CPEI Affiliates
Affiliation with CPEI is a collaborative relationship built on shared purpose, clear roles, ethical practice, and mutual accountability in support of clinical pastoral education.
Clear Partnership
CPEI affiliation creates a formal relationship between CPEI and an organization that supports clinical pastoral education, supervised practice, spiritual care formation, or related learning opportunities.
The relationship works best when each partner understands its role. CPEI provides the educational framework, institutional oversight, academic standards, student records infrastructure, and program support. Affiliates provide local context, site-based support, learning opportunities, and organizational cooperation.
Affiliation is not a transfer of CPEI’s institutional responsibilities. It is a structured partnership in which CPEI retains academic oversight while the affiliate supports the learning environment.
Affiliation gives organizations a way to participate in CPEI’s educational mission while working within clear boundaries and expectations.
Shared Purpose
Affiliates help make clinical pastoral education possible in real ministry, clinical, community, and organizational settings.
Clear Structure
CPEI and the affiliate each have distinct responsibilities. The relationship should be documented, understood, and reviewed as needed.
Accountability
Affiliates work within CPEI’s educational expectations, policies, student support structure, and applicable institutional standards.
Trust
Successful affiliation depends on timely communication, accurate information, respectful collaboration, and shared commitment to student learning.
The sections below describe the general boundaries between CPEI and the affiliate. Exact responsibilities may vary depending on the type of affiliate relationship.
CPEI Role
Affiliate Role
Boundaries & Authority
Clear boundaries protect students, affiliates, educators, and CPEI. Affiliation should make responsibilities easier to understand, not harder.
Affiliation does not make the affiliate responsible for CPEI’s academic governance, and it does not make CPEI responsible for the affiliate’s internal operations, employment decisions, or site management. The partnership works through cooperation, documentation, communication, and mutual respect.
CPEI owes affiliates clarity, responsiveness, and a reliable educational framework.
CPEI should provide clear information about affiliation expectations, student learning requirements, documentation needs, and relevant policies.
Affiliates can expect respectful communication and reasonable follow-through from CPEI staff, educators, and representatives.
CPEI remains responsible for the academic structure, educational standards, program expectations, and student learning framework.
CPEI provides student-facing resources, administrative processes, and support pathways connected to education, records, technology, and policies.
CPEI should seek to understand the affiliate’s setting, mission, constraints, community, and local requirements.
CPEI should address concerns in a timely and appropriate way, especially when student learning, safety, documentation, or ethical practice is involved.
Affiliates help protect the quality and integrity of the learning environment.
Affiliates should support CPEI’s mission, educational purpose, and commitment to ethical spiritual care formation.
Affiliates should provide or support access to meaningful learning contexts appropriate to the student’s program and level of preparation.
Affiliates should communicate promptly about concerns, student access, site changes, documentation needs, or issues affecting the learning environment.
Affiliates should cooperate with applicable CPEI policies, documentation requirements, student support processes, and affiliation expectations.
Affiliates should work respectfully with students, educators, staff, and other partners connected to the CPEI learning process.
Affiliates remain responsible for their own operational policies, site requirements, internal procedures, and local points of contact.
Affiliation Process
The organization connects with CPEI to discuss interest, purpose, setting, and possible fit.
CPEI and the organization review the learning context, affiliate expectations, documentation needs, and practical considerations.
If affiliation is appropriate, the relationship is documented and key contacts, responsibilities, and next steps are identified.
The affiliate and CPEI begin working together to support students, educators, or program-related activities.
The relationship is maintained through communication, problem-solving, documentation, and periodic review as needed.
Building Trust
Affiliation works best when both CPEI and the affiliate are honest about capacity, timelines, responsibilities, and limitations. A strong affiliate relationship does not require perfection. It requires clarity, good communication, respect for boundaries, and a shared commitment to student learning and spiritual care.
Questions, expectations, limitations, and concerns should be named early.
Timely communication helps prevent small issues from becoming larger problems.
Each partner should follow through on the responsibilities it has accepted.
CPEI welcomes conversations with organizations that want to support spiritual care education, supervised practice, and student formation.