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Academic Degrees |
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The School of Spiritual
Psychology and Akamai University |
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Through affiliation with
Akamai University, a U.S.-based distance learning university, the SSP offers
students the opportunity to obtain bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in
spiritual psychology. Students anywhere in the world can complete most degree
program requirements by listening to class tapes, reading required material,
completing and submitting required exercises and journaling assignments, and
consulting with faculty via interactive web learning and telephone. Many
courses are taken directly through the School of Spiritual Psychology, with
students adding courses through Akamai University studies that complete their
degree requirements. |
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As a global university,
Akamai University has designed its educational and research programs to meet
the educational and research standards of the world community. It is not
accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For
more information on Akamai University, visit their website at www.akamaiuniversity.us. |
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To complete their program
requirements, all SSP students, including those in the SSP distance learning
program, participate in several residential components in or near Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, USA, or at affiliated sites around the world. |
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The Need for Spiritual
Psychologists |
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The popularization of
psychology and psychological terminology over the past thirty years has turned
the attention of the public to the inner workings of the everyday person. It
has also opened the door for many self-proclaimed experts in the field of
emotional, mental and spiritual health. The true role of academia is to bring
to bear the best of what we know from the past with the most promising and
useful discoveries of the present in order to create a platform of knowledge
and practice that takes us into the future with the greatest awareness and
confidence. This is our collaborative gift to the world. Progressive
theologians now display psychological savvy as they bring the spirit to an
aware populace (e.g., Matthew Fox). So too, psychologists who are seeking to
treat the whole person are turning to shamanic training, exploration of
altered states and spiritual guides in their work. |
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The need for an
academically based training which bridges the world of contemporary
psychological practices and spiritual awakenings is long overdue. So much is
being explored and discovered by segmented schools of thought and practice,
but so little is being written and transmitted to others in a reliable
fashion, much less being researched and cross-referenced. Clinicians and
educators who are on the front line of dealing with the affects of the shift
in human consciousness and the ever-widening diversity in belief systems,
need paradigms that address the stress this is creating. They also need
techniques to handle their own evolution with which they can have confidence
and professional support. Further, both practitioners and theoreticians need
a forum in which ideas and techniques can be tested and the results shared
with a common language. |
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Psychologists, social
workers, counselors, nurses, physicians, physical and occupational
therapists, educators and ministers, all service givers who care for others
are searching for something beyond their traditional psychological and
spiritual training. They are attending workshops and seminars in droves for
their personal and professional well being. The offering of a Bachelor's,
Master's and Doctorate Program in Spiritual Psychology is the missing piece
in our current world for those seeking academically sound, holistic, models
for understanding and ministering to the whole person as a clinician,
administrator or educator. |
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The School of Spiritual
Psychology is dedicated to providing the forum for such a program seeking to
heighten the responsibility of its students to the development of the whole
person connected to a world community in body, mind and spirit. |
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Program Purpose and
Design |
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The goal of the true
spiritual psychologist is to live with purpose and to join with and inspire
others to do the same. |
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What greater gift can we
give ourselves and our world than to be true to our purpose and to integrate
our spirit into our profession as a caregiver, educator or administrator? The
Spiritual Psychology curriculum has three stages. The first, Personal
Integration, prepares students through in-depth search of their own
mind/body to be an effective change agent, verbally and non verbally.
Discovering the basis of one's spiritual life, clarity about one's belief
systems and practicing the tools to change those that are dysfunctional, as
well as bringing one's body energy patterns into harmony are foundational goals.
Each student will demonstrate competency in body, mind, emotion and spirit
self-transformation techniques and complete an emotional autobiography. |
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The second stage, Spiritual
Leadership, requires the student to apply these competencies in their
life and work. Knowing one's inner calling and having the courage to follow
it in the world involves sharing healing skills with others and manifesting
one's life goals in a demonstrable integral fashion. Each student will be
expected to show proficiency in goal setting and monitoring in areas of
service, relationships, personal growth and recreation. Ongoing dreamwork,
Gestalt principles in daily life, daily spiritual practice and journaling are
all part of leadership skills at this stage en route to being an effective
change agent. |
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The third and final stage,
Graduate Apprenticeship, involves exposure to the major spiritual
traditions and mystery schools on our planet, using their rituals and
traditions to hone one's personal and professional paths. The Enneagram will
be used as a tool to further understanding of the self and the other.
