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Department of Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy

How to Apply to The Johns Hopkins Hospital CPE Program

To apply to The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s CPE residency, onsite or distance learning internship, please submit the following:
  • An application, which includes the following essay questions: 
    • A reasonably full account of your life 
    • A description of your spiritual growth and development 
    • A description of your work (vocational) history 
    • An account of a ‘helping incident’ 
    • Your impressions of Clinical Pastoral Education 
    • A Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Essay
  • Previous final educator and self evaluations, if applicable.
  • Payment of the $50 non-refundable application fee. Application fee may be remitted by check payable to "Johns Hopkins CPE," credit card, or money order. Please reach out to Linda Johnson-Harvey regarding how you would like to process your payment.

Clearly indicate the program for which you are applying (i.e. residency, on site internship, or distance learning internship). We recommend that applicants submit materials at least six weeks prior to the start of a unit. When complete applications are received, they are reviewed, on a rolling basis, by an ACPE Certified Educator. Due to the volume of applicants, we cannot guarantee interviews. We will contact qualified candidates within two to three weeks of receipt of application to schedule an interview. Applicants who are interviewed will be notified of the admission decision within two to three weeks of the interview. 

Information regarding Certified Educator training may be obtained by calling Rev. Sally Miller at 410-614-4154. Certified Educator applicants, please use this application. Submit your application materials by email and follow the submission of your application with your $50 application fee in a timely fashion. The Certified Educator training program currently has no openings. 

Application Tips

The Johns Hopkins Hospital CPE Programs are competitive. Following are helpful tips for completing your application: 

1. Essays should not exceed 5 pages. Three to five well-developed paragraphs per essay question is the recommended length. 

2. Consider being courageous and professionally vulnerable regarding what you decide to share. CPE is an adult formational learning program in which you will be developing for the purpose of providing empathic and effective spiritual care. 

3. The ‘helping incident’ you select may be enhanced by including dialogue in a verbatim format. You may also want to include a personal reflection paragraph or two at the conclusion, as an analysis section. 

4. Clear, practical and concrete goals for ministerial development are preferable to vague, abstract philosophies or theories. Though we ground our work in behavioral sciences and theories, we invite specificity in the application process for the purpose of measurability, and applicability. 

The CPE Interview

If you are invited for an interview at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, you will receive a time and Zoom link at least one week in advance. You are encouraged to be 5-10 minutes early for your interview.  There will be up to five or ten minutes, during which you will be in the Zoom Waiting Room until the meeting host lets you into the Zoom Room for the interview. 

Please come to your interview prepared with questions you have about the CPE programming and/or educators and our clinical context. Interviewers will be the CPE faculty and board-certified staff chaplains of The Johns Hopkins Hospital.  You will be asked questions based upon your application. Interviews are no longer than one hour. 

Multiple factors go into the decision to accept or decline applicants. The Johns Hopkins Hospital CPE program does not discriminate against any person and makes every attempt to be inclusive seeking diversity in all training groups. Depending upon the timeline for applicants and the beginning dates for particular units of CPE, it may be several weeks before all decisions about the upcoming group configurations are made. Due to the volume of applications, we are unable to give specific feedback about the application and interview process. 

Thank you for your interest in our CPE programming at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. We look forward to reading your application with interest and offer wishes for your professional flourishing.