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At the nexus of mindfulness and parenting lies the fusion of two influential yet contradictory epistemologies, the Eastern contemplative practices with the Western parenting research. Mindful parenting is a parenting style, which has grown in popularity in recent times to support parents during pregnancy, birth and beyond. The current study is the third stage of a mixed methods study on mindful parenting. The first stage of the study design conducted a systematic review of mindful parenting. The second stage summarized the change processes identified in the systematic review. The aim of this pilot study is to clarify four clinicians’ perceptions of cognitive change processes associated with mindful parenting, particularly how theory is translated to practice. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze semi-structured interviews. The six higher-order change processes were conceptualized as an anchor. Cognitive processes included intention, attention, attitude, and reflective functioning. Given its methodological limitations, the next future work needs is to survey a large sample of both clinicians and parents to verify the model. This paper makes an important contribution to the development of a more comprehensive theoretical model of mindful parenting.

At the dawning of the twenty-first century, The Courage to Teach was a tipping point that shifted our conceptualization of faculty development to consider the heart of the teacher, ‘the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human self’ (Palmer, 1998, p. 11). So inspired, a study was designed to inquire into the lived reality of teachers to better understand how teachers experience and make meaning of the phenomenon of teaching (Natoli, 2000, 2006). The objective of the Self as Teacher Study was to interview and observe those who teach to capture how they come to know their subjects and their students with attention to the selfhood of the teacher. Analysis of narratives collected through autobiographical interviews with K-12 instructors and university professors from Boston to Barcelona to Brazil evidenced astounding epistemological patterns – distinctions between teacher ways of knowing and being – which provided insights into the construction of teacher identity and integrity (integritas or wholeness). Ultimately, human virtues are represented in the embodied mind as higher-order cognitions and emotions and manifested as actions through qualitatively different self-states, our better angels. Consequently, faculty development is about human development, expanding consciousness, enhancing capacities for relationship, shifting awareness to integrate new perceptions, and incorporating previously isolated mentalizations. The Model for In-depth Faculty Development is introduced as a grounded theory framework highlighting teacher characteristics and potentials for personal and professional growth through a shared community culture while the POISE® Curriculum offers a system for implementation.

As the only research-intensive university in South Africa outside a metropolitan area, Rhodes University’s mission has foregrounded community engagement (CE) for over a decade, in order to contribute to the development of the surrounding region. This involves building stronger social compacts with community partners through meaningful student engagement in socially accountable ways. In Psychology as a discipline within South Africa, there are strong imperatives for transformation, and decolonization of psychological theory, research, and therapeutic practice require re-examination of curricula, in conjunction with contextual needs for increasing access to psychological assistance. This chapter aims to illustrate ways in which we have worked to translate ideas from the Psychology discipline into CE activities, which in turn has created new knowledge.

Community-based service learning (CBSL) has been embedded into three Psychology Honors-level modules, resonating with the students’ desires to contribute to greater social justice through translating theory into “real world” activities. This research draws from the experiences of the module coordinators (the authors), providing perceptions of coordinating a CBSL module. We assess the contributions and benefits for both students and community partners, also highlighting the challenges encountered. The case studies of modules outline their philosophy, content, and value. Partnership development is described, and students’ reflections on two modules (Community Psychology and Childhood Disability & Mental Health) provide examples of some of their shifts in understanding applied psychology and increased social awareness. The accounts show how students provided assistance and support in their contributions to the different settings. Recommendations are made for enhancing CBSL, including considerations when planning for students, community partners, and faculty staff.

This chapter charts the recent evolution of research focused on reflective supervision provided to practitioners delivering services to young children and their families through early intervention programs. The authors explore research focused on defining reflective supervision, identifying five essential elements or “active ingredients” of reflective supervision as a professional development model and demonstrating the impact on practitioners. The impact studies described in this chapter have produced empirical data demonstrating an increase in reflective supervision behaviors as a result of participation. In addition, the studies provide qualitative accounts of practitioners’ experiences, conveying positive effects on intervention practice and reduction of practitioner job stress.

To examine how clinicians navigate providing treatment to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in the context of the DSM 5, deinstitutionalization, and the biomedical model.

We conducted 39 interviews with mental health providers in the United States in a two-year period preceding and following the release of the DSM 5. Using Constructivist Grounded Theory, we analyzed the data for themes that emerged.

Clinicians faced pressures from insurance companies, the DSM categories, and their professional training to focus on biomedical treatments. These treatments, which emphasized pharmaceuticals and short courses of care, were ill-suited to BPD, which has a strong evidence base recommending long-term therapeutic interventions. We term this contradiction a “biomedical mismatch” and use Gidden’s concept of structuration to better understand how clinicians navigate the system of care. Providers ranged in their responses to the mismatch: some championed biomedicine, others were complicit, and a final group behaved as activists, challenging the paradigm. The sum of the strategies had downstream effects which included crisis reinstitutionalization and a discourse of untreatability. Ultimately, we discuss how social factors such as gender bias, stigma, and trauma are insufficiently represented in the biomedical model of care for BPD.

BPD fits poorly within the biomedical underpinnings of the current system. Accordingly, it illuminates the structuration of health care and where the rules of care break down. More precisely, deinstitutionalization was designed to remove patients from long courses of inpatient care. Many patients with BPD have failed to experience this outcome, with some patients now cycling through long courses of short-term crisis reinstitutionalization instead of having effective outpatient care over long periods. This unintended consequence of deinstitutionalization calls for a more biopsychosocial response to BPD.

There has been a reduction of arts funding the United States educational system, even though research has identified the need for socioemotional learning policy/guidelines/requirements in the US Ed. and more school teachers and counselors. In Texas, geopolitical issues and natural disasters impact learners in the state and corporal punishment is still allowed in some districts, such as Pampa Independent School District (ISD). A study of six art teachers across a large urban school district was conducted to better understand this conundrum vis-a-vis semi-structured interviews with art teachers working in public Middle and High Schools. This chapter investigates the impact of art practices and art teachers on socioemotional self-regulation of students, as we consider the impact on teacher retention using the Heuristic model of child self-regulation and reactivity and school outcomes (Liew, Erbeli, Nyanamba, & Li, 2020). Finally, the ironic finding that teaching art classes is financially emotionally draining for teachers to the point of decreasing retention, yet some are still impassioned to teach art classes, is juxtaposed with attachment theory. Recommendations for art education policy and pedagogy are made using the lens of socioemotional learning, art therapy, empathy, and emotional self-regulation.