Thinking about CPE

This summer, starting June 9, I will be doing Clinical Pastoral Education at the Asheville VA Hospital.  It's another requirement on the path to ordination, and like so many of the requirements, I find myself with more paperwork to fill in.  Since it's the VA, there are some new elements.  I got an e-mail with instructions about how to log into the system so that I could fill in more paperwork.

When I was let go from my job in 2022, I did similar setting up to be able to get unemployment compensation.  There's a system, ID.me, that I used then and needed to use yesterday.  Happily, I still have the same cell phone number that I used then, and after a few glitches, I finally got logged in--only to discover that it transcribed only half my last name into the first form I needed to fill out.  So I clicked on the button to tell the VA about the mistake along with a photo of my driver's license to show my legal last name.  And now I wait to be able to continue with the forms.  Happily, there is time.

I don't know what to expect in terms of the weekly CPE schedule.  Will it be like a 9 to 5 job where I report to an office?  Will it be like a chaplain job where I spend time going to hospital rooms and talking to patients?  Will there be papers to write and/or debriefing sessions?  Will the schedule vary, with some overnight duties?

I don't know, so I haven't signed up for any volunteer duties at Lutheridge, and I'm trying to get some stuff done before CPE starts--some doctor visits (and a colonoscopy tomorrow), some sorting, some chores.

I also wonder if I'll have my own office.  Probably not.  Will I have a desk or a locker where I can keep things?  Will there be a place to heat up my beans and barley?  It's the meal that I take whenever I'm reporting to a place for a period of time that means I need to bring food to eat.  If I need to leave stuff locked in the car, I can do that.

When my parents were in town for the Lutheridge celebration in early May, we drove over to see the campus.  The Asheville VA Hospital looks lovely from the outside, more like a small college campus than a modern hospital.  The parking lots that stretched across the back of the property were mostly empty on a rainy Saturday afternoon, and I have no idea if they are ever filled.  Once they must have been.

I've been told that the Asheville VA Hospital is a great place to work and a great place to get care, and I hope that's true.  I've been told only good things about the CPE program there.  I'm looking forward to finding out more for myself.