Spiritual Competency Academy

Gary Buck, PhD is a graduate of Meridian University’s Doctor of Psychology program and also holds a bachelor’s degree in Religion from Princeton University. He is a licensed psychologist and has participated in trainings led by Zindel Segal, PhD in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, by Richard Miller, PhD in Yoga Nidra/Integrative Restoration, and completed an internship with Saki Santorelli in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the U. of Massachusetts Medical School. A Buddhist meditator of nearly 50 years, he currently practices in the Vajrayana tradition where his main interests are Mahamudra and Dzogchen. He is a former Buddhist monk in the Thai Theravadan tradition. Gary is a former Managing Director and Board member of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and a former Associate Director of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County. He is currently a psychotherapist in private practice in San Rafael and Petaluma, CA, where he sees child and adult clients.

David Lukoff, PhD is a licensed psychologist and co-author of the DSM IV and DSM 5 diagnostic category Religious or Spiritual Problem which increased awareness of spiritual issues in clinical practice. He has published over 80 articles on spirituality and mental health, and is an active workshop presenter internationally on spiritual competency, grief, death, recovery, and spiritual crises. He is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, CA and previously served on the faculties of Harvard and UCLA. He is co-founder of the Spiritual Competency Academy which offers training programs on mindfulness, forgiveness and spiritual assessment.

Cassandra Vieten, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist, mind-body medicine researcher, author, consultant, and public speaker. She is Executive Director of the John W. Brick Foundation, Associate Research Scientist at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019. Her research has focused on spirituality and health, transformative experiences and practices, the development of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional well-being, and development of media technologies to inspire awe. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and completed her research training in behavioral genetics at UC San Francisco. She has authored three books, published numerous articles in scientific journals, and is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and workshop leader.