Courses and Schedules for Bukal Life Care

The following describes a snapshot of our courses and schedules for 2026. With changes to the calendar being made by the Philippine Department of Education, even our very flexible schedule as shown may still change in the coming months.

Bukal Life Care and Counseling Center

Courses

Foundations of Christian Counseling: 1-2 days in duration.

The course is done by request for a group. It covers basics such as counseling ethics, empathy, active listening, proper (and improper) use of Scripture in counseilng, boardaries and referral, and so forth. Actual topics may vary depending on the specific needs of the group, and the time available.

Clinical Pastoral Orientation 100 hours (CPO-100). 3-4 weeks intentive

(or may be done as a semestral course).

The course utilizes the learning modules or regular Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE): practical ministry, case presentation, didactics, individual supervision, and group work relations. It has been set up to equate to a 3 credit hour course in a seminary (3 hours per week for 15 weeks). Alternatively, it can be done in an intensive format in 3-4 weeks. It provides a “taste” of CPE for those considering to take CPE or for those who are unable to take it.

Clinical Pastoral Orientation 200 hours (CPO-200). 5-6 weeks Intensive

This course expands on CPO-100 and equates to a ½ unit of CPE. In fact, some programs call this “Half Unit CPE.”

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). 10-12 weeks Intensive or 16-20 weeks Extended

This course follows the standards of CPSP-Philippines and its parent organization CPSP (College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy). One full unit is 400 hours, consisting of 90 hours of group time consisting of Didactics, Case Presentation, and Group Work Relations, 10 hours of Individual Supervision, and 300 hours of practical ministry and personal reflection.

For certification as a Board Certified Clinical Chaplain or Board Certified Pastoral Counselor, one has to take at least 4 full units (1600 total hours). Units 1 and 2 are often described as “basic units” and Units 3 and 4 are often described as “advanced units.” While each trainee has their own learning goals and works with the supervisor to tailor training to those goals, generally, the following is where the focus is meant to be:

Unit 1: Basics of Clinical Pastoral Care

Unit 2: Pastoral/Ministerial Identity and Assessment

Unit 3: Pastoral Theology and Theological Reflection

Unit 4: Introduction to Pastoral Supervision

Supervisor-In-Training (SIT) Program

This is available to those who have passed their certification for Board Certified Clinical Chaplain. Acertified Diplomate in Pastoral Supervision will oversee training. The SIT will oversee a CPE group (one group at a time). Normally, SITs will be limited to overseeing trainees for CPE Units 1-3. Normally, Unit 4 CPE will be overseen directly by a diplomate. To complete fully the SIT program to be eligible for the certification board for Diplomate in Pasotral Supervision, the SIT must oversee a minimum of five (5) units of CPE, while being supervised by a Diplomate.

Schedule (for 2026)

Foundations of Christian Counseling and CPO-100 are done on request by groups and so it is not on the schedule. The SIT program is done concurrently with CPE and CPO-200.

Jan-Apr CPE (Units 1, 2, 3, and 4)** May have Intensive and/or Extended groups

Apr-Jun CPE (Units 1, 2, 3, and 4)** Summer Intensive

Jun-Jul CPO-200**

Aug-Dec CPE (Units 1, 2, 3, and 4)** May have Intensive and/or Extended groups

** Actual schedule depends somewhat on partnering schools and availability of trainees.

Tuition Costs

CPE 22,000 Philippine Pesos per unit

CPO-200 13,000 Philipine Pesos

CPO-100 7,000 Philippine Pesos (or may vary if done as a semestral course)

Foundations Cost is negotiated based on location, duration, and size of group.

SIT SITs receive a stipend from supervising CPE groups and so there is no direction tuition per se.