Integration of one's spiritual principles into one's chosen life work will
entail a career analysis and ongoing support for applications in one's
profession. This is also the stage during which the student's fieldwork and
project/research will be completed. This involves development in specialized
skills including potential credentialing in areas such as professional
counseling, breathwork, bioenergetics, Enneagram, shamanistic training,
mystical traditions, etc., plus a scholarly research project contributing to
the field of spiritual psychology. Weekend intensives will also be completed
during the course of study. |
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Students may elect to add
a licensure and certification track to their Spiritual Psychology degree.
This will entail an extra required text and recommended readings to each
course, which are directed to solidifying knowledge in areas of counseling
and psychotherapy practice. This will also prepare the student to take the
National Counselor Examination for Licensure and Certification, which is
required for licensure in most states. |
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Academic Program
Objectives |
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Graduates of the Spiritual
Psychology Program will be able to: |
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a. Be conversant with and
an active contributor to the growing body of knowledge and practice in the
field of spiritual psychology, |
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b. Demonstrate knowledge
and skill at both traditional and holistic helping modalities and be
competent to pass the National Counselor Examination for Licensure and
Certification if they so choose (Licensure and Certification Track), |
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c. Bring a heightened
awareness and growing mastery of the interplay between spirit and mind as
they shape their life and service to the world, |
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d. Develop a personal
daily practice, which grounds them on their spiritual path and centers them
in their professional work, |
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e. Apply the tools of body
awareness, thought clearing, responsibility in communications, emotional
monitoring and spiritual centering in their life work and career, |
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f. Be a teacher and model
of self-care and responsibility as a participant in a global spiritual
community. |
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A principle tenant of
Spiritual Psychology is that we cannot truly help others unless we can help
ourselves and put our spirit into what we teach. There can be no professional
enhancement without personal awareness, and also we cannot grow personally
unless we are professionally on purpose and sharing what we have with others
responsibly. There is an emphasis in this program on enhancing personal
responsibility, and also in participating in a growing community of
professionals who are mutually supportive in sharing knowledge and upgrading
skills. A unique feature of this course is the involvement of group process
through either direct attendance or interactive web learning and listening to
the audiotapes of an ongoing group on the learning journey. Opportunities for
direct contact with other distance students in the process will be made
available. |
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Program Audience |
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This program is directed
toward those seeking a professional service career that is spiritually
meaningful and current and professionals who want to expand and deepen their
traditional skills as a caregiver, educator or administrator. The program
addresses the desire to live a more full life of spirit and have one's
profession be the ground for ongoing, learning, growth and application such
that one is nurtured by one's work on all levels. The Licensure and
Certification Track maybe taken by those seeking credentialing for
professional practice. This program has since 1980 served psychologists,
social workers, counselors, ministers, physicians, physical therapists,
occupational therapists, nurses, chiropractors, osteopaths, teachers, lay healers
and leaders in business and administration. Each one has come away with a
deeper certitude of who they are and what they have to offer to their
profession and their world. |
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Minimum Entry
Requirements |
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Successful participants
have some prior training and are proficient in Standard English (British or
American) and computer literate, and for the duration of their program,
maintain access to a computer, electronic mail and the Internet. |
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Bachelor's Program
Requirements |
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To enter the Bachelor's
Program, you must have completed secondary school and at least an Associate's
Degree (or the equivalent of 60 semester credits or two years of full time
college study) from a recognized university. You are also expected to have
several years of employment experience. |
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Master's Program
Requirements |
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For acceptance to the
Master's program, you should have completed a recognized baccalaureate degree
in an appropriate field of study and have several years of career related
experience. |
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Doctoral Program
Requirements |
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As a prerequisite for
acceptance to the Doctoral program, you should have completed a recognized
Master's degree in an appropriate field of study and have several years of
