The Center for Integral Spiritual Formation
Clinical Pastoral Education is not simply classroom learning about spirituality, counseling, or ministry. At its core, CPE is a process of formation through real human encounters.
Students learn by engaging directly in spiritual care relationships, reflecting on those encounters in supervision and group process, and becoming more aware of how their own story, emotions, assumptions, theology, and patterns shape the way they show up for others.
At CISF, we approach CPE as both clinical training and human development.
A Formation-Centered Model
Many educational environments focus primarily on information transfer or performance metrics. CISF’s approach emphasizes formation.
Students are challenged not only to develop skills, but to deepen their capacity for:
•Presence
•Self-awareness
•Emotional honesty
•Reflective practice
•Relational maturity
•Spiritual and theological integration
This work happens through:
•Clinical encounters
•Interpersonal process groups
•Individual supervision
•Verbatim reflection
•Peer feedback
•Theological reflection
•Embodied awareness
Learning emerges not only from curriculum, but from the actual lived experiences and developmental edges present within the cohort itself.
Interspiritual and Clinically Grounded
CISF welcomes students from diverse spiritual, religious, and philosophical backgrounds.
Our educational culture is:
Human-first
Interfaith and interspiritual
Clinically grounded
Psychologically informed
Relationally honest
Students are encouraged to deepen their own spiritual and theological identity while learning how to provide care within pluralistic clinical environments.
Online Hybrid Learning Without Relocation
Many students pursuing CPE are balancing:
Ministry roles
Chaplaincy positions
Counseling work
Military service
Family responsibilities
Full-time employment
Our online hybrid extended units are designed to allow students to remain rooted in their current contexts while participating in accredited ACPE formation and supervision.
Rather than requiring relocation into residency structures, CISF’s model is designed for students integrating formation into the realities of everyday life and ministry.
Making ACPE Accredited CPE More Accessible
Many students ask why ACPE-accredited online hybrid CPE programs often cost more than other forms of Clinical Pastoral Education.
Traditional hospital-based ACPE programs are frequently subsidized through healthcare systems and residency structures. In many cases, students or residents serve within the hospital system itself while completing training.
Online hybrid ACPE programs operate differently. They are designed for working ministers, chaplains, caregivers, and career transitioners who need flexibility without relocating or leaving existing ministry and professional responsibilities.
ACPE also maintains rigorous standards for educator training, supervision, and curriculum development. ACPE Certified Educators are trained not only in supervision, but in designing cohort-specific formation processes that respond to the actual developmental needs of students rather than relying on standardized curriculum models.
At CISF, high-quality supervision and formation require time, attentiveness, and meaningful educator investment. Our model is designed so educators can focus deeply on teaching, supervision, curriculum development, and individual student formation.
At the same time, CISF is committed to making ACPE training more financially accessible than many online hybrid ACPE programs. Because CISF operates within the broader Spiritual Care Collaborative ecosystem, we are able to maintain lighter infrastructure, share resources across programs, and focus our investment primarily on educator quality and student formation rather than institutional overhead.
While non-ACPE programs may sometimes offer lower tuition, many hospitals, healthcare systems, residency programs, and board certification pathways continue to view ACPE as the long-established gold standard in clinical spiritual care education.
Our goal is to offer a more accessible pathway so students can pursue accredited ACPE formation without compromising educational depth, supervision quality, or professional credibility.
Flexible payment plans are available for students who need them.
Schedule a Zoom Conversation
Talk with us about your goals, current context, and whether CISF may be a good fit.
Apply for Fall 2026
Applications are open for both extended cohorts
