2026-2027 Extended CPE Programs
The Center for Integral Spiritual Formation (CISF)
The Center for Integral Spiritual Formation (CISF) offers extended-format ACPE Clinical Pastoral Education designed for students seeking rigorous clinical and spiritual formation within a flexible online learning environment.
Our extended units are built for real life. Many students are balancing ministry, chaplaincy, counseling work, family responsibilities, military service, or full-time employment while pursuing professional spiritual care formation. CISF’s cohort model allows students to remain rooted in their current contexts while engaging in deep reflective learning, supervised ministry, and relational group process.
Rather than approaching CPE as information transfer alone, CISF emphasizes formation through lived experience. Students learn through clinical encounters, group reflection, interpersonal feedback, theological integration, and embodied self-awareness.
Both the 16 and 22 Week Extended tracks include:
• 100 educational hours
• 300 clinical hours
• Weekly online synchronous seminars and interpersonal process groups
• Individual supervision
• Verbatim and case presentations
• ACPE educational methodology
• Formation-centered learning in an interspiritual and clinically grounded environment
Extended Program Formats
Students in the 16-week extended format may complete up to three units per year when paired with a summer intensive unit, creating a more accelerated pathway toward chaplaincy certification and advanced professional goals.
Students in the 22-week extended format typically complete up to two units of CPE per year, allowing for a more sustainable pace alongside full-time work and family responsibilities.
For students ministering in hospitals, hospices, elder care homes, or community health organizations.
You’ll be supported in:
• Navigating trauma-informed care
• Engaging interfaith spiritual assessments
• Supporting patients, families, and medical staff in crisis
• Building emotional resilience and spiritual presence
This track is ideal for:
• Hospital or hospice chaplains
• Healthcare workers offering soul care
• Those seeking board certification through ACPE
16-Week Extended Unit
FALL: Aug 31, 2026 - Dec 20, 2026
SPRING: jan 04 2027 - Apr 18,2027
The 16-week extended format is designed for students already serving in ministry, chaplaincy, counseling, or helping professions who are able to sustain a more accelerated clinical pace.
This pathway works well for:
• Active ministers and chaplains
• Students already employed in spiritual care settings
• Those seeking a balanced but immersive formation experience
• Students hoping to complete four units in approximately 15–16 months
Students complete approximately 18.75 clinical hours per week while participating in weekly online educational seminars and supervisory process.
22-Week Extended Unit
FALL/WINTER: Aug 31, 2026 - Feb 28, 2027
Spring/Summer: mar 01, 2027 - aug 29, 2027
The 22-week format is designed for students balancing full-time work outside of ministry or chaplaincy while gradually integrating clinical spiritual care practice into their lives.
This pathway works well for:
• Career transitioners
• Students balancing demanding work schedules
• Those entering spiritual care later in life
• Students needing a more sustainable weekly rhythm
Students complete approximately 12.5 clinical hours per week, allowing more space for reflection, integration, and gradual development over time.
The CISF Learning Environment
CISF’s educational culture emphasizes:
• Human-first formation
• Integration of spirituality, psychology, and embodiment
• Interfaith and interspiritual dialogue
• Relational honesty and group process
• Clinical competence rooted in self-awareness
• Reflective practice rather than performance
Our cohorts are intentionally relational. Learning emerges not only from curriculum, but from the actual lived experiences, tensions, questions, and growth edges present within the group itself.
Students are challenged to deepen both their pastoral identity and their capacity for authentic presence with others in moments of suffering, transition, meaning-making, and care.
Admissions
Applications for Fall and Spring are now open.
CISF welcomes applicants from diverse spiritual, religious, and philosophical backgrounds who are seeking clinically grounded spiritual formation and professional chaplaincy education within an ACPE-accredited setting.
