Overview
The Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Integrative Chaplaincy is a three-year, 36-credit advanced professional program undertaken alongside a student's work as a chaplain in a professional ministry setting (e.g. healthcare, military, prisons, or other organizations), with the aim of better equipping students to address whole person healthcare needs - both as individual spiritual care providers and as collaborative professionals partnering with other care providers. An M.Div., M.T.S., or equivalent degree and work as a chaplain are required for admission.
Chaplains who complete this program will be able to:
- Identify the signs and symptoms of mental health (MH) problems;
- Use evidence-based psychological practices and principles within the scope of chaplaincy practice;
- Collaborate effectively with MH and other healthcare professionals;
- Foster resilience and prevention of MH problems;
- Critically interpret, use, and potentially participate in scientific research;
- Understand important psychological processes, psychosocial issues, and their intersection with religion and spirituality;
- Provide care for care providers and practice good self-care;
- Address the distinctive religious, spiritual, cultural, and relational needs of persons with MH problems;
- Think theologically and engage religious and/or spiritual traditions as sources of strength and transformation;
- Develop a pastoral-theological ethic that guides their ministerial identity and understanding of suffering, trauma, and human flourishing.
DMin at VDS
Chaplains serve as spiritual and emotional caregivers who often operate in ministry contexts where they are called upon to meet the needs of a wide array of individuals, frequently doing so in collaboration with other professionals. The aim of this program is to better equip chaplains to provide high-quality, collaborative, evidence-based care for persons with diverse psychosocial-spiritual needs.
Since its inception along with the founding of the university, Vanderbilt Divinity School has functioned as a university-based, interdenominational school, seeking to embody the Purposes and Commitments. This non-denominational affiliation and commitment to forming students for ministry in a global and multi-religious world provides strong synergism with the work of chaplaincy - especially for chaplains who serve in diverse, pluralistic, multi-religious contexts, such as healthcare settings, the military, prisons, or organizational chaplaincy.
In various ways, the D.Min. in Integrative Chaplaincy program truly seeks to make chaplaincy more integrative. The program integrates research-informed knowledge and evidence-based approaches with spiritual care practices, and integrates chaplains more completely as valued partners and leaders in the variable systems where they operate. The coursework and range of faculty disciplines (e.g., psychiatry, chaplaincy, psychology, theology) reflect and model this commitment to integrative care and training.
The integrative skills I have learned (exploration and synthesis of the three primary evidence-based practices) has greatly enhanced my pastoral care and counseling practice. I am able to draw from a wide variety of tools and evidence-based approaches now to more effectively companion and support the Service Members in my charge.
About the Degree
The D.Min consists of hybrid courses that feature a range of interdisciplinary experts and that are designed for application within the diverse contexts where chaplains work. Courses combine regular synchronous online seminars with content delivered asynchronously. Students are enrolled in synchronous class meetings that can accommodate their work schedules.
Three 3.5-day, on-campus training intensives occur at VDS, one in each of the first three semesters. The remainder of the coursework is conducted utilizing online educational platforms, video conferencing, and other distance education modalities.
The first three semesters are aligned with the Mental Health Integration for Chaplain Services (MHICS) training. These courses and practica are tightly connected with each other. Content from the coursework is applied and consultatively reviewed as part of each practicum. Core instructional and consultative capacities for this foundational part of the D.Min. are anchored by faculty who are affiliated with Integrative Mental Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The final three semesters' seminars are taught by VDS faculty and focus on crafting the 45-60 page D.Min. Project. Each Project is organized around a problem the student has encountered in their chaplaincy practice, which the student then analyzes and addresses using what they are learning in the D.Min program, including on-line modules (accessed asynchronously) created by VDS faculty that provide relevant theological content. The project is drafted and refined over the three semesters through peer and faculty feedback.
Eligibility
- Students must have completed a Master of Divinity or Master of Theological Studies degree from an ATS accredited school, or the educational equivalent from an institution of higher education accredited by a US agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, or approved by a Canadian provincial quality assurance agency. Comparable degrees from institutions outside North America are accepted after review by Vanderbilt’s International Curriculum and Credentials Analyst.
- Student’s academic record must evidence master’s level work in a wide range of theological disciplines and the capacity to integrate, critically and constructively, theory and practice.
- Students are expected to have achieved a GPA of 3.0 or above in their M.Div., M.T.S., or equivalent degree as part of the evidence of aptitude for advanced theological study.
- Students must also be functioning as a chaplain or in an environment where they will be capable of fulfilling practicum coursework requirements.
- Masters degrees in related fields may be considered for admission, contingent upon completion of three courses (comprising nine credits hours) in an ATS-accredited institution of theological education covering the following topics:
- Sacred texts (depending upon your tradition)
- Pastoral theology and care
- Theology/ethics
Applicant must have a grade of B- or above in these courses, which must be completed prior to admission into the Doctor of Ministry.
What I found was a very transparent perspective on mental health care and human flourishing that recognized the limitations of psychotherapy and the aching need for what Chaplains bring to the table, a focus on ultimacy, transcendence, values, and the potential for suffering to lead to transformation. As Chaplains, we were treated like valued partners in the care of "whole beings." It was truly integrative.