Paul C. Vitz is a Senior Scholar and Professor, Institute for the Psychological Sciences, Divine Mercy University; Professor of Psychology Emeritus, New York University.  ( Ph.D. Stanford University).

Dr. Vitz’s work is focused on the integration of Christian theology, especially Catholic anthropology, with psychology and breaks from secularism and post-modern relativism. This is expressed in his work on the just published Catholic Christian Meta Model of the Person. He also addresses: hatred and forgiveness; the  importance of fathers; psychology of atheism; and the complemenentarity of men and women. He has published seven books and many articles, videos, Op-Eds, etc.

William J. Nordling, Ph.D., is a Professor and clinical supervisor at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences (School of Psychology) at Divine Mercy University. He is one of the co-founding faculty members of the IPS (DMU) and for eighteen years served as Chair of the Department and then as Academic Dean. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is licensed as a clinical psychologist. His areas of expertise include child, marriage, and family therapy. He is widely recognized as an expert in the area of play therapy, and is co-author of the award-winning textbook Child Centered Play Therapy: A Practical Guide to Developing Therapeutic Relationships with Children. Dr. Nordling currently holds training faculty appointments in a number of training institutes including the National Institute of Relationship Enhancement (USA), Play Therapy Australia, and ChildPlayWorks (New Zealand). Dr. Nordling was a founding board member and served as president of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association. He also served on the board and as president of the national-level Association for Play Therapy.

Prof. Dr. Craig Steven Titus is professor at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences (Divine Mercy University [DMU], Sterling, Virginia) and director of the Department of Integrative Studies at DMU. His research interests focus on: virtue theory and the psychology of virtue; emotional and moral development; resilience and virtue; and the integration of psychological sciences, philosophy, and theology. He previously worked at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) as Researcher, Instructor, Vice-Director of the St. Thomas Aquinas Institute for Theology and Culture, and Vice-Director of the Servais Pinckaers Archives. His first book Resilience and the virtue of fortitude: Aquinas in dialogue with the psychosocial sciences (Catholic University of America Press [CUA], 2006) sets up a dialogue between virtue theory and the psychosocial research on resilience and overcoming difficulty. He is editor of ten books and co-editor of The Pinckaers reader: Renewing Thomistic moral theology (CUA, 2005). He also published 45 other journal articles and book chapters, for example, in Journal of Positive Psychology; Journal of Psychology and Christianity; Journal of Moral Theology; The Thomist; Edification: The Journal of the Society of Christian Psychology; and Revue d’Ethique et de Théologie Morale. He recently co-edited: A Catholic Christian meta-model of the person: Integration of psychology and mental health practice (DMU Press, 2020), in which he co-authored 17 chapters. Most recently, he published the book chapter entitled “Virtue and resilience: Aquinas’s Christian approach to virtue applied to resilience,” in Biblical and theological visions of resilience: Pastoral and clinical insights (Routledge, 2020).

About A Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person: Integration of Psychology and Mental Health Practice

A Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person integrates the insights of three wisdom traditions—the psychological sciences, philosophy, and theology—to provide a framework for understanding the person. The Meta-Model develops a more systematic, integrative, and non-reductionist vision of the person, marriage, family, and society than is found in any of these three disciplines alone. The Meta-Model is a unifying framework for the integration of already-existing personality theories and therapeutic models. In addition, it enhances assessment, diagnosis, case conceptualization, and treatment planning by addressing eleven essential dimensions of the person needed in mental health practice aimed at healing and flourishing. The book also explores how the Meta-Model framework can improve client care. Finally, it demonstrates how the Meta-Model assists mental health professionals to better understand how they can be faithful to their Christian identity as they serve all clients—Christians, persons from other faiths, and non-believers.