Divine Mercy University

Divine Mercy University (DMU) is a Catholic graduate school of psychology and counseling, founded in 1999 as the Institute for the Psychological Sciences. The University is dedicated to the scientific study of psychology with a Catholic understanding of the person, marriage, and the family. The University offers a Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctoral (Psy.D.) degrees in Clinical Psychology, a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Psychology and a Master of Science (M.S.) in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Divine Mercy University (DMU) is governed by its Board of Directors, which has complete and final governing authority over the University. The Board consists of the Bishop of Arlington, Virginia, seven lay Catholic leaders and three members of the Legion of Christ. The Legion sponsors the University by providing a President and a Chaplain and helping to maintain the Catholic identity of the institution.

Vision

Divine Mercy University (DMU) will be an international center for scholarship and professional training dedicated to the development of a psychology grounded in an integral Catholic-Christian view of the human person. Maintaining the highest academic standards, it will educate new generations of psychologists as well as professionals in psychology-related fields and open new areas of research for psychological theories that explore the relationship of psychology and the Catholic-Christian understanding of the human person.

Mission

Divine Mercy University (DMU) is an institution of higher education offering Master and Doctoral degrees. It is affiliated with the Legionaries of Christ. The University is dedicated to the renewal of the Catholic-Christian intellectual tradition and the integration of the theoretical and empirical bases of psychology and a Catholic-Christian view of the human person. Divine Mercy University (DMU) seeks to provide students an effective academic and educational environment that supports the integration of the psychological sciences and a Catholic-Christian understanding of the person through teaching and learning both knowledge and critical skills. It assists students intellectually and professionally as they prepare themselves to respond to their vocation as mental health professionals or as men and women in helping professions. The University’s mission also involves dialogue about its integrative approach with practitioners and scholars, nationally and internationally.

The DMU Model

Divine Mercy University (DMU) is forming professionals in the mental health field and other psychology-related careers to meet the growing demand for men and women who respect the dignity and uniqueness of every client. As a result of our clinical programs, DMU clinicians go beyond simple symptom relief to facilitate true healing and growth for clients and their families. Every one of our programs educates students so that they will help clients develop virtues and flourish as human beings. To assist in articulating this integrated understanding of each client’s complete reality (spiritual, emotional, temporal), the DMU faculty – clinicians and theoreticians, sociologists, philosophers, and theologians – meet regularly in a research group called the Faculty Integration Project. A decade of this multidisciplinary work has resulted in “The DMU Model” of integration. This DMU Model brings together scientific psychology’s theoretical and empirically-based knowledge with philosophical and theological insights about the person from the Catholic faith.

Student Testimonials

“The professors provide an invaluable perspective on the compassion crucial in addressing mental health issues. Moreover, the focus on psychology in terms of man’s physical and spiritual existence equips each student with a full understanding of what it means to be psychologically healthy.” Anna Adams, USA “My education has been invaluable in my day-to-day experience of therapy with college students. I learned to look at the whole person: spiritually, intellectually, physically, and psychologically; to both distinguish issues in each area as well as identify the overlap that exists between the categories in any given person. IPS gave me the tools necessary to continue the integration of faith and psychology in my career as a therapist.” Kate Ebeler, USA