The Gift of Spiritual Psychology

While I was in graduate school and learning the Spiritual Psychology approach, we all knew that what we were being exposed to was something extra special. The fact that a portion of the students were flying in from all over the world to attend may have clued me in on this when I began the coursework. We would meet once a month for three days, practice the new skills we were learning from one another, and then leave and do our written work until we met again. Obviously, if we were counseling each other it made for a very close student body.

People in the school were healing, and profoundly. I recall one student that was struggling with depression, to the point of considering suicide. One day she got up, asked for the microphone, which we communicated to the over 200 people in the room with, and proclaimed, “I just got it! God don’t make no junk!”

In my practice I decided years ago, to follow the same format that they used at the university because it was so effective for me. I knew that the students were claiming incredible results, but who really knew? I knew that I had suffered from early abuse and had a substance addiction problem and for the first time in my life I felt free.

School beforehand was something to tolerate, you know, get the grade and move on. This was school the way you always wished it would be. We all were hungry for any new information, new perspective, and any opportunity to get into duos with fellow students to work on our own stuff. It was weird looking forward to sessions when in my life beforehand I dreaded meeting with my counselor.  

I think this is what makes Basic Steps Mental Health so appealing. We conduct treatment like it was in school. We educate, love, and enjoy each interaction with our clients. As the supervisor there I take great pride when I hear my associates and interns laughing with clients during their sessions. To me, this is where the real healing takes place. We know all too well how difficult life can get and when joy is present, well there is nothing that compares.

For the past 9 years I’ve got to run the show, so to speak. I guess, to be honest, I’m not really running anything but providing the information and expertise I have gathered over the years. Running things is a combination of the client’s effort, how centered the staff is, and the spirituality that takes place. Treatment therefore can be considered kind of like a stew.

I had worked at a luxury residential treatment facility in Malibu, I worked at the first Mental Health Urgent Care Center in the country for years and saw thousands of people there. This work I did for others, suddenly I was the one in charge.

 

 

I first opened up a residential treatment facility and for 3 ½ years, it was like running a school. I saw the detriments of this when people showed up, did great, but failed to follow up once they were back home. I soon realized that it took me 1 ½ years to fully integrate the Spiritual Psychology approach into my own life and expected others to get it in a month? Yeah, it did for a lot of people, but others struggled. Therefore I opened up the outpatient clinic, that I currently run so people can continue with treatment and face the darker issues that often surface after residential work. I must say that this has been a much better format.

The first thing that struck me about Spiritual Psychology was the belief: “When love is applied to hurt, we heal.” Check out other psychology approaches and see what their healing strategy is, or if they even have one. I know with behavioral therapy they want people to do the right behaviors over and over again until they stick, and for many populations, for example, the learning disabled, this one is a great approach. But, when you address an emotional problem emotionally, the magic of healing is at hand.

In school, we were all healing as we practiced on one another. I had an anxiety disorder that I tolerated when I first entered the university. A few months into the coursework I recall waiting in line at the bank and realizing that people weren’t judging me and I didn’t feel like sprinting out. The new psychology had impacted me more in a few months than years of seminars or the one on one sessions. I felt relieved. Then it struck me how I was used to the feeling of fear and had been tolerating it. I really, for the first time in my life felt free.

Let me ask you this, could you imagine looking forward to school and dreading when it was over? Yep, that’s what we all went through. If you wanted to cling on, like I did, you could volunteer your time after you graduated and grade the homework of the current class if you wanted, or assist in the large auditorium since there were over 200 students in the class. Who thinks fondly of their school? I hated high school, thought that the bachelor level education was a joke at times, and then BAM I was hit between the eyes at the graduate level with Gestalt Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, and the list goes on and on!

Even in my individual sessions currently, people are given handouts, shown the different psychological dynamics that are at play, and are given a big dose of love and compassion. This is a major part of the Spiritual Psychology approach and I personally believe that there is not enough of that in our current lives.

We had the start of a new group at Basic Steps Mental Heath last week and with each new group, I am reminded of when I first started attending USM or The University of Santa Monica. The university has changed format and no longer has its accreditation, but I was so proud to have attended the school in its heyday. Ron and Mary Hulnick, the owners of the University are still teaching but only online and are doing coursework for coaching. They still offer the same education that I obtained but through the computer screen. I feel for the newer students because they are missing out on the energy of the big room, the meeting of best friends, and of course all of the hugs.

I didn’t realize when I first started typing that I would be paying tribute to the school I graduated from in 1999. Has it been 23 years since I spilled my guts and went for the deepest level of healing that was possible? I am grateful I had the experience and am grateful that I can pass all the information along. I’ve been working in the industry since 1994 and still enjoy showing up each day and presenting the information that had such a profound effect on me and the countless others I share this gift with.  

Compassionate Care is Always Available

There are many more tools and strategies you can use in your pursuit of happiness. Here is where we come in. Contact us at Basic Steps Mental Health and let us support and educate you on this journey back to your loving heart center. Imagine living a heart-centered life, regardless of what is happening externally. We’d love to be of help.

For 25 years, Dr. Scott Alpert, the clinical director of Basic Steps Mental Health, has treated over 7,000 people with mental health and addiction problems, using a Psychological approach that mixes and matches ten of the top approaches used in the industry. We are here virtually and in-person to help you get through this COVID-19 pandemic and many other difficulties you may be experiencing.

May you have good mental health.