Find happiness & inner peace as you discover emotional insight, improve human connection, and solve mental health problems. This transformative course in human nature gives you a coaching certification and thought leadership in mental well-being. 1 year online program starts Aug 25th, 2025.
Ask a question about the course.
See tuition
Gain new perspectives on emotions, mental excellence, happiness, relationship connection, and the virtues and passions in this master class on mental and emotional well-being, approached through the lens of pre-modern psychology, the virtues, and vices.
Am I ready for this Course? - Take the Self Assessment Quiz
In this course you will discover:
- Abiding happiness that is independent of circumstances, from a realistic perspective.
- Emotional Insight - Gain emotional intelligence grounded in thousands of years of insight into human nature and the passions.
- Character based decision making grounded in mental excellence (the virtues). The goal here is not merely inspiration, but also stability and reason, and effective discernment and decision making.
- Perspective and freedom from emotional instability - yielding a warm, vibrant emotional life in sync with natural meaning & value of human affairs.
- Improved relationships and the mental strength necessary to love, hope, and believe within difficult circumstances.
- Prevent and recover from addiction, distraction, spiritual dryness, triggering mental patterns, and shutting down.
- Appreciation for the beauty of creation - the rich tapestry everywhere infused into the garden of life. We aim to fill hearts with warmth, meaning, purpose, and grace, helping others to see what is wonderful in creation, and worth living and loving.
- Answer basic spiritual questions such as the meaning of life, what happiness is, and what can we know and think about God through reason alone. This course will answer puzzling questions, such as "What is spirituality, anyway?", making sense of, and finding fulfillment in, the rich Medieval scholastic understanding of the spiritual world and its relation to human happiness.
The classical approach to psychological well-being and happiness, also known as
natural law philosophy forms the basis of Greek, western, and
Ayurveda philosophy, and was the
dominant mental health model from 300 BC until the late 1800s.
A major focus of the course is
identification of the root causes of disordered emotions, overwhelm, disproportionate passions and vices, and a diverse set of
tools to heal trauma.
You will discover practical methods for improving happiness, character strengths, managing emotions, and harnessing the motivational energy of the passions. These insights will equip you to direct your clients to happiness, improved relationships, and success through intentional living.
This 1-year online training program guides you to personal excellence and teaches you how to communicate these principles to others, assess gaps in their mental well-being, and offer corrective mental health coaching.
![]()
Upon graduating, each student will be
given a certificate demonstrating their professional qualifications to legally practice as a character strengths coach in the United States and meet with clients.
A character strengths coach is a wellness coach who supports clients working towards the flourishing they seek, offering them practical strategies and helping them marshal their inner strengths for success.
The field of wellness coaching has been growing steadily for years. "According to some surveys, 60% of Americans want health coaching, but 80% of them have never had it offered to them." (Source: Health Coaching Gains Favor Among Consumers, Insurers, & Employers) This course can help you meet this need, while equipping you to provide a positive vision of psychological well-being, something often missing in the modern world.
By the end of this program you
will know n practical detail, the classical approach to human nature, the passions (emotions), and virtues, including--
- What it is that makes a person truly, enduringly happy.
- The role of the various passions (emotions)--love, hatred, anger, sadness, avoidance, desire, etc.--in achieving happiness, and how the passions can undermine happiness as well.
- Why developing a virtuous character is an essential part of becoming happy. Concrete, practical approaches to managing one's passions and strengthening the virtues of a noble character. How to avoid unhealthy behaviors that can easily feel like virtue, but are not.
- How the passions and virtues interact with and support each other in the formation of character: for example, why one cannot have perfect fortitude without hope or charity without faith, or why temperance helps you achieve justice.
Teachers, directors, spiritual advisors, human resources managers, and wellness coaches will use this knowledge to
advance in their current careers as they
- Educate others about the classical approach to human functioning, happiness, and virtue.
- Guide & mentor others, providing insight and practical strategies for human flourishing, for managing passions, increasing virtue, and directing others to happiness.
- Build more effective teams in any professional setting.
- Offer character strengths coaching either standalone, or alongside existing services you provide as a counselor, wellness coach, teacher, spiritual director, etc.
Here are some examples:
- Wellness coaches will learn a time-tested understanding of motivation and success, along with practical strategies, that they can share with clients to help them achieve well-being.
- Teachers will be better able to guide students, understand their emotions and desires, and help them advance toward virtue.
- Mental health professionals will learn models of human functioning and flourishing, beyond pathology alone. They will also gain a detailed understanding of the traditional psychology that has left a mark on Western societies, helping them to better communicate with and aid clients from these cultures.
- Ministers or spiritual directors will learn new skills for advising those who seek their help, according to an ancient Christian understanding of emotional health and moral growth.
A character strengths coach is not a mental health therapist, mental health counselor, or psychologist. As such, a coach cannot diagnose or treat formal mental illnesses; clients in need of such services should be referred to relevant specialists. Additionally, even in the domain of virtue (as distinct from mental illness) certified coaches are still only educators in the eyes of the law. Legally, you will be able to listen to people's concerns and educate them on the traditional virtue-based perspective on and approach to those topics, helping them to find practical ways to address their own concerns. Please seek legal advice in your state if you have questions about your scope of practice after graduating.
