Common Standards

CASC/ACSS is part of a collaborative network of five spiritual care organizations across Canada and the US.  The membership of the participating groups represents over 10,000 members who currently serve as spiritual care practitioners, psycho-spiritual therapists, and supervisor-educators in specialized settings as varied as healthcare, counseling centres, prisons or the military.  The American organizations use terms such as chaplains, pastoral counselors and clinical pastoral educators.

Foundational Documents

These documents are four foundational documents affirmed by the constituent boards of the Council on Collaboration on November 7, 2004 in Portland, Maine. Collectively, these documents establish a unified voice on what it means to be a professional spiritual care practitioner, psycho-spiritual therapist, or supervisor-educator.  In 2016-2017 Common Qualifications and Competencies for Professional Chaplains were reviewed and affirmed. The four documents are:

For more information on the foundations of professional pastoral care see “Professional Chaplaincy: Its Role and Importance in Healthcare”  (2001)

The complete documents and information about each of the collaborating groups can be found on the following websites:

The APC has a short video that provides an overview of the changes from the 2004 Common Standards for Certification to the 2017 Common Qualifications and Competencies.