Personally, I have completed four
units of CPE and, after working for over 5 years full-time as a chaplain, I am
now a board certifiable chaplain. A
Board Certified Chaplain (BCC) is very expensive and requires a minimum of four
units of CPE (two must be Level Two CPE), 2000 clinical hours of work after
completing CPE, a Master’s of Divinity, a lengthy application process, and then
sitting for a consultation/review by other BCCs. After being hired by UGST, I walked them
through the year-long process of becoming a Member School of ACPE. I then was the natural and only potential
candidate for the cluster board to appoint to the St. Louis Cluster Board that
governs CPE training in the St. Louis, MO, and the Springfield, IL, area. The St. Louis Cluster is the only remaining Cluster
board in the ACPE; at one time such cluster governance dominated the ACPE. This Cluster has survived because it is
dedicated to unity, tolerance, and a commitment to be inclusive to a wide
variety of faith backgrounds. In this Cluster,
United Pentecostal Church (UPCI) chaplains have found a warm welcome and
mentoring by CPE supervisors who are dedicated to making a place at the table
for them.
It would be helpful to start with an
overview of clinical chaplaincy and how chaplaincy training takes place. CPE training is given in a succession of
levels, and the level you complete will determine the job opportunities. It is also worth noting that the requirements
for employment are different from state to state, and even from county to
county, depending on the strength of enforcement by state and local
officials. For example, Missouri law states
that no one can work in any clinical chaplaincy position without at least one
unit of CPE. However, in rural areas
state regulators ignore this requirement because there is no CPE training
available (although someone with CPE would be preferred in a hiring
process). On the other hand, in
population centers like St. Louis and Kansas City you would probably not even be
considered for an entry-level position without two units of CPE.
As a final note on employment, it is
the expectation of ACPE, most educators, and even state regulators that the
Federal Government will likely establish rules on the education requirement of
chaplains, because both Medicaid and Medicare are now billed for and reimburse
for chaplains’ visits in a hospice setting.
In 2010 the Medicare Hospice Guidelines made the chaplain and/or a
counselor a mandatory part of the Hospice Team. As in the case of other medical
providers that are part of the Hospice Team, a minimum standard will probably
be set in the near future. When this
happens it is the hope of ACPE that this will be set high (M. Div. and four
units of CPE) (which is in keeping with social worker requirements) to improve
the quality of care that chaplains are providing. When this happens present day chaplains will
be given a time span to come into compliance before being allowed to work for a
company that accepts Medicaid and/or Medicare.
While I have no official data, there
are only a handful of licensed or ordained ministers in the UPCI that have any
CPE at all. As far as I know, there are
only a couple of people who are board certifiable (I am the only one I know of
for certain). Further, there are no
Oneness Pentecostal supervisors or any Oneness Pentecostal students in
supervisory training. Crystal, if she
gets a supervisory training slot, will be the very first to have been accepted
into such a training program.
After a lengthy application is filled
out ($50 fee) and the student is selected, all CPE students start with Level
One training at a hospital that is licensed by ACPE to provide the
training. The cost for a unit of CPE
varies between locations, but is usually around $600. ACPE gives priority to people with an M. Div.
and students in a similar program.
However, if slots are available, supervisors will fill the slots with
anyone interested in chaplaincy. The
clinical method of training in CPE units require between five and eight
students to be effective. Each unit of
Level One or Level Two CPE require 300 hours of clinical time, 100 hours of
didactic and group supervision, and sometimes a variety of other
responsibilities such as on-call work.
Each unit is usually made up of students at a variety of levels, and the
cohort supports each other through the process.
Units can be done over different periods of time (10 weeks @ 40 hours a
week and often called an ‘Intensive Unit’, 20 weeks @ 20 hours a week and is
often referred to as an ‘Extended Unit’, etc).
Anytime after a single unit is
completed and either the student or the supervisor feels that the student has
completed all of the Level One objectives (objectives are listed in the ACPE
Handbook), the student can apply to sit for a Level One Consultation. A Level One Consultation is a written and
verbal examination by supervisors and other important hospital employees or Cluster
board members to determine if they are ready to begin working on Level Two
objectives. Many students will work for
many units on Level One and never sit for a Level Two Consultation. One reason for this is that supervisors will
rarely tell students what is clearly written in the ACPE Handbook (students are
required to sign that they have read the handbook), and I have known students
who have completed six units of CPE and, when asked, had never heard of Level
Two CPE.
Another opportunity for those seeking
training is to be hired by a medical facility as a ‘resident’. It is required that residents have at least
one unit of CPE before becoming a resident.
As a resident they will do four Intensive Units back-to-back over the
course of a year. During that time the
resident is expected to devote their entire attention to CPE learning and
working at the medical facility that hired them. While resident students are still required to
pay for their CPE units, they are paid a stipend that again varies between
location (between $23,000 and $32,000 a year).
Occasionally hospitals will hire a Second-Year Resident that will serve
as a resident and mentor to other residents.
The next level of training would be a
supervisory candidate training. Because
of the number of clinical hours one accumulates doing CPE, it is not required
(as in other programs) that those seeking supervisory training have a clinical
period (or become BCC) between finishing Level Two training and starting
supervisory candidate training.
Supervisory training is provided by a supervisor who is qualified to do
so and a medical center that is licensed to provide the training. Supervisory training takes between three and
five years after completing Levels One and Two CPE. Therefore it would not be considered unusual
if the entire process (Level One to Full Supervisor qualified) took about ten
years to complete. Currently in the United
States, chaplain supervisors have been ageing and retiring at a faster rate
than new supervisors have been trained.
There is therefore an increasing shortage of supervisors available. Currently in the St. Louis area there have
been two supervisor positions and a supervisor trainee position open for almost
a year. The before-mentioned shortage,
coupled with ACPE’s dedication to inclusion of under-represented groups
(especially Pentecostals, who now make up 1/12 of the world’s population),
opens a space for a golden age of opportunity for Pentecostal chaplains.
My vision when I started out in
chaplaincy was to have an influence on chaplaincy education throughout the
Oneness movement. By being appointed to
the St. Louis Cluster Board as a representative of UGST (and by extension
representing all Pentecostal chaplains), I have in some ways jumped over the
need to have supervisory training in order to have this influence. I envisioned
that this would only be possible by becoming the first UPCI supervisor and
training UPCI’s future chaplains.
However, by sitting on the Cluster Board, I can influence the decisions
of the Cluster as it determines who gets the scarce training slots in the St.
Louis area. Further, because of this
position, I am sought out to consult on matters that affect or include
Pentecostals in general. I am also asked
to sit on Level One Consultation Boards, Supervisory Candidate Mock Boards,
meet with and/or interview potential job applicants around the city and give
feedback, give presentations at chaplaincy training events and conferences,
provide hospital training for chaplains and social workers, and only God knows
the influence I can have over CPE and chaplaincy training in the remaining
years of my life. My chaplaincy journey
has been one of faith, and God has surely opened the doors so that, as His
vessel, I might be used to bring glory to His Kingdom.
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