Listening and Meditation Practice

As clinically trained chaplains, PLAN practitioners are opposed to religious proselytization and imposition and support only your religious or philosophical worldview if you request such support.

We differ from spiritual directors and/or clinical psychologists in both training and intention. We do not direct, lead, or impose. Nor do we diagnose or treat behavioral health concerns. Instead, we witness and support you as you replace feelings of isolation with a sense of dignity through your experience of being seen, heard, and upheld.

We are clinically trained listeners who’ve obtained graduate-level education in one of many subjects of whole-person study, and who’ve completed 1600 clinical hours of supervised training at accredited clinical pastoral education sites - oftentimes teaching hospitals. We then complete 2000 hours of professional employment prerequisite to achieving board-certification.

 We are equipped to meet you during facilitated, epiphanic, and existential moments of deep reflection and/or feelings or expressions of vulnerability. In such moments, a person's identity may be temporarily free from degrees of varying social, political, cultural and religious constructs - whether imposed or chosen - that continue to shape your authentic autonomous self. Our responsibility is to recognize and support this intangible essence of personhood that exists within each of us. Without this recognition, care would be reduced to addressing only your physical health and emotional responses, leaving behind this essential aspect of being human.

When engaging with facilitated meditation, you will experience the intentional and practical use of each of your senses and becoming truly present with your rational and compassionate response to things just as they are.

PLAN practitioners embody four essential practices: Presence, Listening, Advocacy, and Nourishment. 

Through presence, we create space for you to encounter yourself authentically and without judgment. 

Through listening, we attend to the emotional, spiritual, ethical, and cultural dimensions of your autonomous experience. 

Through advocacy, we support your intentional interest in your personal and professional objectives, expectations, and hopes. 

Through nourishment, we foster your ability to recognize then witness yourself strengthening your dormant inner capacities, reconnecting with sources of meaning and self-comfort, and actively engaging with your own fears, biases, and prejudices with compassion and curiosity.

At times, a PLAN practitioner may gently reframe your voiced perspective if you identify that perspective as contributing to distress or limitation. In doing so, we support your autonomy as you help yourself improve your overall life experience through your ongoing practice of Presence, Listening,  Advocacy, and Nourishment — the essential elements of PLAN.