Meridian University

Psychology Program Overview

Meridian offers four graduate degrees in Psychology that educate students to work in clinical and/or cultural contexts. These degrees provide a cumulative, emergent, and integrated curriculum, empowering the student’s transformation both personally and professionally.

Psychology Program Graduate Degrees:

• M.A. in Psychology
• M.A. in Counseling Psychology
• Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology
• Ph.D. in Psychology

Concentration Options Within the Ph.D. in Psychology:

Educational Objectives for the MA in Psychology:

1. To acquire the knowledge base of Imaginal Psychology and to differentiate Imaginal Psychology from the major orientations to Psychology.
   
2. To develop creative inquiry practices and skills.
3. To develop leadership capacities which further professional engagement with the profession of psychology.
4. To identify one's own culturally constituted, perceptual lenses.
   

Educational Objectives for the Master's in Counseling Psychology:
The Master's in Counseling Psychology builds cumulatively on the MA curriculum. The educational objectives for the Master's in Counseling Psychology include:

1. To demostrate the ability to apply Psychotherapeutic theories and methods directly related to Marriage and Family Therapy and to Professional Clinical Counseling.
2. To identify individual concerns and shadow issues relative to legal and ethical aspects of the helping professions, and to apply legal and ethical principles to dilemmas that arise in psychological work involving conflicting values.
3. To articulate the strengths and limitations of different approaches to psychotherapy for specific clients, issues, and situations and to develop skills for working with trauma, anxiety, depression, and other states of psychological distress within marital and family relationships.
4. To articulate principles of the Recovery Model and client advocacy in public systems of care, as well as the understanding of how poverty and social stress impact psychological statess and well-being.

The Master's in Psychology program consists of two years of coursework. The Master's in Counseling Psychology program consists of two and 3/4 years of coursework. Meridian’s Psy.D. and Ph.D. programs require four years of coursework (or three years for Advanced Standing students).

The Doctoral curriculum builds cumulatively upon the Master's curriculum.

Educational Objectives for the Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology:

1. To understand and implement appropriate uses of psychological assessment resources, with a specialized awareness of individual differences and cultural diversity.
2. To articulate and apply key concepts and major principles of psychopathology to all levels of human systems (individual, couple, family, organization, communities, and societies).
3. To develop creative inquiry practices and skills.
4. To develop leadership capacities which further professional engagement with the profession of psychology.

Educational Objectives for the Ph.D. in Psychology:

1. To develop research and cultural praxis skills.
2. To develop conceptual understanding and the capacities and skills to undertake participatory research that can create new meaning and serve to potentially revitalize personal and cultural transformation.
3. To develop creative inquiry practices and skills.
4. To develop leadership capacities which further professional engagement with the profession of psychology.