CHAPLAINCY TYPES
for which you may train
and become Certified
American Chaplain Training Institute
  • GENERAL CHAPLAIN:  Whether you are studying to become a Hospice chaplain,
    hospital chaplain, or other institutional
    chaplain, your training includes learning how
    to conduct spiritual assessments for clients,
    how to console and relate accurate
    information to loved ones, maintain active
    liaison channels with family clergy and
    community services, and to work as a team
    member with medical, nursing, psychological,
    family services, and social work teams.  Our
    students receive a world-class program of
    studies in the above-listed areas of service
    with a particular emphasis on the spiritual counseling and social work aspects of
    client care.

  • HOSPICE CHAPLAINS:   Inasmuch as Hospice provides care for patients
    approaching the end of earthly life, it is therefore imperative that Hospice Chaplain
    Training feature very specific studies to assist Hospice patients, their families,and
    their loved ones as they progress through the dying and separation processes.
    Hospice Chaplains must function as members of agency Interdisciplinary Teams.   
    and attend meetings to discuss status and treatment options as well as to review
    progress in working with patient families and outside community services.  Hospice
    Chaplains may conduct religious services in facility chapels and, if invited to do so,
    to provide services such as prayer and the offering of Holy Communion in patient
    rooms.  They may also assist in funeral and memorial planning.

  • HOSPITAL - HEALTHCARE CHAPLAINS:   While Hospital Chaplains perform many
    of the same services as Hospice Chaplains, a major difference is that hospital
    patients tend to stay only during the acute phase needing intervention and
    treatment quickly and typically briefly.  On the other
    hand, Hospice patients may well have passed the
    immediate danger stemming from acute illness and
    have moved into a chronic phase where treatment is
    of a longer-term nature.  Hospital Chaplains are
    commonly called to serve patients and loved ones in
    emergency room situations as well as to offer prayer
    and support prior to (and often after) surgical or other
    treatment procedures.  As is the case with their
    Hospice Chaplain sisters and brothers, Hospital
    Chaplains (and Long-term care facilities) are
    frequently called upon to conduct religious services
    in the institution's chapel, to serve Holy Communion and, often, to be available for
    patients who wish to confess their shortcomings, to receive Chaplain assistance in
    seeking God's forgiveness and reconciliation, and to administer anointment and
    Last Rites. (Within the Liturgical churches, "Last Rites" is today more commonly
    referred to as "Holy Unction" or "Extreme Unction".  Rather than focusing on the
    person's passing into death, the tendency is to offer a powerful ceremony asking
    for sacred intervention and healing.)

  • PRISON-JAIL CHAPLAINS: In addition to spiritual matters, Prison Chaplains are
    very frequently asked to discuss matters such as "sin" and past wrongs,
    reconciliation, making such amends as possible behind bars, dealing with guilt, and
    the long-distance handling of domestic problems with families and loved ones.  An
    incarcerated person may also wish to turn to the chaplain with concerns about drug
    and alcohol addiction.  And, not infrequently, prisoners may come to the chaplain
    to discuss religion's meaning and power, possibly for the first time in their lives.  
    Prison Chaplains have a major challenge in that they must carefully navigate the
    demanding institutional regulations with the prisoners' needs.  And, it is also
    common that the Prison Chaplain is called upon for solace, practical advice, and
    spiritual assistance by the inmates' loved ones.  We provide Prison Chaplain
    training and certification that is tailored to this highly-focused form of chaplaincy.

  • CHURCH and FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATION CHAPLAINS: Increasingly, church
    pastors find themselves overwhelmed by institutional management, meetings, and
    parish development.  This often leaves little time for making "pastoral calls" on the
    sick, shut-ins, hospital patients, and so forth.  Consequently, our seminary's
    AMERICAN CHAPLAIN TRAINING INSTITUTE offers a unique curriculum focusing
    on the training of a dedicated group of lay people to assist the pastor in providing
    these much-needed services.
                             
  • CRISIS / DISASTER RESPONSE CHAPLAINS:  As we have seen in the years since
    Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi, the local community clergy may well
    be overwhelmed at
    times of widely-
    disruptive
    hurricanes, floods,
    , tornadoes and,  
    drought, forest
    fires, and economic
    downturns.  
    Increasingly, we
    have also had
    potent emotional
    needs emerge as
    the result of
    terrorist activity (such as the Fort Hood attack, the shootings at Virginia Tech and...
    the personal and family trauma faced when military men and women return from
    combat zones.  We train Chaplains to respond to these unique social and spiritual
    crises.

  • COMMUNITY AGENCY and DEPARTMENT CHAPLAINS:  In the past police and
    fire departments often designated a local minister or priest to serve as a chaplain.  
    Frequently, this was a largely honorary position as the chaplain was invited to give
    the invocation at awards banquets, ribbon-cutting for new facilities and, when
    needed, perhaps to conduct funeral services for fallen public servants.  Today,
    however, these same agencies are seeking chaplains who are trained to respond
    to serious accidents and community-disaster events, even to counsel officers' and
    firefighters' family members.  Again, our seminary's AMERICAN CHAPLAIN
    TRAINING INSTITUTE provides a powerful curriculum designed to train chaplains to
    respond to these evolving needs.

  • UNIVERSITY and COLLEGE CHAPLAINS:  We offer a unique training program for
    higher education chaplains,
    college chaplains, university
    chaplains, and general school
    chaplains who bring with them
    strong experience both in
    ministry and in working with
    students.  Because most of our
    applicants for University
    Chaplain training are adult
    learners with significant
    professional background as minister, priests, sisters, rabbis, or imams, we offer a
    powerful world-class chaplain education program with two major thrusts:  
    1) Written lessons studied online
    2) Hands-on field study learning experience

  • INDEPENDENT CHAPLAINS:  An emerging trend is for trained men and women to
    operate as Independent Chaplains, often opening Chaplaincy and Spiritual
    Counseling offices in their communities.  Because our seminaries have a global
    reach in providing Pastoral Counseling, Spiritual Family Counseling, Ethical
    Business Management (including MBA's), Ethical/spiritual nursing degrees
    (including MSNs), and administrative-spiritual Social Worker training (including
    MSW degrees), we are well-equipped to address this growing field of endeavor.
    Areas explored by our curricula include:

         1.  Domestic Violence and Family Dynamics
         2.  Anger Management
         3.  Stress Management
         4.  Career Change and Development
         5.  Crime Victim Counseling
         6.  Social Justice and Ethical Studies.




_______________________________________________________________________

           
General Information
about Who May  
study to become a
Certified
Professional
Chaplain:

Most applicants for our
affordable online chaplain
study will already be working
in the field.  Some will be
full-time, others will be
part-time ministers or
chaplains.

We also frequently receive
applications from men and
women who have had
experience with a Hospice
Chaplain or other type of
chaplain during the injury or
illness of a loved one.  
People who have been
touched by the loving
concern of an excellent
chaplain often wish to return
training themselves.  "I want
to give something back for all
the assistance my family and
I received," is a statement
that we often receive.

Our Chaplain training
program is open and
available to members of all
religious denominations, all
faith communities, and all
cultural backgrounds ...
including those who have no
religious faith or practices.  

While most chaplains are
associated with a religious
body, they work in secular
settings as Hospice
Chaplains, Hospital,
Healthcare, and Long-term
Care facilities, Prison
Chaplains, College and
University Chaplains, Police
and Fire Chaplains, etc.

All are welcome!

APPLY HERE