InterSpiritual Mentor Training
Certification to Help Others Create their Own
7-Step ISM Practice and Spiritual Path
Begins July 5, 4:30-6:00pm PDT
About the Program
The InterSpiritual Mentor Training program is designed for those who wish to enrich their own practice and to help others in both InterSpiritual Meditation and the InterSpiritual Mandala process. (We will consider modifying the start time that will work best for everyone.)
Trainees will join a mutually supportive cohort and be mentored by Certified Mentors and Dr. Ed Bastian. They will learn to use our books and website content, profile instruments, custom search engine, journals and methodologies to help others to create their own spiritual paths and contemplative practices.
The length of this training process is six months. Mentors-in-training can begin after completing the InterSpiritual Meditation (ISM) course and the InterSpiritual Mandala Course.
Please click the APPLY link to complete your application. When accepted, you will receive a code for enrolling.
Who is the Mentor Training Program for?
This course will teach a mentoring process and skill set for helping friends, family, spiritual companions, mental health clients, students, coaching clients, professional colleagues, members of your congregation and book club.
Requirements
- The InterSpiritual Meditation (ISM) 8-Week Course (synchronous or asynchronous).
- The InterSpiritual Mandala 8-Week Course (synchronous or asynchronous).
- Approved application to attend the Mentor Training Course.
- 13 live Zoom sessions over 6 months (July-December), meeting every other week. Begins July 5, 4:30-6:00pm PDT / 7:30-9:00pm EDT.
- Meet with a Dyad Partner on alternate weeks.
- Final capstone presentations in Session 13.
- Practicum – Supervised mentoring of external mentees.
- Practicum – Practice Mentoring with cohort members.
- Certification to use website to mentor others.
- Ongoing Site Membership.
- Ongoing support sessions with other Certified Mentors.
for enrollment
1. The InterSpiritual Meditation (ISM) Course
This course is a prerequisite for the Mentor training program. It is a nine-session online course that includes weekly 90-minute live ZOOM calls led by Certified Mentors and Ed Bastian. These include guided meditation, teaching, Q/A and breakout group discussions. Candidates for mentor training certification are required to participate in each of the eight-week course sessions (live and asynchronously).
In this course, a prospective mentor will use our Styles Profile Instrument, custom search engine, journal
worksheets and community practice circles to (1) learn how each of the seven steps are defined in diverse
spiritual and secular traditions, and (2) refining their practice of each of the seven steps. In so doing, they
will create their own InterSpiritual Meditation Mandala that summarizes their learning and practice.
This course begins by completing the Spiritual Styles Instrument. This instrument helps each student to
harness their archetypal styles in order refine their personal approach to each of the seven steps based on
the wisdom of their chosen spiritual and secular sources and their own life experience. They will learn to
practice the seven-step InterSpiritual Meditation to cultivate health, happiness, gratitude, transformation,
love, mindfulness, wisdom and service to others.
Reflection Paper or Project: Those who wish to qualify for the mentor training program will need to attend the
weekly online course sessions, actively utilize our learning tools and content, and complete a reflection paper or project. This paper or project will summarize the wisdom gained from at least three spiritual/secular sources for each step, summarize at least three spiritual styles they have harnessed and balanced, and summarize the contemplative
practice they have developed for each of the seven steps.
2. The InterSpiritual Mandala Course
This course is a prerequisite for the Mentor Training program. It is a nine-session online course that includes a 90-minute live ZOOM call, led by mentors and Ed Bastian, that will include guided meditation, teaching, Q/A and breakout group discussions. Candidates for mentor training certification will attend each session in the nine-week course (live and asynchronously).
In this course, our prospective mentor will use our Styles Profile Instrument, custom search engine, journaling worksheets and community practice circles help each participant to define their own spiritual path and meditation practice by drawing on the wisdom of the world’s great spiritual and secular traditions. They create their personal
InterSpiritual Mandala that contains the wisdom and practices defining their personal spiritual path.
This course engages prospective mentors in an exploration each of the 12 families of spiritual styles,
questions and traditions outlined in the InterSpiritual Mandala. We begin with the Spiritual Styles and
Questions Profile instruments for self-assessing and harnessing individual learning/practice archetypes to
find answers and practices that define our spiritual paths. Participants explore and share their personal
styles and questions and develop a long-term process for spiritual and meditative fulfillment. They also
engage in the seven steps of InterSpiritual Meditation to cultivate health, happiness, gratitude,
transformation, love, mindfulness, wisdom and service to others.
Reflection Paper or Project: Those who wish to qualify for the mentor training program will need to attend the
weekly online course sessions, and complete a 1,000 word minimum capstone paper or a project
combined with an explanatory paper. This paper/project will draw from their journal writing on a
minimum of three styles, three questions and three sources. The answers do not need to be final, but
they should describe the process and sources leading to a present state of knowing.
3. Cohort Zoom Sessions
During the training period, there will be 13 biweekly, 90-minute ZOOM sessions over a period of 6 months. Each session will include mentor lead discussions with the trainees (on meditations, styles, and questions), practical advice from Certified Mentors and Ed Bastian, and case studies presentations/discussions based on the trainees’ experiences working with their practicum mentees.
4. Practicum Mentoring with Cohort Members and External Mentees.
Each trainee will work individually or as a dyad partner with one of our cohort members.
These sessions can include (1) personal work and (2) trainees’ work with their own clients.
- Personal Work
Here, trainees will share journal writings and insights on each of the 12 styles, questions and sources, and on each step of InterSpiritual Meditation. - Practicum with New Mentees
Here, trainees work with new students with periodic check ins with course cohort members and instructor. New mentees will need to become members of our website and use the books, styles profile, custom search engine, journals and website content to enrich their process of learning and practice.
5. A Capstone Paper
Each mentor trainee will write an extensive paper that includes the following: (1) Summaries of their
journal writings on the 12 styles, 12 questions, 12 sources and the 7-steps of ISM. (2) Case studies of their
experience mentoring others. (3) Descriptions of how they are integrating and applying ISM and the
Mandala Process in their own lives. (4) Examples of how these processes have become a useful adjunct to
their professional work in such fields as psychotherapy, health care, yoga instruction, spiritual direction,
ministry, chaplaincy, public service.
6. Mentor Retreats
Our hope is to hold an in-person retreat each year for mentors-in-training to get to know each other, to
share their styles, questions, sources and meditations, to share their experiences working with clients, and
to engage in meditations, rituals and creative expressions of our combined work. These retreats might
include graduation ceremonies for those who have completed the program.
7. Certification to Use the Website and Workbooks
After successfully completing the mentor training process, a certificate will be awarded to each graduate to use the books, workbooks, and Spiritual Paths website for working with their own mentees. They will be expected to continue communicating with each other, following the ethical and discussion guidelines
when working with their students, and sharing experiences and best practices for InterSpiritual Mentoring with their fellow Mentors.