For More information, contact us at bukallife@gmail.com

www.bukallifecare.org

2025

April and Beyond at Bukal Life Care

  1. We have a number of big things coming up at Bukal. Primary among these is Clinical Pastoral Education:

-CPE Summer Intensive (May 26 – August 15). Full Unit

-CPE Summer Intensive (June 11 – July 18). Half Unit (CPO)

We still have some openings available for our Full Unit batch. Our Half Unit is possibly full. However, if there is enough interest, we can perhaps start another group in the batch.

Please contact us soon at bukallife@gmail.com if you have questions. (Or address questions in our Contact Us Page.

2. There are a few projects coming up as well. Here are a few:

-April 23-25. Training Project with The Salvation Army (Laguna)

-June 7-8. CPSP-Philippine Plenary Gathering in Santa Maria.

-August 13-16. OSB 6th Triennial Missions Congress

3. We have a number of copies of “The Art of Pastoral Care” by Robert and Celia Munson at our office in Baguio City. They are P350 each. Email us if you want a copy. (Additional cost if it needs to be shipped.) Note that for those in other countries or those who want an electronic copy can do so by ordering it online (Amazon and other vendors.

CPE Cost Change 2025

Starting in January 2025 the cost for Clinical Pastoral Education will increase.

Cost for Full Unit (Intensive and Extended): P22,000

Cost for Half Unit (Intensive and Extended): P13,000

For Full unit, this constitutes a 10% increase. For both Full and Half unit, 80% of the cost is for Supervision (both SIT and Diplomate supervision), and 20% is for Admin costs and Accreditation.

Originally the reason for the increase was to put us more in line with other CPE programs in the Philippines, especially with our accreditation organization, CPSP-Philippines. However, there have been some unexpected increases to our admin costs in 2024 making the increase necessary.

Congratulations to Newly Certified Chaplains!!

From Left to Right: Chaplain Jezza Pingo, Dr. Paul Tabon, Dr. Vic Navarro (on screen), Chaplain Vo Canoy, Chaplain Celia Munson, and Dr. Jun Vestidas

July 31, 2024, Bukal Life Care hosted a CPSP-Philippines certification board. We would like to congratulate Dr. Jun Vestidas and Ms. Jezza Pingo for passing their respective boards. The board is for a dual certification:

-Board Certified Pastoral Counselor (BCPC)

-Board Certified Clinical Chaplain (BCCC)

The members of the certifying board were Diplomates Paul Tabon, Celia Munson, and Vic Navarro (who joined online). Also participating was Diplomate Vo Canoy, who served as their endorser.

Both Chaplain Jun and Chaplain Jezza have been invited to join our Supervisor-in-Training (SIT) program and will soon be supervising CPE groups at Bukal. Upon completion of the SIT program, the two of them may seek a certification board for Diplomate In Pastoral Supervision.

The certification is with CPSP-Philippines and is recognized by our partner and parent CPSP in the United States.

We are excited for them as well as Bukal Life Care.

July 2024 and Beyond– Upcoming Events

Our two Summer Intensive CPE groups will be finishing soon— one near the end of this month and the other early in August.

Here are a lot of things happening. Here are a few…

July 31. Certification Board for two of our trainees.

August 3. Training seminar in family systems . Central Philippines Nazarene College, Cebu City.

August 15. Counseling Project with The Salvation Army, NCR.

August 16. Start of Fall Extended CPE.

September 5 -6. Basic Pastoral Counseling Seminar. Quirino Province.

September 10.  Start of Fall Intensive CPE.

November. Possible time of CPSP Plenary.

January 2025. Start of CPE groups in Baguio and Palawan.

We are happy to see the growth of ministry of our ministry partner– Australian-Filipino Community Services. Looking forward to expanded work with them… especially in training.

Two Summer CPE Groups Starting in May 2024

We have two groups starting up in May.

#1. Our Full Unit Summer Intensive will be from May 21 until August 9 (approximately 12 weeks).

#2. Our Half Unit Summer Intensive will be from May 27 until July 12 (approximately 7 weeks).

