If you want to expand your chaplaincy knowledge to include professional settings such as healthcare providers (hospitals, hospice centers, psychiatric wards), prisons or correction agencies, the military, police and fire departments, business, or other clinical field settings, then you will need more than an ecclesiastic endorsement or ordination. You need to engage in Clinical Pastoral Education/Training (CPE).

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is a unique interfaith experience, open to people of all faiths. IMF partners with The Institute for Clinical Pastoral Training to offer CPE to spiritual professionals and theological students seeking professional growth and development in clinical pastoral settings. CPE students learn through action-reflection instructional methods and supervised practice in real-world settings to provide pastoral services to others. 

Our Winter 2024 CPE Unit is scheduled to begin on Monday, 1 January 2024. Your name may be on the list, but you may not necessarily be enrolled in the unit. To inquiry about enrolling in a CPE Unit, Please fill the form out below on this page and be sure to enroll through ICPT here: https://www.icpt.edu/enroll.html Be sure to select “IMFserves” on the campus drop-down on the ICPT registration.

Suggested training schedules are posted on ICPT’s website here: https://www.icpt.edu/schedules.html  

New session schedules may become available depending on enrollment requests.

Note training schedules posted on the website may change due to failure to meet minimum enrollment standards. Training units must include at least two (2) enrollees to start. Units with fewer than two students will be postponed until additional students are admitted.

ICPT offers four (4) units of CPE and SIT training. Students may engage in fulltime or part-time study. Students do not have to enroll in every unit. Students may enroll for 1, 2, 3, or 4 units. Training units are 400 clock hours each.

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Units
Fulltime: A full-time unit is 12 weeks long and includes at least 300 hours of direct clinical contact hours with designated clientele or patients and 100 hours of lecture and peer review with a group of not less than two peers. The student must be engaged in a clinical ministry setting no less than 25 hours per week.
Part-time: A part-time time unit is 24 weeks long and includes at least 300 hours of direct clinical contact hours with designated clientele or patients and 100 hours of lecture and peer review with a group of not less than two peers. The student must be engaged in a clinical ministry setting no less than 12.5 hours per week.

Supervisor in Training (SIT) Units
Fulltime: A full-time unit is 12 weeks long and includes 100 hours of didactic and 300 hours of supervisor in training clinical training. During the 300 hour the applied learning involves taking theories and principles garnered in the didactic training to solve problems students might encounter. The SIT applies theoretical learning to help students overcome mental or spiritual hurdles thus, improving student learning outcomes with patients/clients. The clinical part involves working one-on-one with students to help them achieve a higher level of CPE skills. This may include addressing individual learning differences and designing academic plans to help students rectify issues at their clinical sites. The student must be engaged in a clinical supervision no less than 25 hours per week.
Part-time: A part-time time unit is 24 weeks long and includes 100 hours of didactic and 300 hours of supervisor in training clinical training. During the 300 hour the applied learning involves taking theories and principles garnered in the didactic training to solve problems students might encounter. The SIT applies theoretical learning to help students overcome mental or spiritual hurdles thus, improving student learning outcomes with patients/clients. The clinical part involves working one-on-one with students to help them achieve a higher level of CPE skills. This may include addressing individual learning differences and designing academic plans to help students rectify issues at their clinical sites. The student must be engaged in a clinical ministry setting no less than 12.5 hours per week.

Tuition and fees are to be processed through ICPT and is listed on ICPT’s website and application process. You have view the tuition breakdown on the Enroll Page here: https://www.icpt.edu/enroll.html  Scroll down to the section titled Tuition and Fees

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE)
Clinical hours may be completed at your current place of ministry (if you are currently employed as a Chaplain or Pastor of a church), or any number of institutions including but not limited to; hospitals, hospice houses, corporate settings, prison systems, skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and community services. Your hours may be paid or volunteer.

Supervisor-in-Training (SIT)
The setting for SIT clinical training is the CPE program itself. The SIT student will work with the CPE Supervisor and/or the ICPT Director of Education (DOE) to learn how to successfully guide CPE students enrolled in Units 1, 2, 3, and 4. Each 300-hour clinical/applied learning unit will be taught by a board-certified CPE supervisor. The CPE supervisor will provide guidance, training, and oversight about the tacit knowledge of becoming a CPE supervisor while providing theoretical training about how good CPE supervisory work is done. Training will include instructing, grading, evaluating, counseling and tracking CPE students regarding their interactions with patients, families, and staff in hospitals/hospices/long term care or other health care settings, members of faith communities, prisoners and/or workers in prisons, and/or other clinical facilities on best practices in clinical pastoral care.

No. Students are not required to apply for CPE certification to enroll in the program. The CPE program offered at ICPT qualifies graduates to sit for certifications available through a wide array of certification providers; however, ICPT does not provide certification or licensing for any of its courses or programs. ICPT issues a certificate of completion and continuing education units upon completion of the program and at the end of each unit. Graduates that complete all four (4) CPE units may apply for board certification in chaplaincy with a wide array of certifying agencies that offer board certification. Depending on the certifying agency, there may be other requirements. As such, ICPT does not guarantee graduates the ability to sit for or garner board certification.

Students that wish to become a certified chaplain upon completion of the program are not required by state or federal law to garner certification to work in the field; however, those that wish to obtain certification should conduct a thorough analysis of the many certifying agencies throughout the nation. Here are a few CPE certifying agencies students may consider (Each certifying agency has their own specific requirement. Please contact them directly for details):

Spiritual Care Association at www.spiritualcareassociation.org

Association of Certified Christian Chaplains at www.certifiedchaplains.org

BCCI at www.apchaplains.org

National Association of Catholic Chaplains at www.nacc.org

National Association of VA Chaplains at www.navac.net

National Association of Jewish Chaplains at www.jewishchaplain.net

General Requirements:
Applicants must be able to read, write, speak, and understand English.
Applicants must be 18 or older.
Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree, or greater, from an accredited college or university and a minimum of two (2) years of ministerial experience or applicable professional experience.
Applicants without a bachelor’s degree must have a minimum five (5) years of ministry experience or applicable professional experience.

Additional Requirements
The applicants must be willing to adhere to their own faith tradition and be willing to learn with those of faith traditions other than their own. Applicants must possess the ability to minister to persons in various emotional states.
Applicants must be willing to learn from others and be able to communicate effectively to those who possess different values without proselytizing or evangelizing.
Applicants must have his/her own transportation to get to and from unit sessions/clinical sites. Applicants must adhere to the policies and procedures at their clinical site and/or place of ministry including, but not limited to, working in a smoke free environment.

You’re welcome to contact Michael Rivera regarding any inquiries about CPE registration.

Michael A. Rivera Jr., MDiv, BCC, CPES
Phone: 651-422-8983
Email: michael@imfserves.org