About Accreditation
Accreditation & Recognition
Some Perspectives
From the perspective of a current trainee or a graduate of clinical pastoral training, whether the program is accredited – that is, its training outcomes and administration validated by a recognized accrediting agency, in accordance with the agency’s standards – is a significant issue. Participation in or graduation from an accredited program confers specific benefits on trainees and graduates [in the United States].
From the perspective of an individual training program, accreditation by a recognized accrediting agency provides specific authorizations and access to federal programs not available to programs that are not thus accredited.
The key element in both statements is the accrediting agency having been recognized by the US Department of Education.
Recognition does not imply a judgment on the quality of the training experience but reflects on the organization’s proven capability to administer accreditation processes fairly and objectively and to be organized in an open, transparent manner.
An agency’s non-recognition, in turn, raises concerns about the reliability of the agency’s judgments concerning the conduct and administration of training.
Basic requirements for recognition provide some latitude in the agency’s relationship to the programs being reviewed for accreditation. Three types of accrediting agencies are required to be “separate and independent” of the institutions or programs that they accredit, while the fourth type – (1) constituted by voluntary membership, and (2) whose primary purpose is the accreditation of training programs – is allowed an organic relationship.
CPSP is eligible for recognition as an organization of this fourth type.
The Accreditation Manual (since 2019) has incorporated the Department’s requirements for recognition into CPSP practices.
To justify recognition as an accrediting agency, an organization itself makes the final decision on all accreditation matters. The Accreditation Commission makes the final decision on accreditation matters on behalf of CPSP.
Recognition requires both the thorough documentation of policies and procedures that ensure fair, unbiased, transparent decision making, and a documented record of consistent implementation of those procedures. The Accreditation Manual and the design of CPSP information systems fulfill these expectations.
Both the Standards and Accreditation Manual incorporate the US Department of Education criteria in their design and usage, adapting their execution to CPSP’s chapter-based organization.
The Accreditation Commission, representing CPSP, is charged with a timely response to a wide range of inputs/recommendations from the Accreditation Oversight Committee.
In a minimal concession to bureaucracy, the Administrator documents, publishes, and reports Administration Commission decisions and completed actions to training programs, the membership and external customers, and the Secretary of Education.
Recognition as an accrediting agency is a survival task for CPSP.
The application process for recognition requires that CPSP demonstrate a substantial record of accreditation activity (in accordance with our published documents) in the years before entering the review process. Our diplomate supervisors’ engagement with accreditation is key to our success!
Clinical supervision was – and is – the practice that forms and informs life within CPSP. Mutual recognition of training programs and shared responsibility for oversight – accreditation, in a word – lies at the heart of The Covenant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does CPSP offer accreditation?
CPSP formed as a community of practice, that is, a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.
Clinical supervision was – and is – the practice that forms and informs life within CPSP. Mutual recognition of training programs and shared responsibility for oversight – accreditation, in a word – lies at the heart of The Covenant.
What does accreditation by CPSP represent?
Accreditation validates the training program’s achievement in offering the highest standard of clinical pastoral training, and in administering the program in compliance with CPSP Standards.
Accreditation assures the public – to include prospective trainees and future employers – that one’s experience in training actually fulfills the CPSP objectives for clinical training.
How are accreditation standards developed?
The U.S. Department of Education provides a process for the recognition of accrediting agencies that includes defining the tasks of accreditation (34 CFR §§ 602.14-602.29).
The Accreditation Manual assigns responsibilities and prescribes procedures for the activities that comprise accreditation, within the frames of CPSP’s emphasis on the role of the chapter and the principle of members’ service to the community.
How does the accreditation process influence the contents of training, and the methods used?
The contents of training are developed within the CPSP community (acting through the Standards Committee and either the Executive Chapter or Governing Council), and express the emerging consensus about the theories underlying clinical chaplaincy practice, and client issues encountered in the contemporary training/ministry environment.
The accreditation process does not dictate aims or impose methods on clinical pastoral training from the perspective of some educational orthodoxy, but, instead, provides an orderly, systematic, and fair assessment of how well the training program fulfills the objectives for clinical pastoral training as defined by CPSP. The supervisor’s imagination and creativity are respected and valued.
What kinds of training programs are accredited by CPSP?
CPSP currently accredits programs in clinical pastoral training.
The Standards provide for accreditation of pastoral psychotherapy training, but there are no accredited training programs in pastoral psychotherapy currently active.
Who is responsible for accreditation within CPSP?
The chapter’s role is described in the Accreditation Manual, Chapter Two.
The roles of clinical supervisor and training supervisor (if applicable) are defined in Chapter Three.
The role of the Accreditation Oversight Committee is defined in Chapter Four.
The role of the Accreditation Commission is detailed in Chapter Five.
Why does CPSP have both an Accreditation Oversight Committee and an Accreditation Commission?
The Committee studies and recommends action, or carries out decisions already made by either the Governing Council or the Executive Chapter. It submits a full report to the Governing Council (or the Executive Chapter, in the interim). Its recommendations require action.
The Commission is empowered to consider and conclude matters assigned to it in the Accreditation Manual (Chapter Five), or referred to it. The Commission is expressly authorized and empowered to take actions specified in the Manual.
What other accreditations are recognized by CPSP?
Accreditation awarded by the [former] Commission on the Accreditation of Pastoral and Psychotherapy Training (CAPPT) continues to be honored and published (on this website) by CPSP. CAPPT accreditations referenced the CPSP Standards and Accreditation Manual (2016), then in effect.
What are the benefits of accreditation?
The directory of training programs lists training programs directed by CPSP diplomates that have been approved for accreditation, with their current status noted.
The directory lists training programs that have fulfilled the requirements for pre-accreditation (including authorization by the supervisor’s chapter), with their status noted.
(The directory includes both US-based and internationally-based training programs.)
Within the United States, accreditation by an agency that the US Department of Education recognizes confers particular benefits – namely, the ability to participate in specific federal programs – on those programs that have been accredited after the agency’s recognition. (CPSP is working actively towards seeking this recognition.)