Holding Both Unity and Diversity: Spiritual Formation at Azusa Pacific University Department of Graduate Psychology

A general overview of Azusa Pacific University is provided, followed by a description of the Department of Graduate Psychology (DGP) doctoral training program. An all-Christian faculty and pluralistic student body are distinctive features of the DGP, which consists of both a PsyD program at the Azusa Campus as well as an MA program in Azusa and three Regional Centers. Systemic theory and a systems epistemology inform the infrastructure of the doctoral curriculum, which is organized around a practitioner-scholar model emphasizing seven NCSPP core competencies in psychology as well as three distinctive cross-cutting competencies in intradisciplinary integration, systems theory, and diversity. An overview of spiritual formation training is provided, including descriptions of key courses and extra-curricular offerings. The DGP focuses on both content and process elements of training and formation, taking an intentionally narrative-experiential methodological approach in order to facilitate deep learning. Faculty, student, and alumni narrative perspectives are included. The article concludes with a discussion of future directions regarding spiritual formation training in the department of graduate psychology at APU as well as within the wider community of Christian doctoral programs that share a common vision for integration and spiritual formation.In 1899, Azusa Pacific University was founded as The Training School for Christian Workers by a group of women and men who desired to create a place of preparation for those called to the mission field. Over 100 years later, Azusa Pacific has grown to just over 10,000 students who are offered undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs in a wide range of academic disciplinesand professional programs. While the Christian roots of APU are in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, today the university identifies as Evangelical. Enrollment is open to Christians and non-Christians ; however, all students must commit to honoring APU values and behavioral standards and to be open to learning and interacting with Christian theology and spirituality. Faculty, staff, and administrators, who all sign a statement of faith as a condition of employment, represent every major Christian tradition (Anglican, Catholic, Episcopal, Orthodox, and Protestant).For over 40 years the Department of Graduate Psychology (DGP), housed in the School of Behavioral and Applied Sciences, has offered an MA program in multiple locations (main campus in Azusa and also regional centers) that prepares students for licensure as marriage and family therapists. In 1996 the department accepted the first class of doctoral students pursuing a PsyD in clinical psychology with an emphasis in family psychology. The program was accredited by the American Psychological Association in 2001 and maintains a practitioner-scholar curricular model and a competency-based training model consistent with standards developed by the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology (NCSPP).Systems theory with a systems epistemology is the orienting framework for the doctoral program. The discipline of family psychology emphasizes the dynamic, reciprocal, and non-linear relationship between intraindividual (e.g., biology, intrapsychic structure), interpersonal (e.g., attachment, social patterns), and environmental (e.g., ethnicity, religious, socio-cultural) sources of influence vis-a-vis development, health, illness, and change. Every course in the program (including those traditionally offered with an individual focus) is taught from a systems perspective. Consistent with this emphasis, family psychology represents both the orienting framework for the departmental program and a cross-cutting competency that students are expected to develop. There are four required courses in a sequence dedicated to this competency. Two additional cross-cutting competencies in the program are: diversity and interdisciplinary integration. …