Buddhist Mindfulness Approaches to Mental Health

This course examines Buddhist notions of mental and spiritual health in historical and contemporary contexts, with an emphasis on their practical application in the form of Buddhist spiritual care, spiritually integrated psychotherapy and leading Dharma communities. The first part of the course grounds us in a Buddhist framework of relationality and non-self, and develops the foundational skills of deep listening, compassionate presence, and being comfortable with silence. The second module outlines a Buddhist informed framework for counselling drawing from the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path. The third module focuses on Buddhist informed emotion-focused therapy, with attention to moral stress/ injury and post traumatic syndrome or response) disorder (PTSD), as well as contemporary Buddhist therapies, such as Naikan and Morita Therapy and working with Buddhist sacred literature. In the final module, we re-ground ourselves in our inter-relationality, focusing on Buddhism and wise and compassionate social action. Topics include Buddhistinformed approaches to equity, diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility; decolonization; Truth and Reconciliation; and ecological sustainability.