Saskatoon Institute for Pastoral Education - Saskatoon

SIPE is a cluster of three Supervised Pastoral Education teaching centers with one in Saskatoon, one in Regina, and one in Swan Valley, Manitoba. Each is committed to providing quality supervised pastoral education opportunities. More specifically, its program objectives are as follows:

• to teach skills in pastoral and spiritual care
• to help students reflect theologically and spiritually about human life
• to equip students to function clinically as spiritual/pastoral caregivers
• to equip students to become CASC/ACSS certified specialists and teaching supervisors
• to promote Supervised Pastoral Education and assist in the development of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) programs in and around Saskatchewan

During each program students will receive 400 hours of adult spiritual care education consisting of 200 hours of supervised clinical practice as spiritual/pastoral caregivers and 200 hours of group and individual supervision. Currently, the cluster has three program sites:

• St. Paul’s Hospital – a 200 bed acute care hospital located in the inner city core of Saskatoon offering such specialties as Palliative Care and Dialysis units, it is affiliated with the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Advanced students at St. Paul’s Hospital may request a clinical placement at Sherbrooke Community Centre, a long-term care facility that is home to 263 Residents, and 100 day program participants.  At Sherbrooke, Residents work, play, shop, worship, paint, garden, sing, dance, and volunteer.
• Swan Valley – a community based unit; clinical opportunities include a 55 bed Health Centre, three Long Term Care facilities and the store front office of the Canadian Mental Health Association and other community mental health programs.       Swan Valley is based in a rural community of 5000 people.
• Santa MariaSenior Citizen’s Home – a Catholic healthcare organization providing Long Term Care to senior citizens for over 50 years in the South Eastern part of the province. Santa Maria Senior Citizens’ Home provides nursing and supportive care to 147 residents (this includes 4 respite beds for short-term placement).       Santa Maria provides Level 3 and 4 resident/family centered care and have one unit dedicated to the care of individuals with advanced Alzheimer disease and other dementias.

In each of these program sites, students will experience involvement with:

• persons facing significant life demands and transitions
• families and friends who are providing support and assistance
• professional caregivers who are providing clinical interventions and programs designed to help people meet their needs and invest in life
• spiritual/pastoral care providers
• programs and rituals that address the spiritual needs of people and help them grow spiritually
• clinical caregiving teams
• supervision which teaches spiritual/pastoral care skills, and provides a context in which students can evaluate clinical practice as a spiritual/pastoral caregiver
• issues which limit and/or compromise their effectiveness as spiritual caregivers
• awareness of spiritual issues and their ability to respond constructively to persons facing these issues

These experiences will assist students to achieve their particular personal, inter-personal and spiritual/pastoral caregiving objectives, and grow in their effectiveness as spiritual/pastoral caregivers.

The development of The Saskatoon Institute for Pastoral Education in 1997 came about in part to assist the CPE program sites relate to the Saskatoon Theological Union – a federation of the three theological colleges of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, the College of Emmanuel & St. Chad (Anglican) and St. Andrew’s (United Church) College.  All three colleges are located on the University of Saskatchewan campus, in Saskatoon.

Each CPE program has been recognized academically by the Saskatoon Theological Union, and the teaching supervisors function as adjunct faculty. Some participating seminaries grant six credit hours (the equivalent of two course credits) for a Unit of CPE when taken as part of a degree program.