Program Overview
Degree Requirements: See Requirements Tab
Completion Time: 4.5 to 5.5 years
Earned Credits: 75 to 78
Students in the Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine: Mindful Leadership in Healthcare Specialization gain theoretical insights from the latest research and master practical skills useful for organizational leaders and consultants. Their specialization courses include:
- Reflective Leadership in Healthcare
- Theories & Applications in Mindful Leadership
- Mindfulness, Meditation, and Health
- Consulting Skills
- Grant Wring
Graduates from the Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine: Mindful Leadership in Healthcare (MLH) Specialization program will be prepared to pursue careers in a variety of fields. As administrators, policymakers, program directors, and consultants, graduates are able to make positive changes in the health care industry toward more integrated and sustainable models. They may also continue to contribute to research and pursue academic positions.
Others advance in their current roles, such as counselors, psychologists, medical providers, and administrators, with an enhanced skill set and knowledge to implement integrative approaches.
The Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine degree does not qualify graduates for medical licensure.
More program information can be found in our academic catalog.
The requirements for the Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine degree include 75 credits within specific categories of coursework: core (12 credits), research (21 credits), mind-body science (6 credits), practice (9 credits), electives (12 credits), and specialization (15 credits). Students who prefer not to add a specialization will complete 15 credits of additional electives from any category or degree program. If the academic writing course is required, another elective may be added to the degree, thus increasing the requirements to 78 credits. Prerequisites must be met to register for certain courses.
Students enrolled in this specialization must attend Residential Conferences (RCs) if their courses require attendance.
Reflective Leadership in Healthcare
This course is designed to help organizational leaders and coaches to apply mindfulness to enhance leadership reflectivity on an individual and collective basis. Content will explore applications of reflective practices to enhance leadership effectiveness and instill innovation and compassion in collective settings. Course readings and assignments assess diverse meditative and contemplative theory and practices drawn from Eastern and Western traditions as well as modern secular teachings to explore how mindfulness practice can convey to reflective leadership style. In addition, discussions and papers examine how reorienting organizational dispositions toward reflective postures can serve as a foundation for transforming health care toward integrated, integrative, and patient-centered systems. Its objectives include students’ cultivation of their own contemplative styles as well as developing strategies to introduce reflective practices to larger organizational settings. 3 credits
Mindfulness, Meditation, and Health
Mindfulness is the ability to have nonjudgmental awareness of events as they unfold moment by moment. Mindfulness is a fundamental and ancient component of many Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. In recent years, substantial research has been conducted on the use of mindfulness in the treatment of medical conditions and mental disorders, as well as its application in health care, education, and the workplace. This course is both theoretical and experiential. Students learn about and discuss the origins of mindfulness practices, the modern scientific underpinnings of mindfulness research, and multiple applications of mindfulness in medicine, health care, and society. Students learn and are supported in the personal development of simple mindfulness practice. Students’ personal experiences are the basis for understanding mindfulness as a tool for stress management, self-awareness and self-efficacy. Students are also encouraged to assess the appropriateness of mindfulness in their own lives as a spiritual practice and a way of life. 3 credits
Theories and Applications in Mindful Leadership
This course explores an emerging orientation in leadership theories and practice: to intentionally incorporate mindfulness and compassion-based perspectives into practices. Students will assess the characteristics and intended outcomes of various contemporary paradigms that introduce mindful and compassion principles for developing individual leadership capacities as well as shifting organizational culture to a more sustainable environment. Course assignments will focus on identifying how related principles can address issues in modern health care and adapting such corresponding practices to health care organization settings. This course provides methods for health care consultants, administrators, and researchers to evaluate leadership styles, processes and outcomes in holistic and humanistic ways through the use of mindful-oriented approaches, particularly in integrated settings. 3 credits
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“The work is rigorous, but the rewards are great, especially for those interested in changing the direction of healthcare. As a mind-body medicine student, you might discover that when you have finished your Saybrook work, the real work begins, and in the process, you have changed yourself.”
– Luann Fortune, Ph.D., Mind-Body Medicine Specialization Coordinator