Why Accreditation?
The College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, Inc. (CPSP) offers its programs in clinical pastoral training (CPT), pastoral psychotherapy, pastoral supervision, and psychotherapy supervision as a unique form of ministry and education. Respect for the trainee’s person and his/her personal growth, professional development, and unique integration of the personal and professional functioning is central to the CPSP mission.
The Standards provide guidance to chapters and other CPSP structures as they do their work of accrediting programs, certifying and recertifying persons, and upholding ethical standards. They ensure consistency in practice and application to ensure the quality and effectiveness of CPSP- accredited training programs and proficiency of certified members.
The Standards should be read and applied in the light of the CPSP Covenant and By- laws, which they seek to implement; where The Standards fail to address specific individual circumstances, the spirit of The Covenant, informed by conversations with consultants, will govern.
The Standards Committee is the proponent for ongoing, systematic review of The Standards, in collaboration with the Standing Committees (By-laws, 7.04(f)); the Accreditation Oversight Committee is the proponent for this manual (hereinafter, Accreditation).
The Accreditation Manual (November 17, 2019) constitutes a Standard of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy.
Accountability and Quality
Accreditation is an essential function of the covenant community, the means by which we ensure the accountability and quality of training programs, and communicate their effectiveness to the public.
Full accreditation validates the existence of the organizational, training, materiel, and environmental resources required to accomplish the objectives of the training program, and the effectiveness of training.
Pre-accreditation reflects the judgment that the resourcing of a training program justifies a reasonable expectation of a program’s effectiveness in supporting the personal and professional development described in the Standards. (Standards, §100)
“Accreditation of training programs is the primary purpose of CPSP .”
— (Standards, §100; Accreditation, §100)
Why Accreditation?
The growth of CPSP from a single-celled organization to an international covenantal community of practice has occasioned changes in structure to fulfill its essential tasks on a larger scale.
Accreditation, accordingly, has maintained its roots in the chapter’s responsibility for oversight of training programs conducted by its members while taking added steps to ensure the “…orderly, transparent, and equitable administration of decisions concerning preaccreditation and accreditation, and appeals to these decisions (Accreditation, §140.1).”
The Accreditation Manual (beginning in 2019) provides for managing these functions in a way that fulfills the operational requirements for recognition as an accrediting agency by the U.S. Department of Education.
The individual trainee benefits directly from this renewed focus on accreditation, since the process aims to ensure the quality of the training experience. (Added visibility for and transparency in the CPSP complaints process provides an additional check on substandard programs. You may submit complaints about the training experience to voice@cpsp.org, in addition to the complaints process published by the individual program.)
The chapter benefits from added clarity about its role in authorizing a training program, approving a clinical supervisor, ensuring completion of the preaccreditation and initial accreditation processes, and continuing oversight.
Training programs benefit directly from the accreditation process, which provides (through the required self-study) occasion for reengaging with the program’s vision and mission, reviewing program documents for compliance with current standards, and assessment of trainees’ learning (as an indicator of program quality).
Host clinical sites benefit from the assurance that the training program with which their name is associated, do, indeed, represent the highest standard in clinical chaplaincy and clinical pastoral training.
Community or institutional representation in a training program’s professional advisory committee – required by the accreditation process – creates opportunities for enhancing the program’s visibility among key constituencies, communicating the value added by clinical training, and building relationships that may benefit the program.
CPSP benefits from its supervisors’ and training programs’ engagement with the accreditation process. Recognition as an accrediting agency requires that CPSP have processes that satisfy regulatory requirements, yes; that CPSP be organized and administered in a way that provides assurance of our reliability and sustainability in the accrediting role, yes; that CPSP demonstrate experience in the application of our standards and procedures for the whole accreditation life-cycle, depends – on supervisors preparing their programs and meeting the targets for the next steps towards accreditation required by our standards.