Program Overview

Certificate in Trauma and Spiritual Care (CTSC)

The Certificate in Trauma and Spiritual Care (CTSC) is an opportunity for professional care providers to explore their relationship with and experience of trauma in their lives and work.

Program Types

• Certificate

Mode of Study

• Online

School / College

• San Francisco Theological Seminary

Become a Resource of Recovery and Healing

At the heart of our understanding of Caring Activism is a desire to care for others. In this world poised for healing, we at the Shaw Chaplaincy Institute promote the use of direct caring action to bring about spiritual, physical, and social changes that foster health, healing, and resiliency.

Our Certificate in Trauma and Spiritual Care (C.T.S.C.) is an opportunity for professional care providers to explore their relationship with and experience of trauma in their lives and work. Utilizing an action-reflection learning process, participants will reflect theologically and critically on the individual and systemic effects and manifestations of trauma, as well as resiliency in the face of trauma. Each course builds upon the last, establishing first a theoretical understanding of trauma, both personal and collective, before diving into different theological approaches to suffering and ways of providing trauma-informed care and encouraging resiliency. Participants will engage in small-group reflection, develop caring rituals, apply concepts in acts of service, and envision ways to bring aspects of Caring Activism into their work.

Program structure

The certificate is comprised of four courses: Dynamics of Trauma, Collective Trauma and Collective Memory, God, Suffering, and Pastoral Care, and Trauma Care Resiliency.

Each course takes place over one intensive weekend per quarter, with preparatory reading and one online follow up 100% online.

Graduate application deadlines

• Upcoming: Fall 2025. Students are encouraged to apply by June 1 (for Fall) in order to ensure a smooth enrollment experience.