From the Executive Director's Desk

October 16, 2020 Written by Trace Haythorn

Trace Haythorn We talked a lot about the incredible agility of our ACPE Certified Educators and students, their willingness to adapt decades of practice to the incredible constraints and safety measures of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have seen programs actually grow because of the addition of new online/hybrid options. We’ve seen new placement opportunities open up as restrictions have limited onsite experiential education in the virus’ hot spots. We’ve seen remarkable perseverance and resilience, all of which is to be commended.

And we have also seen our newest members, the psychotherapists and spiritual care professionals who also built practices around presence, sitting with those who are vulnerable or in spiritual crisis. In recent weeks, we have heard stories of mental health crises that this pandemic makes even more acute. A 27-year old many who struggled for years with depression took his own life. A 51-year old man with a decades old addiction history relapsed. Under the pressure of schooling their children at home while also trying to work from home, both partners lost their jobs and then turned on one another, ending their marriage in the midst of all of this. A middle-aged member of the clergy, berated by her congregation for not going against the recommendations of scientists and instead “trusting in the Lord” was forced to leave her church, unsure of what her next move will be. Each of these people are exactly the kinds of wounded souls our members support, counsel and guide towards new places of wholeness. Make no mistake: the need for the work that ACPE supports is critically important.

Thanks to the work of our Development Specialist, Jasmine Okafor, ACPE received a grant from CCT, an Atlanta-based initiative that provides strategic and business planning for non-profits at no cost. Because we are still in talks with APC about closer collaboration and a possible merger, a complete plan didn’t make sense right now. But we have defined a scope of work with the volunteers from CCT to develop a new part of our strategic plan to better support the work of our psychotherapists and spiritual care practitioners. Our previous plan was developed before the AAPC consolidation, so it seems important to add this dimension to our plan as we look to the future.

In addition, the team from CCT has agreed to help our communications team develop a comprehensive communications and marketing plan, including metrics for assessing our effectiveness. This seems especially timely in light of the challenges many of our colleagues are facing during this pandemic, the deepened intentionality we are bringing to our work around racial equity and justice, and the growth of chaplaincy and spiritual care education programs in graduate theological, spiritual and religious education. How do we help students understand the differences in models of CPE and why they would want to choose ACPE programs? How do those seeking a spiritually integrated therapist know the difference between our members and those who may have only a bible college certificate? How do we help CEC’s find programs, and how do we help new programs join our movement?

The Board of Directors will have a chance to wrestle with all of these items at our November meeting. In the meantime, the Board Chair Melissa Walker-Luckett and Chair-Elect Shawn Mai will work with key staff to develop drafts with the CCT team to bring to the Board. Once we have greater clarity about next steps with APC, we will first return to the table with our other strategic partners and then take a look at revising the remainder of our strategic plan for the times that lie ahead. In addition, we will bring two budgets to the Board in November, one that anticipates a return to travel by September of 2021, and a second that does not include travel for 2021. The Finance Committee will closely monitor revenue and expenses and determine (hopefully by June 2021) which budget will support our work for the remainder of the year.

We know this year has been incredibly difficult for so many of us. We know the technology changes are one more frustration amidst so many others, and we wish the timing had been different. That said, we also know that we will realize significant savings in 2021 because of these changes, and we trust members will grow to have a much better experience with these tools. The staff has already recognized significant improvements, and we look forward to your experiences of the same.

In the meantime, we continue to hold one another gently, wisely, graciously, and hopefully. May wisdom prevail in this polarized season, and may you, our gifted members, help lead the vulnerable with compassion towards better times.

Trace Haythorn is the Executive Director of ACPE and can be reached at Trace.Haythorn@acpe.edu