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Integrating Faith, Meaning, and Mental Health
CCSIP Certification™ — Training clinicians and chaplains in Catholic Christian Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy
Ethical and Cultural Competence in Whole-Person Care
The Biopsychosocial Spiritual Moral Model
The operating model behind everything we do
Catholic anthropology teaches that the human person is one — body, mind, relationships, spirit, and conscience held together, never reducible to any single part. The Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person (CCMMP) gives that conviction its fullest contemporary expression. But an anthropology tells us who the person is; clinical work needs an operating system for how to care for them.
That is the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual-Moral framework. BPSSM puts the CCMMP into practice — drawing on the biopsychosocial-spiritual tradition that has shaped spiritually integrated care for four decades, and completing it with the dimension those models long folded into the spiritual or the psychological but never held on its own terms: the Moral.
Where most clinical models hold three or four dimensions, BPSSM holds five — and it does what an anthropology alone cannot: 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
Rooted in the Catholic Christian intellectual tradition and built on a proven clinical lineage, 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.
Proud Continuing Education Provider
The Elijah Institute offers professional education in ethical, faith-integrated, whole-person care.
The Elijah Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7719. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Elijah Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
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, examination of conscience, virtue formation, and whole-person care—and making them accessible to individuals seeking to
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, PhD, ABPP Professor of Psychology, Santa Clara University; Director, Applied Spirituality Institute; Emeritus Adjunct Professor, Stanford Medicine.
Thomas G. Plante, PhD, ABPP Professor of Psychology, Santa Clara University; Director, Applied Spirituality Institute; Emeritus Adjunct Professor, Stanford Medicine.
Thomas G. Plante, PhD, ABPP Professor of Psychology, Santa Clara University; Director, Applied Spirituality Institute; Emeritus Adjunct Professor, Stanford Medicine.
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, Archdiocese of Minneapolis St. Paul
Thomas G. Plante, PhD, ABPP Professor of Psychology, Santa Clara University; Director, Applied Spirituality Institute; Emeritus Adjunct Professor, Stanford Medicine.
Thomas G. Plante, PhD, ABPP Professor of Psychology, Santa Clara University; Director, Applied Spirituality Institute; Emeritus Adjunct Professor, Stanford Medicine.
"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”