The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc.
November 16, 2004: Portland, Maine – The professions of chaplaincy and pastoral counseling are about to become more defined and more unified. The board of six national groups met in Portland to ratify four agreements that establish a common foundation for what it means to be a professional pastoral care provider or educator.
The collaborating groups are the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC), an interfaith group; the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC), which concentrates on mental health; the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), which handles chaplains' training; the National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC); the National Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC); and the Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice and Education (CAPPE/ACPEP). These combined groups represent over 10,000 members who currently serve as chaplains, pastoral counselors, and clinical pastoral educators in specialized settings as varied as healthcare, counseling centers, prisons or the military.
Trained, certified chaplains come from every faith and denomination, but they never proselytize among patients or their families. Instead, their job is to listen respectfully to the spiritual worries, fears or anger of those they serve. Certified chaplains from every association must now have theological education at the graduate level and advanced clinical training to prepare them for intense ministry in specialized settings. Pastoral Counselors typically have a specialized counseling degree at a graduate level and practice as mental health professionals, such as a license professional counselor or marriage and family therapist.
Although the various associations have operated on similar principles in the past, this month's announcement is the first time they have agreed to abide by identical standards. The mutual agreements “allow these collaborating pastoral care and counseling groups in North America to speak with one voice about who we are, what our qualifications are, and what code of ethics we all subscribe to,” said the Rev. George Handzo , outgoing chair of the Council on Collaboration. “It is a major step forward in claiming our place as a true profession.”
“It defines us as a profession, not just a group of organizations,” said Art Schmidt, president of the ACPE and newly elected Council chair. “It's like the National Association of Nurses – now we've got that kind of identity for chaplains.”
“There is nothing more central to the lives of our associations than certification and codes of ethics,” Handzo said. “We are now, in effect, accountable to each other for the fair and equitable carrying out of our certifications and ethics processes.”
Joan Bumpus, president of the NACC said, "This is a profound moment in our history in which our profession is holding itself accountable to the publics we serve. Persons we serve and employers can be assured that members of our organizations have met rigorous standards."
"The acceptance of the common standards provides a potential spring board to consider ways that our professions can collaborate in providing care and promoting healing in the broader community," said Douglas Ronsheim, executive director of the AAPC. "It is interesting to think about how care can cross the boundaries of hospitals, outpatient counseling centers, and congregations."
Task forces from the associations have been working on the agreements since September 2003, but the impetus to work together goes back at least two more years. The associations are not planning to merge, only to cooperate more fully. Any group may add more stringent rules of its own to the ratified agreements, but none may weaken them.
The four foundational documents that the organizations' boards approved in early November were: Common Standards for Professional Chaplaincy; Common Standards for Pastoral Educators/Supervisors; Common Code of Ethics for Chaplains, Pastoral Counselors, Pastoral Educators and Students; and Principles for Processing Ethical Complaints.
The new standards were produced by the Council on Collaboration, made up of representatives from the six groups. An initial challenge grant for this effort came from The HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York . Other contributors included Advocate Health, the Alan Slifka Foundation (in honor of the Rev. Dr. Walter Smith, S.J.), Ascension Health, Barnes Jewish Hospital, Baylor Health, Clarion Health Partners, Lutheran Health Care (Brooklyn, NY), North Central Region of ACPE, Tenet HealthCare Foundation and Trinity Health.
“Speaking with one voice is imperative if we are to get meaningful dialogue with legislators and foundations,” said Robert A. Kidd, president of the APC. “Such collaborative ventures continue to teach us about the breadth and depth of spiritual care. We see and appreciate many more colors on the palette than we did before.” Because of the new standards, he said, “institutional accrediting bodies will have an even clearer sense of what professional spiritual care-giving means and will come to understand more thoroughly the kind of care we are trained to deliver.”
Additional revisions were made to the introductory statement in each of the documents. The following links represent the March 2005 versions:
For more information, contact Mary Kendrick Moore, Association of Professional Chaplains, mmmoore@mindspring.com , (212) 929-4577,
Or David Lewellen, National Association of Catholic Chaplains, dlewellen@nacc.org , (414) 483-4898.
Copyright 2006, The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.