This month, ACPE Anti-Bias Work Group members had a unique opportunity to sit down with leaders and elders of ACPE’s Racial, Ethnic & Multicultural (REM) Network. Recognizing that the Anti Bias Work Group’s charge stems from the decades-long work of REM to champion diversity, equity, and inclusion within ACPE, this conversation provided a rich opportunity to learn more about “how” and “why” the REM movement came into existence.

Graced with grit, ingenuity, and strategic allyship with white leaders within ACPE, a small yet committed group of new African American ACPE Supervisors worked tirelessly to nurture a safe space within our association where students and educators of color had “a place to be celebrated, not simply tolerated.” Through REM, many students interested in ministry would go on to learn about chaplaincy and CPE education as viable career options. And, perhaps most importantly, REM’s prophetic leadership within ACPE helped to hold the organization accountable to working towards being an actively anti-racist association.

Join us on March 6th and March 8th  from 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm eastern for LIVE Town Hall Meetings as we share updates on the strategic planning process. The agenda for each town hall will include a presentation of the strategic planning process, a preview of the rollout planning phase and strategic plan launch, and a Q&A session.

We invite you to register now to claim your spot! Both town halls will be recorded for members unable to attend.

I am honored to have begun my term as chair of Certification two months ago, along with Cam Holzer, who serves as Chair-Elect. While the newsletter is an important tool to communicate to all our Certified Educators (CEs) within our organization, this article is specifically for our Certified Educator Candidates (CECs) - all 121 of them!

The Certification Commission is hard at work supporting you in your processes. We’ve had some changes in our commission and welcomed eight new CCRs (Certification Commission Reviewers) at the start of this year. You may have been notified that your CCR has changed if your original CCR was completing their term. If you were assigned a new CCR recently, I hope you will get a chance to know them soon as they journey with you in this process.

The Professional Wellbeing Committee (PWB) and Certification Commission (CC) collaboratively reviewed feedback from our membership provided through Peer Review reports and reflections, which pointed to the need to clarify some elements of peer review and national faculty processes. The CC and PWB jointly offer the following updates:

Peer Reviews are handled by the Professional Wellbeing Committee. Peer Reviews are about the maintenance of one’s certification and not about adding NF status. 

March 16-18, 2023

$400

March 24-April 1, 2023

$400

April 1-April 15, 2023

$400

In May 2020, the Board of Directors of ACPE authorized a working group to begin a thorough review, revision, and updating of the Objectives and Outcomes for Level I/Level II CPE. The Outcomes Work Group (OWG) is chaired by Maurice Appelbaum and Liam Robins. The members of the group included ACPE Certified Educators Julie Hanada, Amani Legagneur, Tamekia Milton, Judy Ragsdale, Matt Rhodes, Maureen Shelton, and Dr. Carrie Doehring, the Clifford Baldridge Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Iliff School of Theology, and Jana Troutman-Miller, former chair of the Board of Chaplaincy Certification, Inc. The group initially met monthly and, over time, increased frequency to multiple times per week for the past few months. These revised Outcomes and Indicators are the culmination of significant time and energy, many years of practical experience, and gleanings from the most current research in the field.

Make plans now to join ACPE as we come together in New Orleans, the South’s Most Interesting City, for what promises to be a unique social and educational conference celebrating our values, sharing our voices, and growing our vision together. Building upon the work we have been doing to become an anti-racist organization that is actively engaging and addressing biases, this conference will begin our transition from knowledge building to application and integration of what we have been learning. Throughout the week, there will be many opportunities to reconnect and engage with colleagues, experience some of the many cultures of ACPE and our host city, and to take time to heal, recharge, and have some fun together!

Poster presentations will highlight and integrate research and evidence-based practices for CPE, spiritually integrated psychotherapy, and spiritual care to inform the future of ACPE and the craft of spiritual care & education.

We invite posters about research projects, quality improvement (QI) projects, and innovative curriculum or practice projects conducted by all ACPE constituents such as ACPE Certified Educators, Psychotherapists, Spiritual Care Professionals, CPE Students, CECs, and Interprofessional Colleagues. We consider reports on projects involving any aspect of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy (SIP), or spiritual care, which may be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods in their design. All posters, including QI projects and innovative curriculum or practice projects, must report outcomes or results that were evaluated or measured. We also highly recommend spotlighting how your project and findings inform our professional practices.