progressively more responsible professional experience. |
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Combined Master's and
Doctoral Program Requirements |
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For a successful entry to
a combined Master's and Doctoral Program, your prior training and preparation
must satisfy the prerequisites designated for Master's level study. In
granting entry to a combined graduate program, a strong undergraduate
background in the discipline is highly desired. |
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Minimum Degree
Requirements |
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A student pursuing the
baccalaureate degree is expected to accumulate a minimum of 120 semester
credits through required and elective program offerings, including transfer
credits and college equivalency credit earned through prior learning
assessment. |
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Master's participants
through coursework and thesis complete a minimum of 36 credits above the
baccalaureate degree including the thesis. Coursework requirements include
the academic major and the academic minor and, as appropriate, field studies,
directed studies, research preparation competencies, and additional electives
to satisfy the minimum credit requirements. Credit may be applied from
transfer courses completed at outside colleges and training organizations. |
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Doctoral participants by
coursework and dissertation complete a minimum of 48 credits above the
Master's degree including the dissertation. Coursework requirements include
the academic major and the academic minor and, as appropriate, field studies,
directed studies, research preparation competencies, and additional electives
to satisfy the minimum credit requirements. Credit may be applied from
transfer courses completed at outside colleges and training organizations.
College equivalency credit may be earned through assessment of professional
achievements and non-college training. |
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Participants undertaking a
Combined Master and Doctoral Program complete a minimum of 78 credits above
the baccalaureate degree including the dissertation. Your coursework
requirements include the academic major, the academic minor, and the research
tutorials and dissertation project activities. |
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Note: In addition to
the basic requirements students must complete a written account of their
weekend intensives. These focus upon personal/spiritual development. Students
must document the integration of a healing skill shared with others and
complete a major project which is either a written account of in-depth
training in an area of spiritual/psychological specialization (e.g. holistic
counseling, breathwork, bioenergetics, Eneagram, shamanistic training,
mystical traditions) or a scholarly research project in the area of spiritual
psychology. |
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Field Study Parameters |
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Specialized intensives are
required at all academic levels to allow each student to integrate theory
with direct experience and to be able to communicate the results. This
provides the opportunity to align mind and body with a spiritual intent and
gives a framework to embody and transmit new paradigms to others in whatever
professional role one has as a service provider. The intensives are directed
to awareness of and ability to alter emotional, psychological and behavioral
patterns and to utilize the processes as a change agent. |
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Research Parameters |
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Masters and Doctoral level
students will undertake a thesis based on an experimental research project,
case study project or a major product in place of research (with lead faculty
permission). These projects must emphasize and enhance the bridge between
psychology and spirituality and be a contribution to the field. |
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Masters of Science in
Spiritual Psychology Curriculum |
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Academic Major: |
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SPY 501: Psychology of the
Creative Spiritual Life (3 credits) |
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SPY 502: Bio-Spiritual
Energetics in Human Growth and Development (3 credits) |
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SPY 503: Systemic
Approaches to Core integration (3 credits) |
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SPY 521: Transformational
Psychology (3 credits) |
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SPY 522: Living Your
Purpose (3 credits) |
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SPY 571: Advanced Readings
in Spiritual Psychology (3 credits) |
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Academic Minor: |
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SPY 524: Practicum in
Breathwork (3 credits) |
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SPY 601: Specialized
Intensives in Spiritual Psychology (4-6 credits) |
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SPY 611: Externship in
Spiritual Psychology (3-6 credits) |
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Requirements and Research
Preparation: |
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EXM 880: Master's
Comprehensive Examination (Required: noncredit) |
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RES 885: Thesis Proposal
(Required: 2 credits) |
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RES 890: Thesis (Required:
4 credits) |
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EXM 895: Oral Review of
Thesis (Required: noncredit) |
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