Chaplaincy Continuing Education is to help augment and update the HCMA Chaplain’s professional knowledge of subjects related to chaplaincy and to satisfy standards for the HCMA Board Certified Chaplain (BCC) and Certified Clinical Chaplain (CCC) as a pastoral care professional. The goal of professional continuing education within the field of chaplaincy is to further develop and improve a Chaplain’s pastoral care knowledge, sensitiveness and skills through a variety of educational experiences.
1 CCEU = 50 minutes of classroom instruction (or peer review, or self-directed education, etc.) = 1 credit hour = 1 CCEU.
Twenty (20) Chaplaincy Continuing Education Units (CCEUs) are required each calendar year for all HCMA BCCs and CCCs to maintain their professional certification. These continuing education units are to be focused in the field of chaplaincy.
Even though BCCs or CCCs are fully trained Chaplains, they need to continue to learn about adjusting their clinical pastoral care to correct errors, expand or adjust performance, and introduce new or reformed practices and perspectives on pastoral care. This process is continuous in that learning new or better ways of fulfilling their professional roles is an everyday occurrence. Self-directed and peer-directed learning is often used by Chaplains to manage their clinical practice performance; therefore, these types of learning experiences are also considered to be part of the system of ongoing professional development that is the object of chaplaincy continuing education.
Chaplaincy Continuing Education Seminars sponsored by HCMA seek to meet at least the following objectives through its professional chaplaincy continuing education opportunities:
- To stimulate further development and improvement of professional understanding and pastoral/spiritual care competency of its healthcare Chaplains.
- To help its Chaplains identify personal and professional needs and receive consultation, support and counsel from peers so that they can grow in these areas.
- To increase resources for the on-going personal and professional learning and growth of its Chaplains.
Chaplaincy Continuing Education opportunities sponsored by HCMA will meet the following requirements for participants to be eligible for CCEU credit:
- Curriculum vitae on file for the seminar speaker.
- Title, outline and brief synopsis of the class submitted prior to units being authorized.
- Educational objectives, which define the expected outcomes for the participants after the learning exercise is completed, submitted prior to units being authorized.
- Evaluation form received from the person requesting the CCEU credit before units will be granted.
