Presence+ · The research behind it
Two problems in front of us right now.
Paul Vitz’s work on the psychology of religion led to the founding of Divine Mercy University in 1999. New problems are surfacing now, and two research programs at DMU take them on.
Problem 1
The tools reshaping clinical care
Major EMR and practice-management systems now add automated transcription and AI-recommended interventions drawn from frameworks that have nothing to do with the CCMMP — and sometimes work against it. Meanwhile therapy simulators train students in technique without the anthropology that should sit underneath it.
Problem 2
The wider circle already doing the work
The helping profession is getting bigger. Parishes already work with spiritual directors, coaches, group counselors, and accompaniment ministers alongside psychologists and counselors. That's here now. What's missing is a shared understanding of the person across all of them.
Presence+ starts from the CCMMP and builds outward, so a parish accompaniment minister and a licensed counselor work from the same understanding of the person. DMU answered the questions Vitz raised thirty-five years ago; Melete and PathwayStudio answer the ones in front of us now.
Melete · Measurement of formation
Building the measurement science.
Melete builds the validated instruments that measure formation across the helping disciplines DMU trains — counseling, spiritual direction, coaching, and lay-minister formation. The outputs are peer-reviewed papers, published instruments other institutions can adopt, and the psychometrician staff who carry the work forward. Melete is what makes it possible to claim that formation has actually occurred.
PathwayStudio · Counselor-training platform
Productizing the simulation platform.
PathwayStudio is DMU’s simulation-based training platform, where counseling students, coaches, and spiritual directors practice on validated AI client scenarios before sitting with real people. It pairs naturally with Melete: Melete builds the instruments, PathwayStudio is where the practice happens. Once validated and published, every Catholic and partner counselor-training program becomes a potential adopter.
Support PathwayStudioOne anthropology, all the way down.
See how the research feeds the platform that clinicians, coaches, spiritual directors, parishes, and campuses all run on.