David Roth
David Roth, Ph.D, was formerly Director of Spiritual Care and the Clinical Supervisor for Chaplaincy Training, responsible for launching the cutting-edge CPE program at Kaiser Permanente (KP) in Northern California. It is a role he served in for nearly a decade until his retirement in 2021. He remains active in various aspects of clinical pastoral care including training, consulting and publishing.
His qualifications in the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP) include diplomate in pastoral supervision, board certified clinical chaplain and pastoral psychotherapist. He is also a training supervisor responsible for training other supervisors. Additionally, in the Spiritual Care Association (SCA) he is a board-certified chaplain, pastoral psychotherapist and a recognized CPE supervisor. He has extensive experience as both a hospital and a hospice chaplain.
David holds a BA in socio-cultural anthropology from Temple University, an MA in religious studies from Providence College, a graduate diploma in spirituality, as well as a licentiate and a PhD in theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He completed a one-year residency in clinical pastoral care (Levels I & II) under the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) at Lehigh Valley Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center affiliated with the Penn State University School of Medicine; a year-long traineeship in sex and relationship therapy at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; and a fellowship in psychoanalysis at the NYU Psychoanalytic Institute (now Psychoanalytic Association of New York) affiliated with NYU School of Medicine.
He served as Clinical Professor of Chaplaincy and CPE Supervisor at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (2018-19) with clinical placements at Utah Valley Hospital - Intermountain Healthcare, and has been a professor of spirituality, pastoral ministry and applied ethics in the graduate schools of several colleges and universities. David is a former member of the board of directors of Grex, the West Coast affiliate of the AK Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems, and in 1989 was elected a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. In 2019 he became the first person from the clinical pastoral field to qualify as a member of the Clinical Register of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society.
At the 25th annual CPSP Plenary (2015) gathering in Chicago, one of three national conferences he directed, David curated the first-ever exhibit of primary source materials from the archives of Anton T. Boisen, founder of the clinical pastoral chaplaincy movement. In 2011, he co-founded the annual National Clinical Training Seminar–West for Chaplains. His leadership roles include former convener of the CPSP Nautilus Pacific Chapter and a founding role on CPSP’s six-member governing Chapter of Diplomates.