Capstone University Offering Clinical Pastoral Education for Hospice and Palliative Care Chaplaincy

Spiritual Care Association Continues Additional Hospice and Palliative Care Education

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, September 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Capstone University now offers clinical pastoral education (CPE) with a specific focus on hospice and palliative care chaplaincy. This transformative program centers on spiritual caregiving in response to aging, serious illness, dying, and bereavement. It enables chaplains to deepen their ability to provide culturally responsive, patient-led spiritual care to individuals and families throughout the end-of-life experience. It combines academic and on-the-job learning, enabling chaplains to deepen their ability to provide culturally responsive, patient-led spiritual care to individuals and families throughout the end-of-life experience.

“We are pleased to be able to offer this entirely new-to-the-field program,” said Eric J. Hall, Capstone University President and Chancellor. “We continue to be focused on our shared commitment to learning and advancing our field, and to providing the highest quality spiritual care to everyone in need.”

The program’s dynamic and interactive sessions explore the foundations of hospice and palliative care for chaplains seeking clinical skills that can be applied directly to hospice practice. The comprehensive curriculum includes effective collaboration with interdisciplinary hospice teams, with the goal of helping patients, their loved ones, and staff find meaning and strength as they navigate the realities of dying. The numerous topics covered include:
• Professional identity of the hospice chaplain, including personal beliefs
• Chaplain role clarity and scope of practice
• Therapeutic listening and non-anxious presence
• Spiritual assessment models, spiritual distress, ongoing reassessment, and continuity of care
• Cultural, religious, interfaith, and nonreligious spiritual care
• Use of memory, music, story, ritual, sensory cues, and familiar language for meaning making
• Hospice documentation and professional charting
• Medicare expectations and compliance
• Family dynamics, conflict, reconciliation, and forgiveness
• Life review and legacy
• The many types and aspects of grief, including grief before and after death
• Staff grief, compassion fatigue, and burnout
• Spiritual care for people with dementia, and support for their families

Those who are interested can email info@capstoneuniversity.org to learn more.

Additional Hospice and Palliative Care Education from the Spiritual Care Association:
For spiritual care providers seeking to increase their knowledge and skills in hospice and palliative care, Capstone’s partner the Spiritual Care Association offers the following at its online Learning Center:
• Foundations of Hospice Chaplaincy: a self-guided course on effective spiritual care within the hospice context; students earn a Hospice Chaplaincy Certificate upon completion
• Hospice and Palliative Care Specialty Certification for Advanced Practice Chaplains (APBCC-HPC), which recognizes the specialized skills and expertise of hospice and palliative care chaplains
• Spiritual Care in Palliative Care: a Fundamentals course and Advance Practice course
• Extensively researched and referenced foundational papers at www.spiritualcareassociation.org/foundational-papers:
o Hospice and Palliative Care Chaplaincy: What Everyone Should Know
o Hospice Spiritual Care Leadership: Developing a Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care Education Department

For additional information, please contact registrar@spiritualcareassociation.org or visit www.spiritualcareassociation.org.

Molly Sabala
HealthCare Chaplaincy Network
+1 212-644-1111
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