ACPE Certification
Certification by ACPE is an earned privilege and responsibility. It is achieved by meeting the requirements for certification in the ACPE standards. ACPE Certified Educators are clinical pastoral educators who are academically prepared and who are authorized by either a spiritual or religious community or by means of a spiritual or religious community affiliation and ACPE to combine perspectives from theology and the behavioral sciences in conducting accredited programs of clinically supervised education. All members of ACPE are obligated to abide by the Code of Professional Ethics for ACPE Members.
Certification Commission
A. Function and Authority
The Certification Commission (“the Commission”) has authority to take action on all certification matters, including: granting, denying, or continuing certification; defining and implementing policies and procedures by which certification may be withdrawn; and determining the limits and conditions under which a person in training may practice supervision. The Certification Commission establishes policies, procedures, and guidelines for granting and maintaining certification of ACPE Certified Educators.
B. Composition
The Commission is composed of the chair, chair-elect, eleven ACPE Certified Educators, one Spiritual Care Professional and one public member.
C. Qualifications and credentials of persons involved in certification
1. Certification Commission members are elected by the membership. The Leadership Development Group helps to identify qualified ACPE Certified Educators, a Spiritual Care Professional who has significant experience in the field, and a public member who has a basic understanding of the field of spiritual care, but does not work directly with any of our centers. The Commission chair is responsible for providing orientation to the commission.
2. Non-disclosure agreement — All persons participating in certification processes who review or use student records during certification reviews will sign and abide by the non-disclosure agreement. Signed non-disclosure agreements are attached to the report of the subcommittee or committee and become part of the permanent record. The Commission chair is responsible for implementing this policy.