Spiritual care

When you need spiritual or emotional support through you or your loved one’s health journey, lean on the chaplains at Spectrum Health.

What’s a chaplain?
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Chaplains provide compassion, comfort and counsel to people of all faiths and traditions—including people who aren’t religious. Chaplains at Spectrum Health have completed special training in working with people in a health care setting.

Can I request spiritual care?
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Chaplain services are available to our:

Chaplain services
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Spectrum Health chaplains can support you and your loved ones in many ways. You may ask them to:

  • Be a comforting, nonjudgmental presence
  • Contact a religious leader from your faith tradition
  • Help with advance care planning
  • Help you resolve conflicts between your spiritual beliefs and recommended medical treatments
  • Perform religious rituals
  • Provide Catholic communion to patients who identify themselves as Catholic to their nurse
  • Provide grief support
  • Provide religious and spiritual resources
  • Say prayers and blessings

Chaplain services are always free.

Child loss support
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For parents who have lost a child, our S.O.U.L. (Sharing Our Untimely Losses) Parent Support Group is available for grief support.

Spectrum Health clinical pastoral education

We offer accredited units of CPE through ACPE The Standard in Spiritual Care & Education (acpe.edu). Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is experiential, theological education designed to improve the quality of spiritual care offered by chaplains or spiritual caregivers of all faith traditions and level of experience.

Our CPE program uses the action-reflection action model of learning that integrates the components of spiritual care, personal and theological reflection, individual and group supervision, peer review, and supportive group process. The goals of the CPE program include the integration of spiritual care, theology, psychology, and other behavioral sciences. A unit of CPE is a minimum of 400 hours. 300 hours are direct spiritual care with patients.

The educational program

Extended unit

  • We are not currently offering an extended unit of CPE

Summer intensive unit

  • Contact for more information.


One-year residency

  • Time Frame: September 4, 2023-September 13 2024.
  • Stipend: $35,360 with benefits and vacation time.
  • CPE Units: 3 CPE units are offered over the 12 month program.
  • Time commitment: 40 hours per week, evenings and weekend shifts included.
  • Preferred Experience: Successful completion of one unit of CPE required. Graduate degree (usually in theology, philosophy or psychology) preferred
  • Application fee: $75
  • Tuition for each unit payable to Corewell Health West Butterworth CPE program

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Corewell Health West is provisionally accredited to offer ACPE Accredited CPE Levels I and II, and Certified Educator CPE by: ACPE:

The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education
1 Concourse Pkwy, Suite 800 Atlanta, GA 30328

404.320.1472

Completed applications may be emailed to our ACPE Certified Educator, Trent Elders.

Contact Us

Get spiritual care, support and guidance from specially trained chaplains.