To be recognized as a practitioner in this field, it helps to be certified by the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. The AAPC offers several levels of recognition. At the lowest level, you need to be ordained and working for several years as a pastor. In addition, you need several hundred hours of training in pastoral counseling. Some of this must be counseling experience supervised by a qualified AAPC member. Finally, this level of recognition is only temporary. It assumes that you will move up to a higher level through additional study and supervised counseling experience.

Some clinical pastoral counseling programs are offered part-time, with day and evening classes.

Counselors can be Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, or another faith. People generally seek a counselor who shares the same religious beliefs as they do.

Some states require pastoral counselors to be certified or have a license.

You don't have to be a pastor or minister to enroll in clinical pastoral care programs.