Faith Integration
Forming Psychologists Who Live What They Practice
Grounded in our long and distinctive history of integrating psychology, faith and spiritual formation, the Applied and Embodied Integration Program emphasizes application and personal formation. We are concerned not only with what students know, but with who they are becoming as clinicians and caregivers.
We are dedicated to forming psychologists who can thoughtfully integrate psychological science, faith and ethics, equipping them to respond thoughtfully to the realities of contemporary clinical training, student diversity and the evolving needs of those they serve.
Faith integration has never been an add-on to our training model; it’s foundational to how we understand healing, ethical responsibility and professional identity.
A Comprehensive Approach to Integration
At George Fox, we don’t treat integration as a purely intellectual exercise. Rather, we emphasize lived experience, reflective practice and applied clinical skill development.
“Applied” means students learn how integration shows up in real clinical work, ethical decision-making, self-care and professional identity.
“Embodied” means integration is practiced and lived, not just discussed, so students are encouraged to attend to how beliefs, values and spirituality shape their own lives as clinicians.
Why Integration Matters
Integration matters because it supports the psychologist’s personal growth and professional development, fostering self-awareness, ethical maturity and resilience that strengthen clinical presence and effectiveness over time.
Additionally, clients bring their values and spiritual experiences into therapy, whether clinicians address them or not. Applied integration also equips psychologists to engage the whole person ethically and competently, particularly when faith, meaning or moral struggle are central to a client’s life.
Additionally, it matters because it:
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Contributes to personal development and self-care of the psychologist
The curriculum intentionally addresses self-awareness, moral formation, forgiveness and resilience. Students learn to attend to their inner lives and develop practices that support long-term health and integrity in professional life.
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Addresses ethical, cultural and spiritual dimensions of care
The Applied and Embodied Integration Program trains psychologists to attend carefully to the ethical, cultural and religious dimensions of care that shape how people experience suffering, healing and meaning.
- Ethically, the program emphasizes professional integrity, self-awareness, and moral responsibility. Students learn to recognize how their values and assumptions influence clinical judgment, boundaries, and power, approaching ethics as a lived practice grounded in humility, accountability, and concern for others.
- Culturally, religion and spirituality are treated as vital aspects of human diversity. Students develop competencies to work respectfully with clients across religious, spiritual and secular worldviews, emphasizing cultural humility, informed consent, and non-imposition.
- Religiously & Spiritually, students are equipped to engage faith and spiritual concerns when clients desire it, without coercion or avoidance. The program prepares clinicians to assess spiritual resources and struggles, recognize spiritual trauma, and integrate spiritual dimensions ethically and clinically when appropriate.
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Prepares psychologists to work competently with spiritually diverse clients
Students learn to assess and engage with spiritual beliefs and practices as meaningful aspects of identity and culture, and to recognize both the healing and harmful roles spirituality can play in psychological well-being.
Core Integration Curriculum
Contemporary students arrive with diverse religious, spiritual and philosophical perspectives. Some are deeply rooted in Christian faith. Others are exploring, questioning or recovering from spiritual struggle. Some identify as spiritual but not religious.
The Applied and Embodied Integration Program was intentionally designed to serve this diversity with hospitality, rigor and respect.
Rather than prescribing a single theological stance, the curriculum emphasizes:
- Experiential learning
- Reflective practice
- Dialogue and relational engagement
- Applied skill development
- Ethical and cultural humility
Students are invited into a process of formation that honors their starting point while encouraging growth, discernment and integrity.
Together, these courses support APA competencies related to professional identity, ethical decision making, cultural humility, relational capacity, and self-care.
Core Integration Curriculum: Required for All Students
PSYD 571 - Personal Formation & Self-Awareness
PSYD 616 - Spiritual Formation
PSYD 630 - Forgiveness and Reconciliation
PSYD 631 - Self-Stewardship and Resilience
PSYD 579 - Religious and Spiritual Competencies in Psychotherapy
Specialization: Faith Integration in Clinical Psychology
PSYD 621 - Integration and Application of Christian Theology & Spirituality in Clinical Practice
PSYD 622 - Christian Spiritual & Theological Dimensions of Mental Health
Course Descriptions
All students complete a core sequence focused on personal formation, forgiveness and reconciliation, self-stewardship and resilience, religious and spiritual competencies in psychotherapy, and spiritual formation. These courses support professional development, ethical maturity, and clinical readiness.
