Spiritual Care and Counseling 

At a time with increasing interest in the field of spiritual care, JTS’s program offers both a traditional in-person and a more flexible online pathway to becoming an educated and credentialed spiritual care professional.

In addition to the subject matter traditionally associated with spiritual care, the program provides multidisciplinary training on intergroup discussions and conflict resolution. It is open to students with no experience in the field as well as those with an already rich background in spiritual care. We anticipate that this program will be appealing to both recent college graduates and career changers.

MA in Spiritual Care and Counseling 

The Master’s in Spiritual Care and Counseling at The Jewish Theological Seminary provides students with both theoretical academic knowledge and practical experiential learning in the field of spiritual care and counseling. This multifaith program is open to students from any religious or spiritual background, theistic or nontheistic.   

The focus will be on care given to people during difficult times, including death, trauma, illness, hospitalization, and incarceration, and in such settings as hospitals, congregations, schools, camps, or prisons. This MA will help fulfill the educational requirements for board certification as a Professional Chaplain.

The Master’s in Spiritual Care and Counseling is a full-time or part-time, cohort-based, online, or in-person program. The program consists of 30 credit hours, with 18 credits of academic, theoretical work, and 12 credits of experiential work, including two internships. These supervised internships in spiritual care, called Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), will be accredited by ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care & Education, the premier accrediting agency in the United States which functions with United States Department of Education Recognition.   

Students will also be advised throughout the program and will receive guidance on career decisions.  

Online Program

The academic courses for the online program will be completed in two years. 

• Fall semester I—Two courses (3 credits each) 
• Spring semester I—One course 
• Fall semester II—One course  
• Spring semester II—Two courses  

The two units of CPE will be completed part-time over two semesters each. 

In-Person Program

The academic courses for the in-person program will be completed in one intensive year.

• Fall semester—Three courses 
• Spring Semester—Three courses.  

One unit of CPE will be completed part-time in the first two semesters, and the second unit will be completed full-time in the summer semester.    

The program will conclude with a culminating project, The Capstone, which can be an academic research paper, development of a professional tool, an artistic expression, or a relevant alternative that is pre-approved by the Program Director. The Capstone should represent the culmination of work in the program and integrate the theoretical and experiential elements of learning that have taken place throughout the course of study.   

Courses

• Foundations of Spiritual Care and Counseling 
• Caring for “Others” in Spiritual Care 
• Dying, Death, Grief, and Bereavement 
• Music, Art, and Texts of Comfort 
• Mental Health and Healing of Spirit 
• The Capstone 

Internship

Students must complete two CPE internships, each one referred to as a “unit” of CPE of 400 hours. The internship must be accredited by ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education or the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care (CASC). 

Costs

MA IN SPIRITUAL CARE AND COUNSELING

• Total coursework tuition: $30,960
• JTS CPE program fee (tuition): $800 per unit 

Application Deadlines

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis after the priority deadline.