Clinical Pastoral Education in New York!

In The Episcopal Church, the rich journey to priesthood usually contains the vital, and sometimes dreaded, element of CPE. This stands for Clinical Pastoral Education and often consists of work as a chaplain at either a hospital or medical center. Many other denominations also include CPE and many place it in the summer after the first year in semniary.The hours in my program have been divided into 100 hours of class and "Didactic days" while the remaining 300 are spent being and chaplain at a hospital. The National Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) has a list of most CPE programs and presents standards for spiritual care and education for professionals and people seeking to become professionals in any faith tradition or setting. CPE is a form of theological education. While it can lead to professional chaplaincy, it is important for faith leaders to have experiential learning and actually have a chance to practice ministry. Gaining insights of self-awareness and that of others is important to both giving and receiving care.

I chose the New York Lutheran Services Alliance for my program. It's in New York and is an extremely diverse program. I'm working at New York University Langone (formerly NYU Lutheran) hospital in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, NY.  My classes are held on the upper west side area of Riverside at The Interchurch Center. 

I'm loving my experience, both in the program and in New York and Brooklyn. It's been valuable. I have not liked everything about it and certain things are still growing on me (verbatims, for one), but overall, I am personally finding it a pastorally-validating, mindfullness-creating, rewarding, journey-through-the-emotions type of experience. Long ago, I worked extremely hard on my boundaries between teaching and taking things home. I learned, the hard way, not to take everything with me all of the time. I did not realize how much my previous work and therapy had helped me until I began to notice other colleagues struggling with some things. Here, this time, I have not taken things home and spent time (other than prayer) on them. 

I have, in fact, managed somehow to have a bit of a life here in New York. 

   

Lucky for me, I have a support system, including my sweet Bluebell kitty and some friends in NYC. I am very fortunate that the person from whom I'm renting allowed me to bring Bluebell with me. My friends are mostly busy or on vacation outside of the area, but I have managed to see some of them for dinner, coffee, a harbour cruise (this one), or a Broadway show. I'm able to do those things because my lunches are provided at the hospital (as a volunteer) and being a VSG-er, I eat tiny meals so get plenty of mileage from the salads I get! So, I'll write some more about the CPE experience another time, but: so far, so good.

Happy Five-year LAUNCHIVERSARY to Mars Curiosity!

Five years ago today I got to attend the launch of the Mars Curiosity rover! It solidified my enthusiasm for work in social media and gave me the confidence that also led to applying and becoming a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador! I'm sure all of us #spacetweeps that went still feel like it's OUR rover! :-) Here are some of my photos from that experience!
1. LINK-one
2. LINK-two
It was an amazing week. I met so many people from all walks of life who had my same space interests and excitement. We met scientists and engineers who worked in the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and on Curiosity! We also got to meet several astronauts and members of NASA administration including Charles Bolden. Even though I had lived much of my life along the I-95 corridor, I'd never been to Kennedy Space Center or seen Cape Canaveral.
NASA basically treated us like rockstars and was INCREDIBLY wonderful. Our job for all the lectures we attended, scientists from the MSL team that we met, visiting the launchpad, and watching the launch from reserved seats - was to get out on social media platforms what we were learning and be the voice of the public for NASA and the space program. In addition, many of us took back educational resources to our schools and communities. Eyes on the Solar System is one such fabulous example.
PLUS, Mars is amazing and I believe that we should all support space programs!

#space #Mars #JourneyToMars

NASA Social #StateOfNASA at John C. Stennis Space Center

I was VERY fortunate to be selected to attend the NASA Social event for the #StateOfNASA address given on Monday, February 2, 2015! 

Here is a bit more about the event. I chose the John C. Stennis Space Center because it's close to me than any other AND I have been remiss in not visiting it these past years I've lived in New Orleans! It was about time! 

"If it goes to space, it goes through Mississippi!"
"If it has engines, it goes through Mississippi"
~ Charles F. Bolden, Administrator of NASA

Here's an article The University of New Orleans put out and I am SO excited and happy that they didn't alter my quotes. I truly feel this way about STEM / STEAM education and space exploration!

The day was AMAZING! I got to meet the movers and shakers at the John C. Stennis Space Center, have behind-the-scenes tours, ask questions about the programs and work done there, watch a live broadcast of the national #StateOfNASA address with other media, and be one of the voices of Stennis during this day. It was such an incredible honor and I absolutely LOVE and admire the important work being done there. There were only three of us so I truly felt like I had a significant voice that day! We also got to go out to the engine testing stands - the GIGANTIC B-stand and both A stands. The Stennis Center, grounds, fee area, and buffer zones are absolutely massive. NOAA offices, various research buildings, and universities also share the grounds. 

After that, we spend some time inside the Aerojet Rocketdyne building and got to see engines being put together in various stages. 

There was even a room where 1.6 billion dollars worth of finished engines were being stored under giant white tarps (being pumped with dry air). SO COOL!!! I am planning to take a group of UNO Physics students up to visit Stennis! I'm including the link to my twitter transcript for that day in this blog post because it's too long to paste the text, shared articles, and photos! Here's the LINK Do check it out if you have time!

I was tweeting under myself @Conductor222 and The Solar System @The_SolarSystem 

Though it's rather lengthy, I'm thrilled that I was able to get so much information out about what I was experiencing, what we learned about Stennis' role, and fun times during the day. I was able to do it with two twitter accounts. Most of my Solar System followers are scientists, photographers, educators, big space fans, folks who work on NASA missions, some NASA missions themselves, and even accounts such as ESA's Rosetta and the CSA. I'm pretty proud of the fact that the account has a solid science, space, and STEM reach. I also learned a TON by preparing a few info. tweets beforehand from articles I had read about the work that has been done at Stennis!

I hope you enjoy reading about it!

https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23StateOfNASA%20OR%20%23NASASocial%20OR%20%23NASAStennis%20OR%20%23Stennis%20from%3AThe_SolarSystem%20OR%20from%3AConductor222%20since%3A2015-02-02%20until%3A2015-02-03&src=typd