http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/pr/news/Aug2000/080200_jay.htm
GREAT PHILOSOPHIES GUIDE UNIVERSITY LIFE AND GLORAL MANAGEMENT CITY = COLLEGE TO OFFER PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELING; APPA PRESIDENT TO ADDRESS = WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
The City College of New York has become the first institution of higher = learning in America to offer philosophical counseling through its = Wellness Center. Backed by a $30,000 grant from the Diana Foundation, = along with matching funds from CCNY's Office of Student Affairs, the = service will be available starting in September 2000. Students, staff = and faculty will be eligible for short4erm philo=ADsophical counseling, = which uses insights from the world's wisdom traditions and great = thinkers to help clients solve ordinary problems. Issues concerning = personal happiness, professional fulfillment, or moral dilemmas, as well = as normal conflicts experienced in everyday life and strife, are often = best addressed by philosophical dialogue as opposed to medical = diagnosis.
The services will be provided by a roster of tri-state counselors = trained and certified by the American Philosophical Practitioners = Association (APPA). The APPA, headquartered at City College, has trained = and certified about seventy-five philosophical practitioners in twenty = states during the past year. This latest initiative was coordinated by = APPA Founding President Lou Marinoff, a Professor of Philosophy at City = College, author of best-selling Plato Not Prozac, and a leading pioneer = of the philo=ADsophical practice movement in America.
Merle Hoffman, President of the Diana Foundation and CEO of Choices = Women's Medical Cen=ADter, said in her letter of award to the Directors = of the APPA: "On the cusp of this new century, philosophi=ADcal = counseling appears to offer both a theoretical and practical paradigm = for expanding treatment and healing modalities. I wish you, the APPA, = and CCNY the best of luck in its development and implemen=ADtation.
Thomas Morales, Vice President of City College's Office of Student = Affairs, said "I believe that philosophical counseling promises to be a = viable modality for providing quality counseling to students who
are in need of assistance. We hope that the program at City College will = serve as a model for providing counseling services throughout the City = University of New York."
APPA President Marinoff said "This project will make our beneficial = services available to clients whose ordinary life problems-involving = meaning, purpose, ethics and values-can be best resolved or managed by = philosophical understanding. It's a wonderful opportunity for all = concerned." =20
The initiative will also further Marinoff's plan to establish graduate = degree programs in philo=ADsophical practice, for which the APPA has = received hundreds of requests from philosophers and philoso=ADphy = students from across America and internationally. It will also help = further the legislative initiative of Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr., who is = sponsoring a bill to certify philosophical counselors in New York
The global movement of philosophical practitioners-who not only counsel = clients but who also work with groups and organizations-received a big = boost last year, with the publication of Marinoff's Plato Not = Prozac-Applying Philosophy to Everyday Problems (HarperCollins, New = York, 1999). The philosophical self-help book is going into sixteen = languages, has just become a best-seller in Spain, and will be launched = in paperback in the USA this August. On the strength of these and other = successes, Marinoff has been invited to address the World Economic = Forum, in Davos, in January 2001.
Philosophical practice clearly has many and varied applications-from = helping students better manage their lives, to helping global = corporations better manage the planet.
=20
Contacts:=20
American Philosophical Practitioners Association (APPA)=20 212-650-7827; www.appa.edu=20
Ruben Diaz Jr., New York State Assemblyman
c/o Paul Del Duca, Chief of Staff
71 8-893-0202
Mary Lou Edmondson, Vice President for Communications, CCNY
212-650-7125=20
Merle Hoffman, President, Diana Foundation & CEO, Choices Women's = Medical Center=20 718-349-9100, ext. 406 or 412
Lou Marinoff, President, APPA & Professor of Philosophy, CCNY
212-650-7647
Thomas Morales, Vice President for Student Affairs, CCNY=20 212-650-5426 or 5286=20
Fran Rosencrantz, Senior Publicist, HarperCollins Publishers
212-207-7O61 =20