California Institute of Integral Studies

CIIS’ School of Consciousness and Transformation (SCT) is home to unique, paradigm-shifting programs in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. SCT embraces a constellation of academic programs deeply connected to CIIS’ commitment to integral education. SCT aims at social and personal transformation through teaching and learning practices that honor multiple ways of being, knowing, and acting, giving its graduates a deepened sense of vocation, a rigorous approach to critical scholarship, and the ability to creatively engage their chosen fields.

CIIS’ School of Undergraduate Studies (SUS) houses the Bachelor of Arts Completion (BAC) program, a student-centered, participatory model of education that allows nontraditional students to finish their undergraduate degree in three semesters. Many BAC students are older adults, and they integrate their life experiences with the social justice-oriented curriculum to learn with one another, as whole people, and from one another’s stories.

Founded in 1980, the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) is one of the oldest, most prestigious Chinese medicine schools in the country. In 2015, it merged with CIIS, becoming the University’s fourth school. ACTCM students, alumni, and faculty are deeply engaged in the acupuncture community, serving as leaders at the forefront of integrative care, research, public health, and holistic wellness.

The Sex Therapy Certificate (STC) provides clinicians with the highest quality sexuality and sex therapy education. The STC program is one of the few programs in the U.S. offered by an accredited academic institution, and provides 75 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for California licensed LCSWs, LPCCs, LEPs, and LMFTs.

The Intersectionality & Equity in Therapeutic Practices Certificate (IETPC) provides a comprehensive overview of intersectionality and equity and their clinical application in the field of therapy and other therapeutic healing modalities.

The Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research serves a growing need for the training of skilled therapist researchers who will ideally seek advanced training for future FDA-approved psychedelic-assisted and entactogen-assisted psychotherapy research. Enrollees are professionals in specific licensed mental health and medical professions, as well as eligible ordained or commissioned clergy and chaplains.

The CIIS counseling centers and acupuncture clinics offer affordable award-winning mental health and acupuncture services on a sliding-fee scale. Together, the CIIS clinics offer affordable and effective mind-body-spirit psychotherapy and acupuncture to more than 6,000 individuals each year.

Counseling Centers:
We offer integrative Western psychology with knowledge from the world's spiritual traditions in a variety of therapeutic orientations, such as somatic, transpersonal, psychodynamic, and Gestalt, as well as more conventional modes of psychotherapy. The counseling provided in our centers in unique and respects the specific growth and healing process of each individual.

Acupuncture Clinics:
Our mission is to provide effective, affordable treatment for a wide variety of conditions and diseases using acupuncture, herbs and other healing modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine. We are proud to be diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco since 1981, and at the CIIS Mission St. campus.

To address the demand for trained psychotherapists to work in the expanding field of psychedelic studies, CIIS created the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research (the Center) in 2015. The Center is directed by clinical psychologist Dr. Janis Phelps, who is also a professor in the East-West Psychology program.

As part of a public service campaign to teach a variety of topics related to psychedelic research, the Center offers a series of evening lectures, weekend workshops, webinars, and films shown at CIIS and online. The goal of the Center's Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research is to invite cohorts of licensed psychotherapists and medical professionals to become psychedelic researchers and practitioners in legal clinical studies.

CIIS Public Programs produces conversations, workshops, and a podcast for people who are curious about themselves and the world. Our programs further personal and social transformation by bringing together the diverse voices of visionaries, artists, change-makers, and scholars to share compelling experiences, offer new perspectives, and expand creative horizons. Public Programs enhances and reflects the university's academic mission.

The Arts at CIIS is a contemporary arts exhibition program that cultivates community engagement and creative and integrative approaches to the urgent challenges facing society today. Through exhibitions, publications, and events featuring emerging and established artists, The Arts at CIIS strives to promote pluralism in the arts, to support artists in the creation of new work, and to foster dynamic and critical dialogues within and across communities.