Hello,

This is Brian Forbes and I am the acting Director of the Oregon Chaplains Academy (OCA), I would like to welcome you to the OCA website. OCA’s purpose is to train First Responder Chaplains to work with Emergency Service agencies, Police, Fire, EMS and 911 Dispatch. The OCA has adopted the philosophy that a great Chaplain is a Servant Chaplain.

Generally, those that visit our website are either current Chaplains looking for training, pastors who have been asked to be a department Chaplain or lay people who have a heart to serve their community.

There are two types of First Responder Chaplains: Community Service Chaplains and Public Safety Chaplains. Community Service Chaplains assist First Responders in order to contact and care for members of their community that have experienced a traumatic event. Public Safety Chaplains care for members of the community during traumatic events in order to support and serve First Responders as they respond repeatedly to traumatic events. The training is the same for both styles of Chaplaincy. The OCA provides practical training in First Responder culture, procedures, etiquette and ethics.

First Responder Chaplains, at times, have private, confidential, conversations with First Responders. As a result, two endorsements are required in order to apply for OCA training. The first is an agency endorsement. A person can be well trained, however, without the endorsement of a Fire Chief, Police Chief or Sheriff, they cannot be a First Responder Chaplain. The OCA currently only offers training to Chaplains who have been designated by a First Responder agency. The second endorsement is an ecclesiastical endorsement which is necessary in order that confidential conversations are not subject to examination. In order for a Chaplain’s conversations to be considered privileged and confidential, they must meet the Oregon Revised Statues (ORS) requirement for clergy-penitent privilege (view here).

The ecclesiastical endorsement must state that the Chaplain meets the ORS “Member of the Clergy” requirement and is to be from a local faith community or belief system for local accountability.

The Basic OCA training is five full days and intense, with working lunches, often running all day. Chaplains are encouraged to build relationships and network with each other so in the event that they need assistance, they have other Chaplains with the same training to contact.

If you have any questions about OCA, it’s training or Chaplaincy in general, feel free to contact me.

Thanks
Brian Forbes

OCA Acting Director

Brian.c.forbes@gmail.com

Integrity – Excellence – Accountability – Communication – Respect