Mental Health Specialty Requirements
o Must be a Board Certified Chaplain with ACCC either through the standard application process or through recognition of current board certification through a recognized board certifying body by the VA to include SCA, NAVAC, APC/BCCI, NACC
§ In order to receive recognition, the applicant must be able to, in good conscience, sign ACCC’s statement of beliefs
§ Must provide a board-certification certificate demonstrating certification in good standing
o Must provide current denominational endorsement for the work of chaplaincy by a VA-recognized endorsing body
o Must stay current on dues as a member of ACCC, currently established at $100 per year
o Must pay a one-time application fee of $1,700
o Annual maintenance cost – $100
o Must obtain 2,000 hours of mental health counseling under the supervision of a psychiatrist, licensed clinical social worker, licensed professional counselor, or board-certified pastoral counselor
o Log provided in spreadsheet form identifying:
§ Last name of the counselee (If name is a non-common name that could be a risk to HIPAA privacy, a moniker may be used)
§ Amount of time of care provided in .25 increments, i.e. .25 hours, .5 hours, .75 hours, 1 hour
§ Nature of the counseling, i.e. Crisis Counseling, Grief, Suicidal Ideation, Trauma, Marriage, Family, etc.
o Letter from supervisor(under whom your 2,000 hours were supervised) indicating their endorsement of your care utilizing common standards
o Additional Letter of recommendation from 2 members of your Interdisciplinary team endorsing your care utilizing common standards. These two letters should be from mental health professionals
o 5-page essay (utilizing APA format with in-text citations – click here for sample) outlining how mental health training has both enhanced your spiritual care and how therapies can serve as “fixes” if not placed in proper context during spiritual care visits
o Minimum of 30 credit hours of secondary education indicated by college transcript in the area of mental health, social work, counseling, psychology
o Minimum of 50 CEUs (Continuing Education Units) in the area of mental health in theory or in practice, obtained within the last 3 years prior to the application date.
o Must interview with the ACCC interview team in which the applicant will provide a presentation outlining how to conduct a relevant spiritual assessment within a mental health context for dissemination to their interdisciplinary team, detail of three of the top therapies used in their care of patients within their context, and participate in a role-play designed to test the applicant’s use of core concepts
Cost – $1,700 (must be logged in for shopping cart to enable)
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