Both groups are face-to-face units being held in Baguio City, Philippines with a mixture of hospital and community training. The training is certified by CPSP-Philippines.

For additional information please see our BROCHURE.

For a CPE application, please download it, fill it out, and return to bukallife@gmail.com. CLICK HERE for the application.

For other information or questions, please email us at bukallife@gmail.com.

Why It is Clinical Pastoral TRAINING not Clinical Pastoral Education

Recently, the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP) decided to stop calling its training program Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and start calling it Clinical Pastoral Training (CPT). Why is that?

Well, there are at least three reasons— perhaps more.

#1. Clinical Pastoral Training was the original term of the process developed by Anton Boisen for theological students. Years letter, it became known as Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). However, CPSP seeks to embrace the Boisenian roots of the movement. As such, a return to the original nomenclature was deemed important.

#2. The process of the program is better understood in terms of Training than Education. While the terms overlap somewhat in meaning, “education” is more theoretical and knowledge-based in its orientation. Training is more oriented towards learning practical skills particularly related to a specific vocation. It tends to be more hands-on and than education, and less dependent on the classroom.

#3. The program (CPT) as it presently exists presumes a theological and ministerial education (particularly in terms of a Master of Divinity degree or similar). This educational foundation is what the training is built off of.

A couple of more bits of information on this issue are in the following:

FAQ from CPSP

A General Discussion of Differences between Training and Education

Does this mean that we at Bukal Life Care will throw away the term “Clinical Pastoral Education” (CPE) and replace it with “Clinical Pastoral Training” (CPT)? The short answer is “Not at this time.”

That being said, we intend to focus on the program as a TRAINING PROGRAM led by SUPERVISORS in a TRAINING ORGANIZATION, and NOT an EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM led by TEACHERS in an EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.

Our focus is to hone skills of ministerial professionals in the dual crafts of clinical chaplaincy and pastoral counseling. This process is primarily practical adult training that is built on the foundation of a theological education.

At the same time, we don’t seek to confuse people. Worldwide, the program we maintain is most commonly known as CPE. We don’t seek to make people think that the CPT program we have is different in substance. While there may be subtle differences, we are part of the same clinical pastoral movement that started in 2025 in the United States and 1965 in the Philippines.

Clinical Chaplaincy in Cebu City

Dr. Lyn Montecastro is ministering in Cebu City and has been establishing her work there over the last few months. Here are recent pictures from there.

CPE Batch, September 2023. Cebu City
Chaplains at Second Chance Center, Cebu City
At Second Chance Center, Cebu City. Ministering to CICL ages 15-18.

Commissioning in Palawan

Dr. Lyn Montecastro’s CPE batch completed their unit, and held commissioning at Faith Baptist Church in Quezon, Palawan.

Dr. Bob Munson joined the celebration, as did Chaplain Celia Munson who acted as the inspirational speaker. Earlier we all went to Villa Esperanza Hardin for rest and refreshment.

Those that completed their units include:

–Urduja Saspa, 1 unit completed

–Gloria Magarce, 1 unit completed

–Judith Vargas, 1 unit completed

–Dee Diamante, 2 units completed

–Ptr. Crisanto Colorado Jr., 3 units completed

Chaplaincy at SLU Sacred Heart Medical Center

We are blessed to have a door open to serve at Saint Louis University Sacred Heart Medical Center. In a few days our chaplains will start serving there, working with Fr Embry, the head chaplain of the hospital. The formal MOU is being worked on with signing coming soon.

We believe this is a great new opportunity for our chaplains, our chaplain trainees, and for the patients and staff of SLU Hospital.

Chaplains, Maricel, Vo, Celia, and Crista…. with Bob (administrator at Bukal)… and Dr. Quitaquit, hospital administrator, and Fr Embry, hospital chaplain.
SLU Hospital Foundation Day. It was great for the team to be invited.
Themed Floors at the Hospital during the Foundation Day Open House
SLU Hospital Chapel