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Mental Health Care for a Changing America
You were trained to see the whole person. Then told to leave out the part that matters most to them.
Cultural Competency in Whole-Person Care
For Clinicians
Whole-person care requires clinicians and care providers to thoughtfully engage the cultural, relational, spiritual, and moral dimensions of human experience.
Elijah Institute courses emphasize ethical, evidence-informed approaches to cultural humility, spiritual integration, and respect for human dignity across diverse Catholic backgrounds and experiences.
Elijah Institute is recognized by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7719. We offer faith-based programs that nurture your spiritual and academic journey. All our offerings are carefully curated to uphold excellence and integrity, with clear distinctions between credit-eligible courses and others.
The Biopsychosocial-Spiritual-Moral Model
The operating model behind everything we do
The operating model behind everything we do
Catholic anthropology teaches that the human person is one — body, mind, relationships, spirit, and conscience. The Biopsychosocial-Spiritual-Moral framework translates that anthropology into clinical practice.
BPSSM holds five dimensions together where most clinical models hold three or four — and it maps the full arc from crisis to flourishing.
- Biological — body, brain, nervous system
- Psychological — thought, emotion, identity
- Social — relationships, family, community
- Spiritual — meaning, prayer, grace
- Moral — conscience, virtue, agency, the questions that shape a life
Grounded in the Catholic Christian intellectual tradition, BPSSM is the operating model behind our courses, our podcast, and the care coordination work we are building.
One model. Five dimensions. The whole person.
For Anyone Carrying Something Heavy
A podcast that explores the Beauty in the Broken Glass
We don't provide therapy — but we open doors to faith-integrated care through our podcast, formation content, and a growing network of trained clinicians.
Allied Organizations
Building Catholic whole-person mental health takes more than one institution.
The Elijah Institute works alongside universities, dioceses, parishes, and Catholic ministries committed to forming clinicians, supporting communities, and accompanying individuals toward healing. The collaborations below reflect ongoing work to extend access to formation in whole-person care.
Cultural Competency in Whole-Person Care
Elijah Institute is recognized by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7719. We offer faith-based programs that nurture your spiritual and academic journey. All our offerings are carefully curated to uphold excellence and integrity, with clear distinctions between credit-eligible courses and others.
Allied Organizations
Building Catholic whole-person mental health takes more than one institution.
The Elijah Institute works alongside universities, dioceses, parishes, and Catholic ministries committed to forming clinicians, supporting communities, and accompanying individuals toward healing. The collaborations below reflect ongoing work to extend access to formation in whole-person care.
Trusted Voices
Most Reverend Bernard A. Hebda Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
"As Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, I support the mission of the Elijah Institute in its dedication to the integration of Catholic faith and evidence-based psychotherapy. In a world where the need for authentic, faith-informed mental health care is growing, I support the Elijah Institute’s desire to provide essential training fo
"As Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, I support the mission of the Elijah Institute in its dedication to the integration of Catholic faith and evidence-based psychotherapy. In a world where the need for authentic, faith-informed mental health care is growing, I support the Elijah Institute’s desire to provide essential training for mental health professionals who seek to serve individuals, families, and Catholic communities with both professional excellence and spiritual integrity. I commend their efforts to form practitioners who uphold the dignity of the human person and foster true healing through a synthesis of psychological expertise and Catholic anthropology."
Anthony Isacco, PhD
Program Director, Professor, Head of Clinical Research
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is pleased to support the mission of the Elijah Institute in its commitment to retrieving and deploying the Catholic tradition’s rich practices of accompaniment, spiritual direction, examinatio
Anthony Isacco, PhD
Program Director, Professor, Head of Clinical Research
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is pleased to support the mission of the Elijah Institute in its commitment to retrieving and deploying the Catholic tradition’s rich practices of accompaniment, spiritual direction, examination of conscience, virtue formation, and whole-person care—and making them accessible to individuals seeking to explore their faith and grow toward flourishing.
The Elijah Institute’s work builds directly on the Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person (Vitz, Nordling & Titus, 2020), which is foundational to our own Integrated Clinical Psychology master’s program. Through its formation curriculum and the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual-Moral framework, the Elijah Institute equips practitioners, pastoral leaders, and lay ministers to draw on Christian practices rooted in Catholic anthropology—integrating prayer, conscience, accompaniment, and sacramental life into the settings where people are already showing up with spiritual questions, including counseling rooms, parishes, and schools.
We commend their efforts to help individuals and families explore the practices of the Catholic faith and to form the leaders who can guide them. We look forward to deepening our collaboration with the Elijah Institute in service of this shared mission.
Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D., ABPP Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J. University Professor Professor of Psychology, Religious Studies (crtsy), & The Jesuit School of Theology (crtsy), Director, Applied Spirituality Institute Santa Clara University and Emeritus Adjunct Professor Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Stanford University Medical School
Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D., ABPP Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J. University Professor Professor of Psychology, Religious Studies (crtsy), & The Jesuit School of Theology (crtsy), Director, Applied Spirituality Institute Santa Clara University and Emeritus Adjunct Professor Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Stanford University Medical School
Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D., ABPP Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J. University Professor Professor of Psychology, Religious Studies (crtsy), & The Jesuit School of Theology (crtsy), Director, Applied Spirituality Institute Santa Clara University and Emeritus Adjunct Professor Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Stanford University Medical School
I fully and enthusiastically support the mission of the Elijah Institute in its dedication to the integration of Catholic faith tradition and quality evidence-based professional psychotherapy using best practices and a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach. In a community where the desperate need for high quality, professional, faith-infor
I fully and enthusiastically support the mission of the Elijah Institute in its dedication to the integration of Catholic faith tradition and quality evidence-based professional psychotherapy using best practices and a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach. In a community where the desperate need for high quality, professional, faith-informed mental health care is needed and growing, I support the Elijah Institute' s desire to provide this essential training and consultation for mental health professionals and trainees who seek to serve individuals, couples, families, and Catholic community at large with both professional excellence and spiritual integrity.
Fr. James M. Perkl Pastor, Mary, Mother of the Church
Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D., ABPP Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J. University Professor Professor of Psychology, Religious Studies (crtsy), & The Jesuit School of Theology (crtsy), Director, Applied Spirituality Institute Santa Clara University and Emeritus Adjunct Professor Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Stanford University Medical School
Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D., ABPP Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J. University Professor Professor of Psychology, Religious Studies (crtsy), & The Jesuit School of Theology (crtsy), Director, Applied Spirituality Institute Santa Clara University and Emeritus Adjunct Professor Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Stanford University Medical School
"There is no contradiction between the wisdom of the Church and the science of mental health. Forming clinicians in both is not only possible—it is essential to truly serve the Body of Christ. As a pastor and a first responder chaplain, I see every day how imperative it is to provide mental health support that is deeply grounded in Cath
"There is no contradiction between the wisdom of the Church and the science of mental health. Forming clinicians in both is not only possible—it is essential to truly serve the Body of Christ. As a pastor and a first responder chaplain, I see every day how imperative it is to provide mental health support that is deeply grounded in Catholic teaching. The Elijah Institute's training is vital to health and wellbeing of our culture”