Integral Education: The CIIS Blog

Making a Film About the Evolution of Human Consciousness

By ALAN BAISS, Integral Counseling Psychology alum and filmmaker. Learn more about Alan and his films at Integral Inspirations.

Alan has been running an online fundraising campaign for his new film, Conscious, at Indiegogo. If you would like to support his campaign, you have until May 28.

Imagine creating movies that highlight the deep philosophies taught at CIIS in collaboration with a group of alumni who are passionate and dedicated to the vision. We are doing just that, and it’s a dream come true.

"Conscious," our current production, asks about the profound meaning of our moment in time as well as humanity’s great potential to participate with Nature in the next turn in the evolution of consciousness.

Filmmaker Alan Baiss

We are making films under the banner of Integral Inspirations; maybe you have seen "Integral Consciousness," our film about Haridas Chaudhuri, the history of CIIS, and the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. Maybe you have heard of the film "Conversations with Bina," which we had the great honor of making after Bina Chaudhuri passed away. "Conscious" is our third and undoubtedly most ambitious project.

Creating a quality film on a shoestring is a journey loaded with challenges, but when that film is spiritual in its basis, the production takes on elements of a spiritual practice.  Over and over we are being challenged to let go of desired outcomes and to exercise faith in the grace that is present in the production. Imagine flying to India and filming magnificent interviews, only to make the difficult decision of putting most of the interviews in abeyance because of an unanticipated and unrelated situation that arose after filming, and then feeling challenged to trust that somehow this is taking the film in a better direction.

How about our current funding campaign? We are barely over 10 percent of what we need and hoped for. Maybe the invitation is to trust that something greater is arising from our efforts. It could be that the support of the amazing individuals we have connected with as a result of our reaching out will provide vaster riches for the film than achieving our funding goal could; maybe, but of course it would also be nice to reach our goal. Somehow the film "Conscious" insists that we practice the yoga as an integral part of our participation in the production.

We have been interviewing Jerry Schwartz and Pravir Malik for "Conscious." These are two men who are greatly respected in the world of economics and whose philosophy about money grows out of Integral Yoga. Can I present their wisdom on a potential alternative relationship with money in the film with integrity while retaining my familiar values?

"Conscious" is inviting me to act congruently with the film, to have faith in a consciousness far greater than my small "I," and to release what resources I have into service for the realisation of a deeper aspiration, in this case, to make a film with the potential to participate in the evolution of human consciousness.

I graduated from the Integral Counseling Psychology program at CIIS and had a good 12 years in private practice; I really loved this work. Then, after the deaths of my parents, a close friend, and narrowly escaping from a house fire, I realised I did not want to look back on my life and wonder what might have been possible for me if I had taken a chance. I soon closed my practice and returned to San Francisco, and it was here that a series of synchronicities landed me in the unlikely role of producer of films featuring Integral Yoga. I came into this knowing nothing about filmmaking or about Integral Yoga, but thankfully, I have been deeply honored to have been joined on this journey by talented and respected individuals, many of whom, much to my delight, are CIIS alumni.

Please have a look at our campaign and watch some of our videos. If you like what we are aspiring to achieve, please send the film your gift and see what we have for you to show our appreciation. We would also love to hear from you.

CIIS at Top of the List for MFT Licensing Exam Pass Rates in California

By PAULINE E. REIF, alumna of Writing and Consciousness MFA program

CIIS Master of Counseling Psychology students taking the Behavioral Board of Sciences  (BBS) exams for their Marriage and Family Therapy license consistently put CIIS at the top of the list for pass rates in the State of California.

With 96 percent of our students passing the test on their first attempt, CIIS rates as number one for schools in California having more than 20 students. It is also interesting to note that CIIS is among the largest single-campus programs in California with approximately 580 students in attendance.

“These excellent results are reason to be proud and reflect on the quality of our curriculum, faculty, and students,” says Steven Tierney, EdD, chair of the Community Mental Health program (CMH) at CIIS and former president of the San Francisco Health Commission. Tierney believes that our consistent success in licensing exams is due to three primary guiding principles upon which the Institute builds the foundation of its clinical programs, and our high pass rates are a direct result.

The first guiding principle is to train students to be the best clinicians that they can be, concentrating on both theory and clinical practice from the beginning to the end of their programs. The Department of Counseling Psychology degree at CIIS offers five concentrations: Integrative Counseling Psychology, Drama Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, Somatic Psychology, and Community Mental Health. According to Tierney, “each of these programs spends a great deal of time putting together a curriculum built on a foundation of student learning objectives—what we want the students to know, which includes an awareness at all times of what’s on the BBS exams.” This creates a strong foundation for effectiveness with their clients as well as providing a theoretical base that prepares them to do well on the BBS exams.

