Departmental Vision

Contemplative Psychotherapy may be said to have two parents: the 2,500-year-old wisdom tradition of Buddhism and the clinical traditions of Western Psychology, especially the Humanistic school. Like all offspring it has much in common with both of its parents and yet is uniquely itself at the same time. From Buddhism comes the practice of mindfulness/ awareness meditation, together with a highly sophisticated understanding of the functioning of the mind in sanity and in confusion. From Western psychology come the investigation of the stages of human development, a precise language for discussing mental disturbance and the intimate method of working with others known as "psychotherapy."

The root teaching of the Contemplative Psychotherapy program is the notion of "brilliant sanity." This means that we all have within us a natural dignity and wisdom. Our basic nature is characterized by clarity, openness and compassion. This wisdom may be temporarily covered over, but nonetheless, it is there and may be cultivated. Practitioners of Contemplative Psychotherapy become expert at recognizing sanity within even the most confused and distorted states of mind and are trained to nurture this sanity in themselves and in their clients.

The three-year clinical training program may only be done on a full-time basis. This means that the sequence of classes must be followed and that one travels through the program as a member of one’s class.

The training of Contemplative Psychotherapists begins by providing opportunities to become intimately familiar with both sanity and confusion in their own experience. In the first semester students examine the workings of community and the nature of transition. In this semester, as elsewhere in the program, the students' current experiences provide much of the raw material of their studies. Through the practice of sitting meditation, the Maitri retreats and formal study of the mind in sanity and disturbance, students become more "at home" with the varieties of psychological experience.

This increasing ability to be with oneself and others provides the ground for studying and practicing the clinical skills necessary for entering into genuine therapeutic relationships with clients. In the second year of the program students focus on developing these skills, and in the third, students do a nine-month internship in community agencies while participating in small group clinical tutorials with department faculty.

Throughout the program students participate in process groups with class members. These groups provide the opportunity for students to discuss and explore their experience as they journey through the program. All course work in the program combines intellectual and experiential components.