Promotion in Psychologie

Reimagining Professional Practice

The Ph.D. in Psychology curriculum offers coursework in Psychology drawing on spiritual traditions, somatic practices, creative arts, mythology, indigenous wisdom, literary and poetic imagination, deep ecology, mystical philosophy, cultural history, and social critique.

The Ph.D. program emphasize research, clinical, and cultural praxis skills as well as acquiring the knowledge base of psychology as a profession. The research coursework prepares students for the completion of an original research dissertation.

The Ph.D. in Psychology is designed to meet the educational requirements for the state of California Psychologist license. The Ph.D. in Psychology also meets the educational requirements for the state of California MFT license (Board of Behavioral Sciences, Senate Bill 33, Section 4980.36, Business and Professions Code), and the state of California Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), (Senate Bill 788, Section 4999.33, Business and Professions Code), provided that fieldwork is done in accordance with BBS requirements.

"We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us." —Marcel Proust

At A Glance

Concentrations Available

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

The Clinical Psychology concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with the practice of psychotherapy in contexts such as community clinics, private practice, employee assistance programs, and forensic contexts.

DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY

The Depth Psychology concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with professional practice in contexts such as psychotherapy, coaching, depth consultation in organizations, career counseling, teaching.

DEVELOPMENTAL COACHING

The Developmental Coaching concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with practice in contexts such as executive coaching, developmental assessment, and management of deliberately developmental organizations.

EXPRESSIVE AND MOVEMENT ARTS

The Expressive and Movement Arts concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with professional practice in contexts such as conventional healthcare settings, coaching practices, employee wellness programs.

HEALTH COACHING

The Health Psychology concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with professional practice in contexts such as conventional healthcare settings, coaching practices, employee wellness programs.

INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY

The Integral Psychology concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with professional practice in contexts such as psychotherapy, coaching, depth consultation in organizations, career counseling, teaching.

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Organizational Development concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with the practice of organizational leadership and development in various institutional domains, like: Business, Non-profits (NGOs); and government including sectors such as education, law, and the arts.

SOCIAL ARTISTRY

The Social Artistry concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with professional commitments entailing arts-based practices that foster community development and societal transformation.

SOMATIC PSYCHOLOGY

The Somatic Psychology concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with professional practice in contexts such as somatic education, psychotherapy practice, health coaching, employee wellness programs.

TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP

The Transformative Leadership concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with practice in contexts such as executive coaching, developmental assessment, and management of deliberately developmental organizations.

TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING

The Transformative Learning concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with professional practice in contexts such as education, organizational leadership, and adult education.

TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY

The Transpersonal Psychology concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with professional practice in contexts such as psychotherapy, coaching, consultation to organizations, career counseling, teaching.

YOGA AND PSYCHOLOGY

The Yoga and Psychology concentration emphasizes coursework aligned with professional practice in contexts such as yoga therapy, yoga teaching, psychotherapy practice, somatic education, research.

"Meridian provides an extraordinary curriculum that has benefited me both personally and professionally. I am excited for anyone choosing Meridian for their graduate education because I know they will receive a rigorous yet meaningful education and expansive understanding of psychology and its true purpose of caring for the soul." —IRENE IVES, ALUMNUS

Learning Formats

Hybrid Format

Meridian’s hybrid learning format combines online courses with onsite weeklong residential intensives. The hybrid learning format is designed to enable students to pursue their graduate education at a flexible pace, combining asynchronous coursework via the University’s custom social learning platform, Pivot, live course video calls with faculty, synchronous student community engagement, and one-week residential intensives. By combining innovative online education methodologies with rich video calls and deep residential connections, the hybrid format enables students to contribute locally and perceive globally.

Each quarter, students take one or multiple seven-week online courses. This schedule provides students with time between quarters to rest, engage, and prepare. Additionally, students attend at least two weeklong onsite residential intensives per academic year. Intensives run Monday through Friday throughout the year, with residential intensives taking place at Meridian’s Bay Area Center and other globally distributed locations.

Online Format

In Meridian's online learning format, students can complete 100% of their coursework degree requirements online. Virtual intensives are also available for students who choose not to travel to residential intensives. Students can select intensive dates, locations, and formats based on their personal circumstances and professional aspirations.

Meridian University is dedicated to enabling human development through wise transformative impact across multiple domains of the public and private sectors with global reach and local value. Meridian’s graduate degree programs in Business, Psychology, Education, and Transformative Leadership enable students to combine passion with a profession in service to larger social, cultural, ecological, and developmental goals.

Each of Meridian’s degrees provides students with an integrated set of skills and capacities that are grounded in the principles and practices of Transformative Learning along with next-practices specific to the degree and concentration, chosen by each student. Meridian’s unique learning model enables students to combine onsite residencies, asynchronous online learning, and engaging video calls to develop an educational path that fits both their life and vision via Meridian’s own integrated technology platform.

Meridian is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission and approved by the US Department of Education for participation in the Federal Student Aid program. WASC is the Department of Education recognized regional accreditor for such schools as the University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, and Stanford University. Meridian’s licensable degrees have been recognized by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and Board of Psychology for over 25 years.

"Meridian University offers programs unique in their ability to bring cognitive and experiential learning together." — Jean Houston, Chancellor

Vision and Mission: An Education that Transforms

The evolution of human beings expresses the earth’s deepest potentials. The term Meridian evokes and symbolizes the earth as inhabited and imagined by humans. The culture that humans have imagined into being is in urgent need of transformation. The professions of Psychology, Business, and Transformative Leadership can serve to make a critical contribution to contemporary possibilities for the transformation of culture. Meridian University’s curriculum takes an integrative approach to both personal and cultural transformation within organizations, communities, and societies.

Guided by an Integral Vision, Meridian University seeks to educate leaders with the capacities, skills, and knowledge essential for transforming the professions of Psychology, Business, and Transformative Leadership. The leadership capacities of courage, compassion, clarity, conscience, and embodied self-awareness, together constitute the wisdom and integrity required for transforming the professions and the wider culture. Transformative learning at Meridian catalyzes the emergence of these capacities which, along with developing creative inquiry skills and acquiring professional knowledge, actualizes Meridian’s commitment to sustaining an education that transforms.

Meridian’s commitment to public and professional engagement is developed through the Center for Transformative Learning.

When you see the earth from the moon, you don't see any divisions there of nations or states.

This might be the symbol, really, for the new mythology to come.

That is the country that we are going to be celebrating.

And those are the people that we are one with. — Joseph Campbell