Transformative personal experience provides the second guiding principle, a value that aligns with the Institute’s integral educational philosophy. “People come to CIIS expecting a powerful personal experience, so we build the curriculum and the clinical experience around that,” Tierney says. As a result students become effective advocates for themselves, their careers, and the people they’ll be working with as clinicians. Their evolving self-knowledge enhances their interpersonal relationships, and enables them to help themselves and each other in moving through the rigors of their education, including the BBS exams and their profession.

The third guiding principle is concerned with closing the loop between theory and the clinical experience. Faculty and CIIS trained supervisors in the field collaborate in tying what happens in the student’s practicum back to their theoretical foundation. “We do it really well,” Tierney says. “We work hard to make sure that our students not only hang on to the lessons learned in their academic experience but are also able to effectively integrate those lessons into their practicum within the community.”

Tierney believes that our efforts to integrate theory and clinical practice in the practicum are paying off in pass rate numbers and in the ways in which our students implement and practice their skills in the community.

Many students develop new theories for their practice. CMH alum John Prochnow exemplifies this viable goal: He wanted to work with homeless veterans, but at the time there was no practicum that provided for this. Tierney supported Prochnow and worked with the CIIS placement office to create a practicum with Swords to Ploughshares, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco that works with veterans. Prochnow created an effective mental health service program for Swords to Ploughshares that still exists, and he continues to work for the organization.

Rev. Alvin Bernstine, another CMH alum, saw a significant need in his Oakland community for a substance abuse program that really worked. He used his life and pastoral experience in combination with what he’d learned in his classes and through his practicum to create a whole new program that continues to operate effectively in his community today.

Clinic Without Walls is another example of the Institute’s successful implementation of engaged theory and practice. A Community Mental Health program, it operates in three of San Francisco’s public housing communities: Valencia Gardens, Rich Sorro Commons, and Nihonmaci Terrace, providing services at the community level right where people live. Clients don’t have to go out to find services; the services are in their buildings. The Clinic Without Walls offers student interns a chance to work in a practicum at the grass roots level in a non-traditional mental health service environment that’s being created, designed, and tested with supervision and support right here at CIIS.

The high pass rates at CIIS consistently validate the effectiveness of the Institute’s Master of Counseling Psychology programs. The proven curriculum objectives and guiding principles lay the groundwork for our students’ success in the classroom, in the community, on the licensing exams, and in their chosen professional careers. CIIS continues to train excellent clinicians, offer a personal and transformative experience, and integrate clinical and theoretical knowledge for the benefit of our students and those in the Bay Area communities that they serve.

California Could Be First State to Ban Reorientation Therapy

A bill that would ban therapy aimed at turning gay and lesbian minors straight—sometimes referred to as sexual orientation change therapy or reorientation therapy—has advanced to the floor of the California State Senate for debate. The bill, known as SB 1172, was introduced by Sen. Ted Lieu, democrat from Torrance, and was approved Tuesday along a party-line vote by the Senate Judiciary Committe.

Passage of the bill would make California the first state to ban this type of therapy.

Steven Tierney, chair of the Department of Counseling Psychology at CIIS and former president of the San Francisco Health Commission, says that the "most minimal standard" of therapy is to do no harm, and indicated that this bill is a step toward that goal.

"The purpose of therapy is to promote healing and to empower and to call forth the young person’s innate power to heal and enhance his or her own well being," Tierney said. "Sen. Lieu’s bill is critically important to promote this model of mental health services."

The bill would also make it illegal for therapists or psychologists to practice sexual orientation change therapy on adults who have not given their written consent.

Some mental health organizations have expressed concern that the bill is written too broadly, and may inhibit therapists from broaching certain topics for fear that they would be breaking the law. The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, which is not in support of the bill in its current incarnation, has indicated that with changes to the bill's language the organization could support the bill.

CIIS Professor Meg Jordan to Speak at Prestigious Wellness Summit in Aspen

Professor Meg Jordan, chair of the Integrative Health Studies program at CIIS, will speak at the prestigious invitation-only Global Wellness & Spa Summit in Aspen, Colo., from June 3-6, 2012.

The theme of the summit for 2012 is, "Innovation through Imagination." The title of Jordan's talk is, "Why Lifestyle Improvement is Not About Willpower."

"Some of the greatest innovations in the art and science of behavior change have finally put to rest old ideas about ironclad discipline and willpower," Jordan says. She will discuss how, over the last five years, there has been a quantum leap in the understanding of how our brains operate. Those findings have migrated to coaching models used by Fortune 100 companies.

"However, the health care system  still labors under outdated health education models," Jordan says. She reports that four big ideas—neuroscience, addiction studies, social ranking behavior, and creative processing—are woven into the best practices of health coaching.

Graduate students in the Integrative Health Studies MA program also earn a certificate in Integrative Wellness Coaching, and benefit from practical application of these "four big ideas."

Other speakers at the summit include John Kao, author of Innovation Nation; Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona; and Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres.