Accreditation

The College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, Inc. (CPSP) offers its programs in clinical pastoral training (CPT), pastoral psychotherapy, pastoral supervision, and psychotherapy supervision as a unique form of ministry and education. Respect for the trainee’s person and his/her personal growth, professional development, and unique integration of the personal and professional functioning is central to the CPSP mission.

The Standards provide guidance to chapters and other CPSP structures as they do their work of accrediting programs, certifying and recertifying persons, and upholding ethical standards. They ensure consistency in practice and application to ensure the quality and effectiveness of CPSP- accredited training programs and proficiency of certified members.

The Standards should be read and applied in the light of the CPSP Covenant and By- laws, which they seek to implement; where The Standards fail to address specific individual circumstances, the spirit of The Covenant, informed by conversations with consultants, will govern.

The Standards Committee is the proponent for ongoing, systematic review of The Standards, in collaboration with the Standing Committees (By-laws, 7.04(f)); the Accreditation Oversight Committee is the proponent for this manual (hereinafter, Accreditation).

The Accreditation Manual (November 17, 2019) constitutes a Standard of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy.


Accountability and Quality

Accreditation is an essential function of the covenant community, the means by which we ensure the accountability and quality of training programs, and communicate their effectiveness to the public.

Full accreditation validates the existence of the organizational, training, materiel, and environmental resources required to accomplish the objectives of the training program, and the effectiveness of training.

Pre-accreditation reflects the judgment that the resourcing of a training program justifies a reasonable expectation of a program’s effectiveness in supporting the personal and professional development described in the Standards. (Standards, §100)