Building Spirituality into your Clinical Practice

This project will be an overview of a training designed for therapists, clinicians and healing practitioners who are committed to deepening their clinical work by incorporating spirituality, ritual, and holistic ways of knowing. It is ideal for those seeking to move beyond Western, individualistic frameworks and embrace a decolonial, liberatory, and feminist approach to healing.

After this training, participants will be able to:

• Identify and integrate non-Western, holistic, and embodied knowledge systems (e.g., integrative knowing, somatic awareness, intuition) as legitimate and vital sources of healing in therapy that can foster deeper, whole-person healing.
• Reflect on their own epistemologies and challenge the dominance of intellectualized, Eurocentric ways of knowing within clinical spaces.
• Explore integrating co-created and culturally sensitive simple rituals (e.g., breathwork, guided grounding, altar-making, intention setting) that align with clients’ values, promoting a sense of sacredness and empowerment.
• Reimagine therapy as a space for collective liberation, where spirituality and healing become tools for empowerment and social justice.
• Reflect on power dynamics within the practitioner-client relationship and commit to shared authority, humility, and co-creation.
• Address therapist biases and discomforts around spirituality, fostering openness and cultural humility in diverse clinical spaces.
• Practice weaving spirituality into therapy in ways that center client agency, cultural safety, and authenticity.

Guest Speaker

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Dr. Mae Casanova is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with over 15 years in the mental health field. She is the owner of growgood psychology, a Liberatory trauma specialty therapy practice in San Diego, California. She received her Bachelors (B.A.) in Marketing, minor in Psychology, as well as Master’s (M.S.) in Clinical Psychology from California Lutheran University, her Doctoral (Psy.D.) degree in Clinical Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and just recently completed a Master’s (M.A.) in Gender, Spirituality and Social Justice from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She believes that therapy is political and that social justice and systemic issues belong in the therapy space. She takes her role as a clinical supervisor and mentor seriously, making sure that her associates and team members understand the intricate interplay between psychology, systemic structures, and the mind-body connection. She understands that by honoring the complexity of human experience and embracing a holistic perspective that focuses on people over symptoms, we can create a more just and equitable world for all.

Register for the Workshop

Related Academic Program
M.A. in Counseling Psychology, Community Mental Health