Membership
What SCA Offers Members
- Engages and unites multiple interest groups so more people in need receive effective spiritual care
- Opens access to new evidence-based knowledge base: Online Learning Center
- Offers new paths for chaplaincy credentialing, board certification, and clinical pastoral education
- Provides valuable resources to contribute significantly to career development
- Creates a powerful voice for spiritual care
- Join the 3,000+ professionals that have already joined SCA!
SCA Offers the Following Types of Membership:
- Professional Memberships for:
- Health Care Chaplains
- First Responder Chaplains
- Nurses
- Social Workers
- Health Care Professionals
- E.M.S. Chaplains
- Military Chaplains
- Corrections Chaplains
- Corporate Chaplains
- Hospice
- Community Clergy and Religious Leaders
- Organizations and Institutions
Professionals
- SCA currently offers the following 9 specialties under our Professional Membership:
- Health Care Chaplains
- First Responder Chaplains
- Nurses
- Social Workers
- Health Care Professionals
- E.M.S. Chaplains
- Military Chaplains
- Corrections Chaplains
- Corporate Chaplains
- Hospice
- In addition, Health Care Chaplains, First Responder Chaplains, Hospice Chaplains/Professionals, Nurses and Social Workers enjoy additional specialization and benefits through their respective Divisions of SCA, at no additional cost.
- Annual Membership Fee: $95 (non-refundable)
Annual Benefits
- Scholarship totaling 10% of tuition towards an Advanced Degree from the SCA University of Theology and Spirituality
- The Chaplain Connection – Online Resource Center & Community
- Complimentary Subscription to the Spiritual Care Resources App
- Discounted Price for Online Professional Education Courses
- Free Spiritual Care Grand Rounds
- Membership in SCA's Communities of Chaplains for ongoing professional, personal and spiritual development
- Discounted Registration for Annual Caring for the Human Spirit® Conference
- Electronic Subscription to Journal of HealthCare Chaplaincy
- Monthly Spiritual Care Updates
- Membership Directory
- Networking Opportunities
- Online Membership Dashboard
- A powerful voice for spiritual care advocacy
Community Clergy and Religious Leaders
- Community clergy and religious leaders are often unprepared to provide spiritual care to individuals with chronic disease and/or nearing the end of life because this training is largely missing from seminary education.
- There are more than 350,000 spiritual leaders and community clergy in the U.S. The time is now to enlist their full participation in providing spiritual care.
RESEARCH EVIDENCE
From Clergy:
- Although 94 percent of clergy report making visits to people at the end of life, only 60 percent are very comfortable making these visits. (Source: “Questions and Answers about Americans’ Religion,” Gallup 2007)
- Two out of three clergy indicate a desire to receive and provide education to tend to the seriously ill or dying. (Source: Duke Institute on Care at the End-of-Life survey, 2007)
From Patients They Serve:
- 83 percent of survey respondents indicated that their faith would be most important to them in facing long-term illness and end of life. (Source: Faith & Health Care, Transforming Lives and Communities through Health and Wellness–One Person at a Time, Henry Ford Health System, 2012)
- Almost 70 percent of patients felt their spiritual leaders were not prepared at all or very little to help them face the practical issues surrounding death. (Source: Ibid)
- 42 percent of those facing life-terminating illness report little or no support of spiritual needs from their religious community. (Source: Balboni TA 2007, 25.555ff)
* Annual Membership Fee: $50 (non-refundable).
Annual Benefits
- Discounted Price for Online Professional Education Courses
- Free Spiritual Care Grand Rounds
- Complimentary Subscription to the Spiritual Care Resources App
- Membership in SCA's Communities of Chaplains for ongoing professional, personal and spiritual development
- Monthly Spiritual Care Updates • Membership Directory
- Networking Opportunities
- Online Membership Dashboard
- A voice for spiritual care advocacy
Organizations and Institutions
Benefits of Membership to Your Organization:
- Education
- Marketing
- Advocacy
- Complimentary Subscription to the Spiritual Care Resources App
Education
SCA is leading the effort in providing evidence-based education in spiritual care. Our webinars, conferences, publications, and courses are designed for chaplains and other health care professionals, including physicians, nurses, and social workers. As the field of health care recognizes the significance of providing effective spiritual care, SCA meets the need with a myriad of educational offerings, gathering experts in the field to teach and inspire on evidence-based best practices, including outcome-oriented chaplaincy and interdisciplinary training for staff and volunteers.
