Applied Meditation Studies Certificate

 

The Institute offers an Applied Meditation Certificate (AMC) through the Won Institute's Applied Meditation Studies program. This is an advanced course of study designed to:

  • provide professional development

  • foster career advancement

  • create new, or broaden existing, career options

  • enhance or develop new skills as part of the life-long process of learning.

The AMC is a terminal course of study. However, since it is firmly situated in the M.A. degree curriculum, the student may choose to continue studies to achieve the full master's degree after certificate completion.

 

The certificate will require 11 credits of coursework and a final project in one of four areas. This coursework will provide specialized training in applied meditation for professionals working, or seeking training, in one of these four areas. The areas are designed for the following constituencies:

 

Area 1: Mental Health Caretakers: psychologists, social workers, counselors

Area 2: Educators: teachers, school administrators, program designers and directors

Area 3: Health Care Professionals: physicians, acupuncturists, nurses, alternative healers

Area 4: Practice Facilitators: yoga instructors, meditation teachers, sangha leaders

 

In fall 2008 the first AMC will be offered in Area 1 only. The certificate program will expand areas as conditions permit.

Structure

The AMC requires 11 credits of coursework spread over one year. Students will submit a final project during the semester following the completion of their coursework. For example, if a student's coursework is completed in the summer semester, the project is due by the end of the next fall semester. For the final project, the student will choose from one of two options:

Option 1: A publication-quality research paper on any aspect of meditation and mental health care.

Option 2: A documented model and demonstration of applied meditation in the practice of psychology, social work, or counseling.

The pedagogical goal of the final project is to assist the student in developing or deepening expertise in his or her particular area of professional training. The institutional goal of the final project is to generate scholarship, theories, schemas, and models for the application of meditation in the various mental health environments.

Final projects will be presented in a public colloquium.

Courses

At least one course will be offered each semester. Fall and spring semesters are fifteen weeks (3 hours weekly per course), summer semester is seven weeks (6 hours weekly per course). For Area 1, the courses will be as follows:

  • Buddhist Meditation I (3 credits)

  • Buddhist Psychology (3 credits)

  • Application of Meditation: Program Planning, Designing, and Delivery (3 credits)

  • Sitting Practice (1credit required for Fall and Spring semesters)

  • Intensive Sitting Week (1 credit required for Summer semester)

  • Public colloquium

Receipt of the AMC is contingent on the student's:

1. Completion of all requirements
2. Maintenance of a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.7 each term of enrollment.

Cost

The AMC costs $400 per credit, or $4,400 for the certificate. There is also a $30 application fee.

Admission requirements

All students are required to have a verifiable master's degree. (In some cases, with the prior approval of the AMS program Chair, a bachelor's degree with significant experience may be accepted in lieu of the master's degree). If the degree was obtained in the United States, it should be from a college or university recognized by the United States Department of Education; all foreign degrees must be authenticated by WES or a similar agency.

In addition to submitting the AMC application form, admission requirements include:

  • A personal interview

  • A one-page statement of your personal goals

The AMC student may choose to continue studies to achieve the full M.A. degree after certificate completion. Please note, however, that acceptance to the certificate program does not guarantee acceptance to the master's degree program.

Faculty

The AMC is under the direction of Glenn Wallis, Ph.D., Chair of the Applied Meditation Studies program at the Won Institute and Helen Rosen, Ph.D. Associate Professor.

The Institute is proud to announce that DR. JEFFREY RUBIN will be joing the Institute to teach several concentrated workshops within the Certificate and Master's programs. Dr. Rubin is the highly acclaimed pyscotherapist who has done groundbreaking work on the links between Buddhism and psychotherapy. He is the author of Psychotherapy and Buddhism: Toward Integration, The Good Life, and Psychoanalysis for Our Time: Exploring the Blindness of Seeing I. Dr. Rubin is a Dharma Holder in the White Plum Sangha and the Red Thread Zen Circle. He is an accomplished meditator and yoga practitioner who holds degrees from Princeton, Columbia and Union Institute. He also teaches at the Westchester Institute for Training in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy; at the Center for Mental Health, and at Union Thological Seminary. Link here for more information.