Certified Pastoral Counselor

Certified Pastoral Counselor
The standards for this membership category of time-limited certification include:

• B.A. and a Master of Divinity or a Masters or Doctoral level degree in theological/spiritual or biblical studies, or a Masters or Doctoral level degree in Pastoral Counseling, from schools accredited by agencies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education
• Religious body endorsement to ministry
• Active relationship to a local religious community
• Completion of a supervised self-reflective pastoral experience, the most common of which is one unit of clinical pastoral education
• Three years in ministry
• 375 hours of pastoral counseling together with 125 hours of supervision of that counseling with one-third of such supervision to have been with an AAPC Diplomate, an AAPC Fellow (who is under supervision of supervision), or in an AAPC approved Training Program in Pastoral Counseling