Growing Demand for Mental Health & Wellness Services
Americans use mental health services at a growing rate, especially in younger groups--a trend which suggests the increase will continue. The growth may be linked to greater social recognition of mental health issues and willingness to access services, which would also suggest continued increase. (Source: Mental health care accounts for a growing number of private insurance claims)
"Probably 20% of people in the country have some form of mental health issue at some point in their lives...on a continuum from very little to very severe." (Source: What Mental Health Statistics Can Tell Us)
Health coaching is a particular growth sector: "Market data estimates that the total U.S. health coaching market was worth $6.14 billion in 2017, up 15% from 2014. The total market is forecast to grow at a 5.4% average annual pace, to $7.85 billion by 2022, with 121,000 coaches practicing." "According to some surveys, 60% of Americans want health coaching, but 80% of them have never had it offered to them." (Source: Health Coaching Gains Favor Among Consumers, Insurers, & Employers)
This year-long class follows a college semester schedule. We will meet once
weekly for a live class discussion. At home exercises will supplement presentations to ensure you attain a firm grasp of virtue psychology and virtue based coaching methods. Live classes will also be recorded for your convenience.
Some of your fellow students will be new to the field of mental health. Others will already be counselors, teachers, spiritual advisors, ministers, coaches, or have some similar professional role.
Some will come from an interest in classical mental health models, or from a religious or spiritual interest. No prior experience is necessary.
Though Christianity adopted and strongly contributed to the Greek theory of the virtues, this course is suitable to individuals of any faith background, and does not contain any religious elements.
Happiness, character, nobility, holiness - these are just some of the psychological benefits of studying the virtues. Though a familiar concept, how many of us know the practical tools necessary to improve character strength and effectiveness? The study of virtues is the study of excellence. The classical, time-tested model of the virtues was the dominant model for psychological wellness for 2,300 years. Throughout most of history, education in the virtues was considered essential to the development of the person.
This thought provoking course explores history's practical answer to modern mental health and wellness. The program is based on the works of Josef Pieper, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the greatest minds of western civilization.
The virtues were developed by Greek philosophers from antiquity, and provided a model for mental well-being for thousands of years before it was replaced by modern psychology. But has something valuable been lost in modern psychological methods? This course brings the wisdom and insight of a longstanding tradition into the modern era.
The classical approach to mental well-being and happiness is a detailed, extensive approach built up over many centuries and includes some of the
most penetrating and insightful thoughts of all time.
It is a positive model, presenting a theory of wellness. It does not focus on disorders only, as newer psychological systems have generally done. It offers perspectives and practical advice from Greek antiquity through the medieval Christian period and up to the modern day.
As the medieval model is inherently spiritual in nature, their mental health paradigm answers questions about meaning and value which are impossible to approach in the secular materialistic sciences. This model offers not only general wellness, but also the possibility of fulfillment.
Module: Introduction to the Human Person P1,2
Module: Happiness / Unhappiness
Module: Mental Health & the Passions, Appetites, Emotions, and Instincts
This section you will learn how to help clients reap the rewards of each passion, while minimizing pathological addiction and suppression of the passion. You will learn the anatomy of each passion, and be able to articulate key interventions for improvement.
- Love (amor)
- Desire (desiderium/concupiscentia)
- Pleasure/joy (delectatio/gaudium/laetitia)
- Hate (odium)
- Avoidance (fuga/abominatio)
- Pain/sadness (dolor/tristitia)
- Hope (spes)
- Desperatio (despair)
- Fear (timor)
- Daring (audacia)
- Anger (ira)
Module: The Virtues
Includes training the will to improve excellent mental habits & character, and an in depth discussion of each of the seven virtues along with essential subvirtues for diagnostic assessment. You will use these to assess this virtue in others, pinpoint deficiencies of this virtue, and learn practical tips to grow in each virtue.
- Prudence - Improving goals & means
- Justice - Becoming kind, building relationships
- Fortitude - Growing in strength
- Temperance - Attaining serenity
- Faith - Improving confidence
- Hope - Reaching for greatness
- Love (Charity) - Finding fulfillment
Get the a complete description of each module
From mathematician at Harvard, to muslim in Morocco, to meditating yogi, John found Jesus after a personal crisis left Him in deep need of the Lord. Returning to his roots in the Catholic Church, John now uses his passionate academic skills to present classical health & wellness paradigms in engaging, practical language for modern use.
John lives in Asheville, NC with his wife and 7 kids. He is director of joyfulbelly.com, a popular website dedicated to natural health. He is president of the National Association of Ayurvedic Schools and Colleges, and director of intelligentherb.com. He has a degree in mathematics and computer science from Harvard University.
Total tuition & application fees for this 1 year Ayurvedic course if you register now will be $2,699.
Click here to apply for a partial scholarship.
Financial aid is offered based on income. Scholarships may not be combined with other discounts.
For complete tuition & fee information, please see our course catalog.
Note: Your payments are
non-refundablePlease make certain you will be able to attend before you register.
Click here to see our full
Refund / Return Policy .
Ask a question about the course.
See tuition