Palisades Medical Center

Chaplain Assistant Program (CAP)

North Bergen , New Jersey
  • Master of Pastoral Counseling (M.P.C.)
 
The Master of Pastoral Counseling (M.P.C.) degree may be earned from the Graduate Theological Foundation through the completion of coursework and training at Palisades Medical Center by students studying to become Chaplain Assistants.  The Medical Center is an affiliate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.  Chaplain Assistants minister to a diverse patient population and intentionally reflect on those visits in a community of their own peers.  They regularly present case studies focusing on theological reflection, and they will commit themselves to provide pastoral care to the patients of Palisades Medical Center, becoming the bridge which unites their community with the Medical Center. 
 
The Chaplain Assistant Program (CAP) is ten-weeks in duration, 16 hours per week, and is designed for lay ministers, Eucharistic ministers, clergy and seminarians.  Each program will consist of four to six students meeting once per week for three hours of group supervision and 13 hours of patient visitation and emergency on-call services.  The program includes basic Clinical Pastoral Education and basic Critical Incident Stress management.   Successful completion of the CAP program fulfills all academic requirements of the M.P.C. degree program through the Foundation.
 
Students are expected to provide and attend the following during the ten-week Chaplain Assistant Program:
  • Patient visitation
  • On-call service
  • Five verbatim presentations
  • Basic spiritual assessment and appropriate charting within patient medical records
  • Individual and group supervisions
  • Didactics
  • Basic crisis intervention
During the ten weeks of supervised training, students will be exposed to a curriculum covering the theology of pastoral care, active listening, pastoral care and geriatrics, crisis intervention, pastoral assessment, suicide intervention, death of a child and verbatim reports.  Chaplain Assistant Program students will have access to the Pastoral Care Library and Palisades Medical Center Library during their training. 
 
For more information, please contact:
Rev. Eliott Cruz, D.Min.
Chaplain Assistant Program (CAP)
Palisades Medical Center
7600 River Road
North Bergen, NJ  07047 
Tel: (201) 854-5796