Multicultural Orientation and Contemplative Awareness (MOCA) Training Course Hosted on Podia
Principal Investigators: Dr. Daniel Gutierrez & Dr. Stephanie Dorais
MOCA is a novel online educational program that trains mental health professionals in contemplative practice under the context of multicultural competence. The online course was designed to be brief, experientially driven, and focused on enhancing multicultural orientation as opposed to traditional didactic knowledge based approaches.
Background
Hosted on the Podia platform, the training is designed to be asynchronous, self-paced, and experiential. It consists of four modules, each containing two guided contemplative practices contextualizing their relevance to multicultural competence. These modules are composed of brief video training created by the authors, supplemented with several external videos by related experts (Author et al., under review). Each module includes 1-2 didactic videos along with two contemplative practice trainings that trainees are encouraged to continually engage in. The didactic videos emphasize the role of contemplation in fostering cultural humility, cultural comfort, and identifying missed opportunities, aligning with the Multicultural Orientation (MCO; Davis et al., 2018) framework. The contemplative practices in each module are curated to integrate with facilitating a counselor’s multicultural orientation. For instance, contemplative journaling is paired with a didactic video on cultural humility, to enable trainees to reflect more deeply on this topic. This integrative approach ensures that trainees not only learn about multicultural competence but also internalize and apply these principles through reflective and experiential practice.
Settings
Graduate school courses
Internship/Practicum sites
Supervision
Faculty or Professional development
Evidence
Preliminary findings of the RCT of the current study indicate the tool demonstrated significant positive effect on S/R competence when compared to a wait list control.
Testimonials
We received numerous unrequested responses from participants that reported they greatly enjoyed the courses, they benefited from them, and were greatly interested in continuing the practices learned.
Keywords
Training, contemplation, meditation, awareness, humility, attitude, education