Core Courses
This course provides an applied foundation for professional formation by helping students develop deep self-awareness as clinicians. Through assessment, reflection and experiential learning, students examine personality, values, attachment patterns, strengths, and growth areas, linking personal insight directly to ethical practice, relational effectiveness, and clinical presence.
This course explores forgiveness and reconciliation as central processes in psychological healing, relational repair and moral development. Drawing from psychological research and theological perspectives, students engage forgiveness at personal, clinical and societal levels, developing both conceptual understanding and practical skills for guiding clients through complex relational and moral injuries.
This course focuses on sustainable self-care and resilience as essential dimensions of ethical clinical practice. Students examine self-stewardship through psychological, spiritual and relational lenses, developing personalized practices that support long-term well-being, moral integrity, and effectiveness in the emotionally demanding work of psychotherapy.
This course prepares students to work ethically and competently with clients across religious, spiritual, and secular worldviews. Emphasis is placed on spiritual assessment, cultural humility, informed consent, and professional boundaries, as well as recognizing when spirituality functions as a resource, a source of struggle, or a site of trauma in clinical work.
Specialization Courses
This course provides advanced training in integrating Christian theology and spirituality into clinical psychology practice. Students develop applied skills for incorporating theological concepts into assessment, case conceptualization, and intervention while maintaining ethical standards, cultural sensitivity, and professional boundaries in diverse clinical contexts.
This course examines mental health through a Christian spiritual and theological lens, exploring how faith, theology, and spiritual practices intersect with psychological functioning. Students learn to assess spiritual dimensions of distress and resilience and to integrate theological insights into treatment planning in ways that are clinically sound and ethically responsible.
An emphasis is placed on personal formation and applied skill development.Integration Specialization: Faith Integration in Clinical Psychology
For students who desire deeper and more focused training, our PsyD program offers an optional Integration Specialization in Faith Integration in Clinical Psychology.
This specialization allows students to:
- Engage Christian theology and spirituality at an advanced and applied level
- Integrate theological concepts directly into clinical case conceptualization and intervention
- Develop a personal philosophy of faith integration
- Conduct research or scholarship related to faith and clinical practice
The specialization includes advanced coursework, a dissertation component focused on integration, and professional dissemination through presentations or publications.
Read More About Our Specialization in Faith Integration Track
Spiritual Companioning and Formation
Alongside coursework, students participate in Spiritual Companioning, a confidential and nonjudgmental space to process questions, fatigue, doubt and growth with trained spiritual companions.
This experience models the kind of presence students are being trained to offer clients – attentive, respectful, grounded, and free of agenda. An emphasis is placed on safety, confidentiality and respect – and how formation supports resilience and sustainability.
FAQ
While George Fox is a Christian university and we offer specialized Christian integration training, we welcome students from diverse religious, spiritual and philosophical backgrounds. All students are invited to engage integration in ways that are respectful, reflective and developmentally appropriate. The program emphasizes hospitality, ethical humility, and cultural competence rather than coercion or conformity.
Traditional integration often emphasizes conceptual or theoretical integration between psychology and theology. Our program prioritizes embodiment, formation, and application. Students engage integration through self-awareness, relational dialogue, experiential learning, and clinical practice rather than conceptual discussion alone.
Students are trained to work competently with clients across religious, spiritual and secular worldviews. Emphasis is placed on informed consent, respect, non-imposition, cultural humility, and ethical boundaries consistent with APA standards.
No. Students are trained to work ethically and competently with spiritual issues when clients desire it. Integration never involves coercion, proselytizing, or imposing beliefs on clients.
Religion and spirituality are treated as important aspects of cultural diversity. Students learn to assess and engage spiritual concerns respectfully, recognize spiritual resources and struggles, and maintain professional boundaries and informed consent.
Integration coursework directly supports competencies in professional values, ethical decision-making, reflective practice, self-care, relational capacity, cultural humility and advocacy. Integration is treated as a core dimension of professional formation rather than an elective add-on.
The curriculum intentionally addresses self-awareness, moral formation, forgiveness and sustainable self-care. Students develop practices that support long-term health, integrity, and effectiveness in demanding clinical roles.
Students learn to work with the full complexity of human experience, including moral struggle, spiritual meaning, and cultural context. This prepares graduates to serve diverse clients with competence, humility and depth.
We aim to form psychologists who are clinically skilled, ethically grounded, reflective, resilient, and capable of offering humane, culturally sensitive care across diverse settings.
Manesha Ram
There’s such a huge importance in seeing every part of a person and every aspect that they bring into the room. By integrating faith into psychology, we’re better able to serve the whole person and make sure we're not missing any pieces of them.