• Certification and the path leading to BCC status should be as smooth as possible. First and foremost ChaplainDL's course is intended to take the "mystery" out of the BCC process. At the end of ChaplainDL's 8 week BCC prep course students have exceptional familiarity with all 31 national competencies needed for certification (optional 9th week for clinical contact/verbatim). 
  
• Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is a group process.  Each BCC learned and grew through group work while studying to becoming a professional chaplain. ChaplainDL's educational experience in this BCC prep course is also a group process. Its format is familiar and comfortable to those who have CPE training.  
  
• ChaplainDL's BCC prep course has students study each of the common individual Standards For Certfiication (SFC) in depth. In particular, students look at each standard and how they use it in their own professional work.  The course is more than just a "prep course." Rather, it is intended to help students integrate and synthesize their CPE training with the standards. Extensive focused readings are part of the course to help in the learning and integration/synthesizing process.
  
• Finally, the goal of this course is to help each applicant be as prepared as possible, thus leading to the person being as confident as possible entering the interview itself.
  

2. What will a student get out of ChaplainDL's BCC prep course?

• Structure, focus and discipline.  The course lays out a road map and a time frame.  Students know what they have to complete and when they have to complete it by. 
  
• Unparalleled personal attention and constant professional feedback from the course proctor.  
  
• Encouragement - both from the proctor of the course but equally importantly - from their cohort of fellow colleagues who are also engaged in the process of certification. 
  
• Certification is often a lonely process. Students get a cohort of like-minded students who help them stay motivated and on track. 
  

3. Why should I recommend ChaplainDL's BCC prep course to someone thinking of applying for BCC status?

• In addition to all of the above, ChaplainDL's course was created Chaplain Stephen Roberts, BCC.  
  
• Chaplain Roberts created the basic textbook in the field of chaplaincy, Professional Spiritual and Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain's Handbook (SkyLight Paths Publishing).
  
• Chaplain Roberts has served on numerous BCC committees and written numerous presenter's reports, as have others who proctor this course. When a course proctor reviews material that students write, they always looks at it from the perspective of someone who is serving on a committee
  
• Students taking the course have discovered standards they have not yet mastered. Course proctors serves as a sounding board on ways to deal with the deficit. Some students in the course have decided to stop the process and return to CPE to work on specific learning goals. The class helped them discover areas they needed to grow in on their own, and not have a committee inform them.