Board Certification Preparation Course

Next course starting - January 8, 2025 

APC, NACC, NAJC, NAVAC or NCVACC

Becoming a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC) is the culmination of a long training process.  A candidate must be able to demonstrate his/her qualifications and ability to function as a professional chaplain by documenting that s/he meets or exceeds the standards for each of 29 national competencies. 

CPE taught you how to be a chaplain.  But being able to do the work and being able to articulate what you do at a theoretical level in front of a panel of your peers is another thing entirely. 

This is a ten (10) week length course. The course starts with "Week Zero" to introduce you to your classmates and the mechanics of the online course. The core of the course is composed of 8 writing weeks. Finally there is an optional Week 9 to work on a verbatim. Overall the course is designed to help a chaplain:

1. Integrate and synthesize one's professional clinical pastoral education by focusing on the 29 national competencies and the training they have received.  
2. Be exceptionally familiar with all 29 national competencies needed for certification. Extensive focused readings are part of the course to help in the learning and integration/synthesizing process.
3. Begin organizing and writing one's certification materials.  Writing is done at a competency by competency level. 

Key aspects of the course include:

1. Completing upwards of 80% of written materials by course’s end.  Further, the material will have been reviewed by the course proctor with detailed suggestions and comments provided.
2. Reviewing all CPE evaluations, both the supervisors' and applicant's. Reviews are geared to highlight achieved competencies.
3. Optional - Finishing one clinical chaplain contact/verbatim in a format designed specifically for certification (versus formats used for training). 

4. Format: This is an "asynchronous" online class. This means that a student participates at any time convenient for him/her over a 7 day period – including evenings, mornings and weekends. The hours needed for the course each week for the course include time for: reading, writing, and being involved in online asynchronous group discussions.  There is no set time to do the work.  However, to learn and interact most effectively, a participant should be able to schedule time throughout the week to work and to be able to be effectively involved with the group discussions, thus the recommendation of it being 3 – 4 days a week.

5. Length of Course: The course is 8 weeks long and a student should expect to put in between 12 and 15 hours a week.  Optional 9th Week - to complete one clinical chaplain contact/verbatim in a format designed specifically for certification (versus formats used for training). 

This fully online course is limited to a group of between 5 and 12 candidates. This small group teaching process will be familiar and comfortable to all candidates who have completed four units of CPE.

Course Requirements:

• Completion of 4 units of Clinical Pastoral Education (Exceptions: 1. if you apply for APC's Associate Certified Chaplain you only need 2 completed units of CPE; 2. you are or will be enrolled in your final unit of CPE at the beginning of this course) 
• Membership in one of the following organizations: APC, NACC, NAJC, NAVAC or NCVACC
• Access to both Professional Spiritual and Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain's Handbook and Disaster Spiritual Care: Practical Clergy Responses to Community, Regional and National Tragedy (Both SkyLight Paths Publishing www.skylightpaths.com).
• You are strongly encouraged to use the mentoring process of your professional association in addition to this course.  

Most Frequently Asked Question Regarding This Course: Is this course now required as part of the certification process?  No. This course is in no way required.  This course was designed by Chaplain Stephen Roberts, BCC, one of the most senior chaplains in the country, for the same reasons that he created the book Professional Spiritual and Pastoral Care: to help you as a professional chaplain. This course is intended to dispel much of the mystery out of the certification process; to help you have a working timeline for creating your materials; and to provide you a working cohort of other colleagues in the certification process.

Course Fees:

• $899

Teaching Chaplains Online Since 2012

Testimonials:

• "I appreciated the structure and general guidance provided for writing my certification materials. This was a plus for me and I was able to accomplish a lot of writing and reflecting. This course delivered on that promise which I am delighted about. Thank you!" 

• "The online BCC Prep course provided me a learning community of fellow chaplains seeking certification as well as a professional guide and mentor for the process.  Through the work I did with the online community and with proctor's' input and feedback, I have gone to a new level of understanding and competency in Spiritual Care.  Having finished the course I now have the foundation laid as well as the bulwark of the competencies written for my BCC candidacy.  This class has made a huge difference in my preparations."
  

• "I like the logical flow of the content over the weeks and giving us word limits for the answers we wrote."
  

• "I appreciated the feedback from you a great deal."
  

• "At first I was worried about the cost. However, it was well worth the cost."