Masters of Divinity
Internship Placement
Chaplains On the Way welcomes graduate students who are pursuing careers in professional chaplaincy, pastoral care, or social work.
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Our current internship curriculum is inspired by the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) model, and includes weekly readings, written reflections, mentorship by COTW chaplains, and peer discussions. While this model does focus on topics relevant to providing professional spiritual care, there is room for adaptation for social work students, particularly those who may be considering a future in organizations where they would find themselves often working in tandem with chaplains (such as hospice, hospital, or assisted living/skilled nursing facilities).
Description of Placement
Hello, Dear Friends!
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I’m Chaplain Elinor Tambourine, the Director of Chaplaincy and Programs here at COTW. I warmly welcome you to join us in a unique, challenging, and rewarding ministry! As stated above, our internship opportunities are open specifically to graduate students pursuing chaplaincy, pastoral care, or social work. We are open and affirming, interfaith, and eager to welcome any graduate-level student from any accredited university, college, or seminary. In the past, we have welcomed students from Harvard University and Boston College, but our doors are open wide to whoever has the passion and commitment to join us. Perhaps you’re a rabbinic student at Hebrew College just down the road in Newton, or a Massachusetts-based Journey student attending Iliff School of Theology all the way out in Denver. Perhaps you’re studying social work through Salem State University’s Online Program, or an ordination candidate looking to fulfill your ordaining body’s internship requirement. Whoever you are, whatever spirituality or religious tradition you call your own, you are welcome here.
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I ask of you only one thing: That you are discerning a call to provide spiritual care to our Friends who live on the margins. And for any social work students out there: I write to you with a background in hospice, where I worked side-by-side with some of the very finest social workers. Spiritual care is holistic and not bound by religious belief; I know without question that social workers provide spiritual care just as much as any chaplain or pastor. In fact, at COTW, we have a great need for you to join us and walk with us; our unhoused community members need spiritual care in the existential sense, certainly. But more than anything, they need their spirits cared for through practical community connections and advocacy.
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In your COTW internship experience, you will find a great emphasis on the practical. Chaplaincy is practical theology embodied; social work is a profession of practical solutions. I count on your academic institutions to provide the intellectual rigor that you need; here at COTW, you will be introduced to the fundamentals of spiritual care and asked to put them into practice alongside our current staff chaplain(s), volunteer chaplain(s), and lay volunteers. Ultimately, my goal is to provide you with a place to gain practical experience, and to discern the professional path ahead of you.
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If you would like to learn more about our internship program and curriculum, and would like to discuss the possibility of joining us, please reach out to me at elinor@chaplainsontheway.org. I look forward to getting to know you and, perhaps, walking with you for a ways.
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Yours In Friendship,
Chaplain Elinor Tambourine, MTS
Director of Chaplaincy & Programs
Past Internship Projects
Building a Home for Grief: Lessons Learned from an Interfaith Grief Group Created with and for the Unhoused
Keila Franks
Master of Divinity, 2023
Harvard Divinity School
This project aims to encapsulate the wisdom and insights gained over the course of an 8-month Grief Group hosted by Chaplains on the Way (COTW), a small nonprofit organization that provides spiritual care to people who are unhoused. The Grief Group was formed in response to the numerous deaths of COTW community members in recent years, though the group also created space for participants to process grief over various types of losses in their lives (e.g., material losses, functional losses, relational losses, etc.). The three main goals of the group were (1) to help attendees discover and/or connect with a sense of meaning related to their loss; (2) to promote coping practices grounded in compassion; (3) to cultivate a sense of community and collective support. Grounded in a strengths-based approach to chaplaincy, the Grief Group was co-created with community members who offered topics, resources, and insights that shaped the direction of the group. This project serves as a record of the agendas that were used in the Grief Group, and it also includes commentaries about each agenda, noting what worked well and what didn’t. The introduction provides background information on grief among the unhoused population, and it also delves into the chaplaincy theory and grief theory that underpinned the formation of the Grief Group. The conclusion summarizes the main themes and practices that were covered in the group, and it reflects on the lessons learned related to facilitation and participation. Finally, I consider the impacts of the Grief Group and its effectiveness in meeting its goals, as well as the implications of this project beyond the COTW community.
Watch thesis presentation: