Chaplains decide for themselves the limitations of their services. Their primary focus is the spiritual health of the one they are visiting. They also take notes about the client's mental health, physical health and the health of their environment. The person sending the chaplain can add up to five items for the chaplain to inspect and include in their report. Still, the chaplain holds the right to limit or reject service requests if they deem the request to be outside their level of comfort. 

I have served as a pastor in addiction recovery settings. The staff were always glad to see me and seemed thankful I was visiting their clients. As a chaplain you will have an opportunity to share your services with all their clients and get paid for doing it. The introduction of your services and the value of your visits will be best sold to the facility without a hard sell. I would suggest finding a partner, a coach to guide you through the onboarding process of new clients.

Every employment opportunity, every business, every health care center, government agency, has a group of people determining what their standards will be for hiring chaplains. Those requirements are not the same from place to place. The government has very high academic, pastoral experience and denominational standards. The staff at the facility where you hope to serve make their own determinations. Hospitals have more stringent standards. Hospice requirements are less stringent.

At Visiting Chaplains we sell chaplaincy visitation in the open market. Our business model will open most doors as we have reproduced the military model. This means a candidate chaplains community of faith must endorse through a written letter of the chaplain's faith commitment, a national non-profit offers certification based upon successful completion of the qualifying standards, demonstration of faith based Biblical education, and our accredited web-based education. https://visitingchaplains.com/our-company/  All four of these groups work together and stand behind the Board Certified Chaplain status of our chaplains. It is the same four layered model for processing military chaplains. It's as good as it gets. 

Bottom line: no agency in America sets the standards for the term and use of the office of chaplaincy. Every institution handles this independently. 

Our class answers more in depth in the lesson called The Chaplaincy in American Life: Past, Present and Future. 

No you do not.

Every system has a group determining what their standards will be for chaplains. Military Chaplaincy has very high standards. Hospitals have varying degrees of standards but generally would be considered high. Visiting Chaplains desires that our Chaplains have a passion for people coupled with demonstrated biblical education. Our program will position our candidates to have entry into a wide range of business including corporations, sports teams, resident facilities, churches and even home visitations.

I pulled this answer off our own website here: https://visitingchaplains.com/chaplain-enrollment/

Steps to Entering the Chaplaincy

1. Step One: Enter into dialogue with us using the form below or by enrolling in our $120 Course.
2. Step Two: After finishing the course, you will be given instructions for securing a background check ($38.95 paid to www.criminalwatchdog.com)
3. Step Three: Once your background check is in process, please click to schedule your 30-45 minute phone appointment. ($75 paid to NSC)

Your candidacy is managed by National Service Charity and sent to us once complete.

We have no prerequisites for our introductory course. It is a first step.

You then get a background check, an interview with National Service Charity and then they charge you with the responsibility and title of Chaplain. 

We then take over the responsibility to mentor you and help you secure your first jobs (visits) as a chaplain. 

There are no prerequisites for our first course.