A Mindful Master's Degree in Psychology

With increasing prominence of mindfulness approaches in Western counselling, it is timely for psychologists’ education to address these, but what might a university curriculum with integrated mindfulness look like? We provide an example, the “KANUK” programme for master level psychology students at Aalborg University in Denmark. A Danish psychology degree requires 5 years study of psychological sub disciplines. At Aalborg University, the two master level years are organized by so-called profession programmes in accordance with the idea of problem-based learning that is a hallmark of the university. Eight profession programmes are offered and students choose the one which best
matches their preferences in terms of intervention forms covered, client groups targeted, and pedagogy of the programme. We reorganized the Applied Neuro, Developmental, and Cognitive Psychology (“KANUK”) programme to integrate a crucial role for mindfulness in theory, pedagogy, and personal practice. This was accomplished by scheduling teaching as independent workshops on each their topic (intensive work for 2-4 days with a specific theme or client group), alternating with calmer weeks of reading and mindfulness. Thus, tri-weekly mindfulness sessions supplied continuity to the programme and training of, as well as learning about, mindfulness. These sessions were of 4 hours duration and covered the general idea and history of mindfulness, intervention techniques, scientific evidence, and not least mindfulness practice. This model made KANUK a top-priority programme among students.