Leaders from partner institutions of FriendlyCare who adopt the Mindfulness for Compassion and Wellbeing (MCW) Program share an openness to acquire innovative programs which are more holistic and secular. Most especially when an institution upholds a certain religious denomination, there is an opportunity to present inclusivity – this is where mindfulness may come in. To be able to accommodate students who may not be followers of their religious leanings, they may be able to offer a secular approach as a counterpart to their dominant spiritual belief and practice through the MHW program.
For instance, in DLSU-College of Law, Dean Gil brings forth St. La Salle’s commitment to stand for human rights. With the Formation Law embedded in the curriculum of law students in his college, they considered providing a course offering specifically on mindfulness to be able to cater those who are not of Catholic faith or do not practice Christianity. This consideration led to agreements with FCFI after seeing how it fits to the requirements of the college. Dean Gil saw the importance of emotional intelligence and mindfulness in law school, he wanted to give the students a taste of the actual practice rather than theory so that when they graduate, they will be able to carry that practice. As he said, mindfulness would be the counterpart of reflection and prayer in a secular way.
“We were looking for a group that could run a mindfulness program that was not part of a faith group… We needed a mindfulness group... for students who [are] not catholic [or] catholic but are not comfortable. We need a mindfulness program that is secular.” - Dean Gil from DLSU - College of Law
His commitment to embedding the program in their curriculum is truly a valuable key to sustaining the program in the school curriculum. As he stated,
“That’s why we put it in the pastoral office so that it has a life of its own. So para may continuity rin. That’s my way of making sure that the program is dynamic kasi… without any valued judgment whatsoever, the next Dean may be purely academic so even if that were the case, the pastoral office can run with the ball.” - Dean Gil of DLSU - College of Law
Today, as of writing, there have been more than 12 semesters of program delivery in the DLSU - College of Law under Formation Law.