The Spiritual Care Specialist (SCS) program is a new 48-hour curriculum developed by the ACPE’s Psychotherapy Commission that provides knowledge and skills to help community clergy and other helpers in churches and faith communities to deliver effective, ethical, and safe care to others. While the SIP is designed for secular helpers that want to learn how to integrate theology into their service delivery, the SCS is generally designed for faith-based helpers that want to learn how to integrate behavioral health interventions into their care giving. With the addition of the SCS, the ACPE has established a kind of continuum of care.

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The SCS curriculum offered by the College of Clinical Care involves the standard ACPE modules combined with an additional 12-hour supervision component. The current curriculum contains:

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• Theories and Practice of Spirituality

• Understanding Human Development and Intimacy

• Spiritual Development and Assessment

• Adnormal Adaptations and Disorders

• Trauma and Crisis Interventions

• Addiction, Habituation, and Recovery

• Care Planning and Documentation

• Ethics, Advocacy, and Professional Responsibilities

• Supervision