About CMU

CMU Faculty

Tim Frymire

Adjunct Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies (SPE)

Tim Frymire

Program(s)Biblical and Theological Studies

Emailtrymire:@:cmu.ca

Originally from Kamloops, BC, Tim moved to Winnipeg for the weather and the insect life. Though married late at 37, by age 38 he had five kids, thanks to the lazy man’s marriage—choosing a wife with four teenagers. Thinking that the hard work was done,(no diapers), his foolish and naively unaware approach to step parenting would have made Dr. Phil cry like a baby.  He quickly realized his master’s degree in family and community group work was about as much use on the home front as a bullet proof vest: having it made him feel protected and over confident, so that when he ventured into waters over his head he sank twice as quickly. Though it is usually prudent, when finding oneself in a hole, to stop digging, Tim proceeded to create a bigger blended family, adding, with the help of his wife Debbie, another child to the mix. The kids now range in age from 27 to 48, and unanimously agree that Tim has gone from disaster to master in a mere 28 years.

Tim has an abiding interest in making spirituality both interesting and fun—his motto: “Life is too important to be taken seriously”. At age 65 he is faced with the daily evidence of his body’s gradual slide into old age and decrepitude: less hair, vision, hearing, and bladder control. He teaches Clinical Pyschospiritual Education (CPE) partly because he values the role of spiritual care in health care, and partly as spiritual life insurance to buy a little good will. (His other motto: “Be nice to health care staff: they may be doing your peri-care one day”).

Areas of Teaching

Clinical Psychospiritual Education

Education

MA Pastoral Studies (Family and Community Groupwork), St. Paul's University, Ottawa, 1986; BA, University of Saskatoon, 1977

Work in Detail

Teaching

Begining in 1980, Tim was a chaplain (Spiritual Care Practitioner) at St. Boniface General Hospital. He became a Supervisor-Educator of Clinical Pyschospiritual Education (CPE) in 2000. Formerly called Clincal Pastoral Education, CPE is the experiential based education method used to train those who provide spiritual care in health care,  corrections and a variety of other settings. Tim taught extended units of CPE (one unit per year, two days per week) at SBGH from 2001 to 2007.

He then ran the residency program at Riverviwe Health Centre (three CPE units per year, five days per week) from 2008 to 2015. After retiring for a few years, he has come back to teach an extended unit at Selkirk Mental Health Centre.

Community

Tim and his wife have recently facilitated a "death café" for their local community centre in order to help normalize and de-stigmatise talking about death and dying in our death avoidant culture.  

Tim has presented widely on the topics of "death, laughter and spirituality", and has a passion for palliative care and end of life issues.

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