- Spiritual Care Grand Round Webinars – Complimentary Webinars
- Regularly scheduled webinars with learning objectives that can be applied to professional practice. Participants receive 1.5 hours of continuing education per each grand rounds session. Each webcast will be offered to one computer terminal per the organizational membership, however, multiple individuals can participate. A computer with Internet access and speakers/headphones is required for the webcast; phone lines provide audio access only. (Retail value of $480)
- * Unlimited Complimentary Job Postings
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Take full advantage of SCA's Job Board and contact list of over 45,000 spiritual care providers across the country to find and recruit specialized spiritual care talent.
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- Caring for the Human Spirit® Conference – 2 Complimentary Virtual Registrations (for virtual conferences) or Complimentary Exhibit Table (for in-person conferences)
- Caring for the Human Spirit® Conference is the premier international forum for cutting-edge topics to enhance multidisciplinary teams in spiritual care. The conference is designed to provide spiritual care providers with the skills, best practices, research, that can advance your career and improve optimal care for those in need.
- When the conference is offered in-person, you will receive a complimentary exhibit table ($500-$750 value)
- Online Professional Education Course Discount – Applicable to all W-2 employees
- The curriculum and courses on the SCA Learning Center are based on new, standardized evidence-based scope of practice and evidence-based quality indicators developed by two interdisciplinary panels of experts, convened by HCCN, from the fields of chaplaincy, medicine, nursing, psychotherapy, palliative care, social work, research and policy in the U.S. and overseas. Courses are for chaplains and interested health care professionals to deepen their skill and understanding of best practices in spiritual care.
- Individual course price is $345 for non-members. Price for organizational members is $145. Applicable to all W-2 employees.
- Caring for the Human Spirit Magazine®
- The twice-yearly magazine dedicated to advancing the integration of spiritual care in health care, the magazine features articles on spiritual care for an interdisciplinary audience. (Complimentary subscription, printed and electronic)
- Electronic Downloads of our Free Publications
- An Invitation to Chaplaincy Research: Entering the Process. This digital handbook explores how the chaplaincy profession, through research, may establish vital links between chaplain caring practices with the growing expectations that health care providers demonstrate the value of their practices. It offers both invitation and challenge to the profession to contribute to the growth, effectiveness, and longevity of chaplaincy by increasing its research literacy and by supporting or participating in research opportunities. (Complimentary)
- Handbook of Patient’s Spiritual and Cultural Values for Health Care Professionals. As health care professionals, we encounter patients of different faith and cultural backgrounds. This digital handbook is intended as an easy-to-use guide to describe beliefs and practices generally found within a particular cultural or religious group. (Complimentary)
- Monthly Patient-Centered E-Newsletter
- A monthly e-newsletter that provides a synopsis of noteworthy articles as it relates to the field of spiritual care, including palliative care, end-of-life care, patient experience, spirituality, and health care trends. (Complimentary)
- Performance Measures and Benchmarking
- Evidence-Based Scope of Practice to Guide Quality Spiritual Care in Health Care
- Evidence-Based Quality Indicators for Spiritual Care (Complimentary)
Marketing
SCA continues to grow in membership and visibility. Exhibiting at our annual conference provides a unique platform to showcase your institution with exposure to targeted, engaged, multi-discipline health care professionals.
- Complimentary table/exhibit booth at the annual Caring for the Human Spirit Conference ($500-$750 value).
Advocacy
SCA is the leading advocacy organization for the field of spiritual care. With an established track record, SCA is engaging policymakers representing the collective voice of spiritual care providers, professionals, volunteers, caregivers, patients and families on Capitol Hill and before regulatory agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Recent advances include:
- CMS Physician Fee Schedule – Submitted comments to CMS regarding Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2018 (Re: CMS-1676-P).
- RAISE Family Caregiver Act – Letters to co-sponsors, Rep. Gregg Harper and Rep. Kathy Castor.
- PCQCA Patient Choice And Quality Care Act – Letters to co-sponsors, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Johnny Isakson, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Mark Warner.
- Hill Briefings to legislative aides and those aides whose primary brief is health care to underscore the importance of access to quality spiritual care and to urge support for its legislative priorities, including the Patient Choice and Quality Care Act.
- White papers that detail the evidence-based best practices in spiritual care, including:
- Spiritual Care: What it Means, Why It Matters in Health Care
- Spiritual Care and Nursing: A Nurse's Contribution and Practice
- Spiritual Care and Physicians: Understanding Spirituality in Medical Practice
- Time To Move Forward: Creating a New Model of Spiritual Care to Enhance the Delivery of Outcomes and Value in Health Care Settings
- Ongoing representation to the spiritual care agenda and professional chaplaincy, delivering strong, consistent messages
Annual Membership Fee: $500.
Memberships are non-transferable and non-refundable. Please click here for SCA's Membership Terms and Conditions.