About Uplift
Uplift offers clinical pastoral education (CPE) to persons serving in various clinical settings and to those who seek online options to grow and intentionally transition into chaplaincy.
Uplift is intentionally oriented toward interfaith spiritual care. We offer a mindful education model that builds skills for providing care with integrity and humility even when the faith, spirituality, and religion of those we serve are different from the minister's perspective. CPE is especially useful for seminarians, congregational leaders, lay ministers, and persons interested in chaplaincy. Our educational team includes ACPE certified educators and subject matter experts to expose our students to a range of possibilities for how spiritual care supports opportunities for connection and compassion.
Rev. Michael Washington, PhD | Founder & Educator
Michael is the founder of and lead educator for Uplift Care & Education. He is a CPE supervisor at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he also works as a chaplain. He developed and established the first CPE program to be housed at an HBCU for Howard University School of Divinity. Michael has served as adjunct faculty for North Park and Samuel Dewitt Proctor theological seminaries and currently teaches courses on the Foundations and Practice of Chaplaincy at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Prior to his work in chaplaincy education, Michael was an Executive Pastor at Sweet Holy Church and an Associate Pastor at New Community Covenant Church. He is ordained with the Evangelical Covenant Church, board-certified for chaplaincy through the Association of Professional Chaplains, and certified as an educator through ACPE (Association of Clinical Pastoral Education).
With degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (BS, Psychology), Wheaton College (MA, Theology), and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (MDiv, PhD), Michael enjoys a wide-range of research interests that explore the experiences of Black people in healthcare contexts, transformative learning, formation for ministry, recovery from trauma, and the impact of hearing, holding, and sharing stories.
A father of two sons, Michael enjoys playing Uno and creating stories with his children and sampling new restaurants. He holds a black belt in Seido karate — a ten-year hobby that turned into an in depth practice. Although traveling and scheduling has recently paused his studies of the martial art, he misses it and looks forward to returning.
The Teaching Team
Atty. Aja Carr Favors | Instructor
Aja Carr Favors is the First Deputy Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago Department of Law, overseeing legal strategy and governance across more than 250 attorneys. She earned her Juris Doctor from Valparaiso University School of Law, a Master of Arts in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University, and a Master of Theological Studies from Garrett Theological Seminary. She also holds multiple professional certifications in privacy and data protection, including CIPP/US, CIPP/E, CIPM, and FIP. Aja’s work sits at the intersection of law, technology, and public service—bridging government, innovation, and community impact.
Rev. Dr. A. Mark Bradley | ACPE-CE
Mark Bradley was born and raised on the east coast of Canada. He attended Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia where he received a BA in religious studies and a Masters of Divinity Degree. In the early 90’s, Mark came to Chicago to study urban ministry as part of a Doctor of Ministry degree at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL. He worked at in a church in the Uptown neighborhood in Chicago for a couple years. Then he completed a CPE residency program spent three years as a staff chaplain in the Chicago area. In 1999, he began working in a Chicago street outreach program and served as the director of that program for over a decade. In addition, Mark has been pastor of First Congregational Church of Forest Glen in Chicago since 2001. Mark is ordained in the American Baptist Churches (USA). He is a board certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains and a CPE Certified Educator with the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education. In 2018, Mark became an adjunct lecturer in pastoral ministry at Catholic Theological Union. He is currently serving as the manager of Spiritual Care and Education at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
David Kilpatrick | ACPE-CE
David Kilpatrick is an ACPE-certified educator with experience in clinical pastoral education, healthcare, hospice, and military chaplaincy. He previously led the development and expansion of CPE programming in the Oklahoma City metro area and across the Mercy Health System. Endorsed by the International Ministerial Fellowship (IMF) since 2015, David holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from the University of Central Oklahoma, a Master of Divinity from Liberty University, and a Master of Business Administration.
David completed his CPE training at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa and within the VA Healthcare System in central and eastern Oklahoma. He is a board-certified chaplain with the National Association of VA Chaplains (NAVAC) and serves in the Air Force Reserve as the Lead Chaplain for the 931st Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas. He brings experience in spiritual care, leadership, education, and organizational development to his work as a CPE Educator with Uplift Care and Education.
Ida-Regina Lucas Oliver | ACPE-CE
Ida Lucas Oliver is an ACPE Certified Educator, Board Certified Chaplain (APC), Certified Focusing Trainer, and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. Ordained by the Evangelical Covenant Church, her educational accomplishments include her MDiv (North Park), MA in Communications (UIC), and her MA in Counseling (University of Missouri). She completed her CPE in Berwyn, Oak Lawn, and Chicago, Illinois, including a residency in a Level I Trauma Center and supervisory units in Urban CPE Consortium. Ida has been a pastoral educator since 2017, supervising students in diverse settings including online CPE. Prior to her serving as a certified educator, Ida worked in chaplaincy and served as adjunct faculty in ministry fields in the Chicago area while maintaining a counseling private practice.
Advisory Group
In CPE, a Professional Advisory Group (PAG) is primarily responsible for advising the ACPE certified educator (CE) on any elements related to pastoral education. Uplift’s PAG focuses upon program cultivation, review and evaluation of program components, and student experience and feedback. PAG members include:
Rev. Dr. Mark Bradley
Rev. Dr. Danielle Buhuro, PhD
Atty. Aja Carr-Favors
Craig Clinton, SAC (Ret), MDiv
Rev. Dr. Peggy Fields
Rev. Pamela Floyd, MD, MPH, MDiv
Rev. Eddie Journey, PhD, LMHC
Rev. James Lavoy, MDiv
E. Denise Parker, MDiv
Peter Strening, MDiv
Rev. David Swanson, MDiv
Cristal Truscott, PhD