  • Cancer care
  • Emergency Care
  • Heart and Vascular
  • ICU
  • Level I Trauma Center
  • Medical and Surgical units
  • Neonatal ICU (NICU)
  • Neurology
  • Orthopedics
  • Palliative Care

Our Team

Kim has been a Certified Educator with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) since 2010. She has her B.A. from Concordia College, Moorhead, and M.Div. from Luther Seminary in St. Paul. She did congregational internship in an Anglican church in the suburbs of London, England, and completed CPE residency at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Kim is ordained in the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.). Kim is certified as a Healthcare Ethics Consultant through the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities. She previously served as a clinical ethics consultant at Abbott Northwestern as well as CPE educator, and before that at United Hospital as an educator and board certified chaplain with a focus on oncology, hospice and mental health. Kim lives in Bloomington where she encourages her kids, husband and dog to get lost daily in the woods behind their house along the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

verlyn hemmen headshot

Verlyn has been a Certified Educator since 2005. His undergraduate degree is in psychology from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. He has an M. Div. and a D. Min. from Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He has been a congregational minister for 20 years – serving three different churches – and worked for Allina Health from 1997 to 2019 as a Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor and as the director of the department starting in 2012.

In addition to Verlyn’s role at North Memorial Health Hospital, he works one day each week at Peace Reformed Church in Eagan. He has been married to his wife Kay for over 45 years. Together they have a son and a daughter (both married and each with a son and a daughter). For fun, Verlyn enjoys sports, folk music, movies and riding his 1999 Harley Davidson Springer.

Chad grew up in Houston, Texas, and completed his undergraduate degree in History at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. Chad was a high school history teacher and soccer coach before attending seminary and receiving his Master of Divinity at Louisville Seminary in Kentucky. Chad is ordained in the Presbyterian Church and has pastored two churches – one in Kalispell, Montana, and the other in Lake George, New York. He completed his CPE Residency at the University of Louisville Hospital in Kentucky. He joined North Memorial Health in 2015, serving as a Hospice Chaplain. Chad transferred to the hospital in January 2019 and now serves as a 7/70 Chaplain. Chad enjoys running, reading history, watching soccer, and spending quality time with his wife and four children.

North Memorial Health Hospital CPE Program

North Memorial Health Hospital offers Internship and Residency programs.

Internships

Summer Internship

North Memorial Health Hospital is offering a full-time, 11 week-long unit of CPE that will run May 30 to August 11, 2023. Students will serve as hospital chaplains and will provide on-call chaplain coverage during daytime/evening hours. Overnight coverage is provided by chaplain residents.

Extended Internship

North Memorial Health Hospital is offering an extended unit of CPE that will run from November 3 to April 6. The group will meet one day per week for five hours, TBD. Students will serve as hospital chaplains covering day and weekend shifts for an additional 13 hours a week. Clinical shifts are negotiable. Expectations for the weekly didactic sessions include (but are not limited to):

  • Creating specific learning goals
  • Five ministry encounter reports (verbatim presentations)
  • Weekly reflection journal
  • Reading assigned texts and articles
  • Mid-unit and end-of-unit evaluations

Individual consultation is scheduled once every two weeks. There is no application fee. The unit tuition is $750.

If you are interested, please contact Chad Jones at chad.jones@northmemorial.com or Kim Goodman at kim.goodman@northmemorial.com. Applications can be sent to CPE@northmemorial.com.

Residency

5/1: We currently have one position open.

We are accepting applications for the 2023-24 CPE residency program (12 month, 3 units) that will run from August 28, 2023, until September 2, 2024.

There is no application fee. The first unit tuition is $750, and the following units are $450. The stipend for the current year is $35,568. Employee benefits include medical, dental, 401k, and tuition reimbursement. Admissions requirements include one previous unit of Level 1 CPE. Interviews will be arranged by the CPE Lead.

Materials can be emailed to CPE@northmemorial.com or mailed to North Memorial Health Hospital – C/O Pastoral Care at 3300 Oakdale Ave N, Robbinsdale, MN 55422.

Applying to the Program

Application

It’s free and simple to get started with us. Download the standard application form and email the completed document to Rev. Kim Goodman, CPE Certified Educator and Program Supervisor.

Download CPE Application

Tuition

$750 (deposit due upon admission, balance due on the first day of the CPE unit)

Student Rights

North Memorial Health (NMH) has been and continues to be committed to equal employment opportunity. NMH does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, marital status, familial status, status with regard to public assistance, sexual orientation, gender identity, membership or activity in a local human rights commission, or any other characteristic protected by law (“protected classes”).

North Memorial Health Hospital CPE Program guarantees to its students the right to inspect and review education records, to seek to amend them, to specify control over release of record information, and to file a complaint against the program for alleged violations of these Family Education and Privacy Act (FERPA) rights.

Accreditation

North Memorial Health Hospital is an accredited center to offer programs of Clinical Pastoral Education by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education Inc. (ACPE). ACPE is the premier, DOE-recognized organization that provides the highest quality CPE programs for spiritual care professionals of any faith and in any setting.

The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education
We Work, Floor 4
120 West Trinity Place
Decatur GA 30030
404-320-1472

Contact Information

The North Memorial Health Hospital CPE Program
763-581-2353

North Memorial Health Hospital Pastoral Care
763-581-2350

Rev. Kim Goodman
CPE@northmemorial.com
763-581-2353