Catholic · Emmaus course
The Intelligent Heart: Emotional Intelligence, Virtue, and Healing Presence
A Catholic Integral Formation Course for Counselors, Spiritual Directors, and Pastoral Leaders
This 6-week formation course integrates contemporary neuroscience with Catholic wisdom on character to teach how emotionally intelligent presence is developed. Drawing on Daniel Goleman's research, Thomas Aquinas's theology of virtue, and Benedict Groeschel's developmental psychology, participants will explore why emotional patterns formed in childhood remain real—yet malleable. Through guided reflection, regulation strategies, and dialogue with others, you'll learn to recognize your own emotional triggers, practice intentional responses, and develop the grounded presence that makes you a genuine healing force for others. This course is unique in connecting neuroscience (how the brain changes) with virtue tradition (why humans actually transform). Ideal for graduate counselors seeking NBCC CE credit, spiritual directors, and pastoral leaders committed to ongoing formation.
NBCC CE · 6.25 clock hours · Human Growth and Development (HGD) 5.5 hrs / Helping Relationships (HR) 0.75 hrs
With E. Christian Brugger, Ph.D.
- Length
- 1 hr
- Lessons
- 9
- Level
- Advanced
- Version
- Catholic
- Price
- Free
About this course
Unlike generic emotional intelligence workshops that teach techniques in isolation, or purely theological courses that ignore neuroscience, The Intelligent Heart is the only comprehensive formation program that integrates contemporary brain science with Catholic theology to show how emotional transformation actually happens. It answers both the "why" (virtue as the perfection of human nature through repeated practice, elevated by grace) and the "how" (neuroplasticity, regulation strategies, reflection practices that rewire emotional circuits). Designed specifically for counselors, spiritual directors, and pastoral leaders, it treats emotional intelligence not as a set of skills to acquire but as a character to develop—a second nature built slowly, in community, through practice and grace. This is formation, not information; transformation, not technique.
Who this course is for
Graduate Counselors (Licensed & License-Track)
Concerned about personal emotional reactivity affecting client work; seeking continuing education credits for license maintenance.
You already know that your presence is your most powerful intervention. What if you could make that presence even more reliable, deeper, more resourced?
Spiritual Directors & Diocesan Pastoral Leaders
Seeking both personal formation and professional skill development; often already engaged in spiritual practices; looking to deepen emotional wisdom.
The Church's call to pastoral accompaniment is a call to emotional and spiritual maturity. This course equips you to answer it.
Laypersons in Formation & Parish Settings
Catholic adults engaged in deepening their faith and personal maturity; often interested in both personal transformation and service to others.
You've lived long enough to know that good intentions alone don't change how we respond. Real transformation requires understanding how we actually work—mind, body, emotion, and spirit.
Common questions
- My clients trigger me more than I'd like to admit. I'm not as stable as I pretend to be.
- Emotional reactivity isn't a failure; it's data. This course teaches you to use your own emotional responses as clinical information while managing them skillfully.
- I've read Goleman, but I still don't know how to actually help my clients change their emotional patterns.
- You'll learn the neuroscience, yes—but more importantly, you'll understand the character formation process that enables lasting change, grounded in how humans actually develop.
- CE courses feel disconnected from the deeper 'why' of therapeutic work. I want formation, not just compliance hours.
- This is a formation program that happens to earn CE credit—not a CE course that feels secondary. You'll be changed by it; your clients will notice.
- People bring me emotional wounds alongside spiritual questions. I'm trained for one; I'm not prepared for the other.
- Spiritual direction and emotional healing are not separate. This course shows how formation of the heart—emotional and spiritual—is a unified work.
- I want to deepen my own spiritual life. Most courses offer either psychology or spirituality. I need both.
- You'll draw on Augustine, Aquinas, and Groeschel alongside Goleman and neuroscience. This is the integration the Church's wisdom has always understood.
- Pastoral presence sounds beautiful in principle, but I'm exhausted by trying to be present to others' pain.
- Presence isn't about absorbing others' emotions. This course teaches you to be grounded in your own emotional and spiritual center so that presence becomes a gift you give, not a burden you carry.
- I've tried to change. I know what I should do. Why is it so hard?
- Because change isn't primarily a matter of knowledge or willpower. It's the slow reshaping of your nervous system, your habits, your capacity for response. This course teaches you how that actually works.
- The Church talks about virtue like it's something you either have or don't. I want to know how to develop it.
- Aquinas teaches that virtue is a habit—something built through repeated practice. You'll learn not just the theology but the practice: how to deliberately shape your own character.
- I feel stuck in patterns I've had since childhood. Is this just who I am?
- Neuroscience and theology agree: you are not determined by your history. Your brain can change. Grace can transform you. But it requires practice and time. This course is that practice.
- Do I have to be Catholic to take this course?
- No; the theology enriches but doesn't require Catholic identity.
From the course syllabus
This 6-week formation course integrates contemporary neuroscience with Catholic wisdom on character to teach how emotionally intelligent presence is developed. Drawing on Daniel Goleman's research, Thomas Aquinas's theology of virtue, and Benedict Groeschel's developmental psychology, participants will explore why emotional patterns formed in childhood remain real—yet malleable. Through guided reflection, regulation strategies, and dialogue with others, you'll learn to recognize your own emotional triggers, practice intentional responses, and develop the grounded presence that makes you a genuine healing force for others. This course is unique in connecting neuroscience (how the brain changes) with virtue tradition (why humans actually transform).
Curriculum
-
Module 1
The Intelligent Heart
- 1.Lesson 1: What Are Emotions For? The Person as Affective Being
- 2.Lesson 2: The Emotional Hijack: Reactivity, Memory, and the Wounded Self
- 3.Lesson 3: Know Thyself: Self-Awareness as the Foundation of Emotional Intelligence
- 4.Lesson 4: Passion's Slaves: Self-Regulation, Temperance, and Freedom
- 5.Lesson 5: The Master Aptitude: Hope, Motivation, and Purposeful Action
- 6.Lesson 6: The Roots of Empathy: Seeing the Other as Person
- 7.Lesson 7: The Social Arts: Emotional Intelligence in Relationship, Community, and Ministry
- 8.Lesson 8: Temperament Is Not Destiny
- 9.Post-Test
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