“Treat The Cause Not The Symptoms”
Licensed Psychologist Mindfulness Expert Researcher & Teacher
Psychotherapy, Coaching & Research
Dr John Chambers Christopher is a Montana State Licensed Psychologist, Executive Coach & Consultant, and an internationally recognized expert in Mindfulness, well-being and self-care. Working with individuals and organizations, John provides psychological services to clients in Bozeman Montana, coaching and consultation to clients worldwide.
As a scholar and teacher, Dr. Christopher offers workshops for executives, leaders, corporations, business, health care agencies, higher education and schools. He brings the practice of body-centered mindfulness and mindful self-care into these settings to enhance leadership skills, performance and creativity, to promote resilience and self-care, and to help prevent burnout and stress-related illness.
Dr. John Christopher specializes in therapy that integrates the latest findings in developmental and cognitive science with mindfulness, body-centered therapies, and interpersonal/attachment-focused interventions. John works with clients who struggle with a broad range of emotional, behavioral and medical issues, including chronic pain, to help them develop awareness of their internal states and more effectively work with their emotions, lessen their stress response, improve interpersonal relations, and ultimately improve their immune function.
John is a National Registrant of Health Service Psychologists and has a Certificate of Professional Qualification from the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards.
Work With John
Coaching
Mindfulness focused coaching for wellness, stress management, and resilience. I tailor programs to meet your unique needs and lifestyle. My goal is to be flexible and responsive as we work together to support your health goals.
Research
Research and scholarship on well-being, moral and ethical development, self-care, resilience, and cultural sensitivity. My research is interdisciplinary in nature, pursuing themes of culture & self, identity, meaning, moral development and psychological well-being.
Psychotherapy
As a Psychotherapist working with Individuals and Couples, I work with people struggling with a variety of concerns and problems to help them cope more effectively in today's challenging world.
Consultation
Wellness and Mindfulness-based Workshops or Consultation for organizations, businesses, health care agencies, universities, and schools. I consult internationally to help organizations promote wellness.
About Dr. Christopher
Before going into full-time psychotherapy private practice, John was a Professor for 23 years at Dartmouth, the University of Washington, Montana State University, and the University of Guam.
John is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a past-president of the Society of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (division of the APA).
John is also a Fellow of the Mind & Life Institute. He was a founding member of the Mind & Life Institute’s Ethics, Education and Human Development Project to develop a pedagogy and curriculum to promote the Dalai Lama’s vision of teaching ethics in the schools.
John’s Inspiration
For over thirty John has been bridging traditions: science and spirituality, and Western and non-Western healing traditions. To gain perspective on American society, he has traveled extensively to study indigenous practices of healing in non-Western cultures. In 2012-2013 he was a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar in India where he focused on Indian indigenous psychology. His scholarly research has also included participant observation in various forms of mindfulness training as well as fieldwork with traditional healers and shamans, having spent over twenty years learning from Balinese shamans. These experiences have provided John a vantage point to observe what is presupposed in Western understandings of health and have expanded his training in practices that are increasingly being integrated into behavioral medicine. He brings these perspectives into his teaching as well, emphasizing how Western views of the self can obscure how we are embedded in socio-political-economic practices that have consequences for health. Focusing on consumerism, health disparities, social determinants of health, he helps others understand how working downstream with patients will never solve the deeper structural problems that contribute to mental illness and health disparities. He sees this broader program of work as critical for promoting health across our society and avoiding the pitfalls of looking at health in solely individualistic terms, such as focusing on individual health risk factors.
Scholarly Contributions
As a Scholar, John’s work spans the fields of health psychology, cultural psychology, theoretical and philosophical psychology and developmental psychology. The author of over 60 articles and chapters, he has written on the cultural, moral, and ontological underpinnings of theories of psychological well-being, moral development, and psychotherapy. John is the recipient of the 2003 Sigmund Koch Early Career Award by the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He also received Montana State University’s top research award, The Wiley Award. Most meaningful to John is the Bozeman Peacemaker Award for which his students nominated him. His scholarly work appears in leading journals in psychology and counseling and he has guest edited special issues of the journals Theory & Psychology and The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. His recent article “Critical Cultural Awareness” was the lead article in a recent issue of The American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the APA. John is also on the editorial boards of The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, The Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Counseling & Spirituality, The International Journal of Spirituality, and The Annals of Yoga and Physical Therapy.
Clinical Expertise
Individual psychotherapy
Anxiety concerns
Stress management
Depression and mood disorders
Emotion regulation
Chronic pain, insomnia and medical challenges
Spirituality and self-growth
Self-esteem concerns
Transitions, life challenges and coping skills
Mindfulness training, MBSR, self-care and well-being
Psychosomatic Medicine
Trauma, PTSD
Sexuality and identity concerns
Codependency concerns
Attachment difficulties and family of origin issues
Grief, bereavement and loss
Mindfulness expertise for business and organizations
Health care professionals, burnout prevention
Men's issues
Professional supervision, college students and career
Mindfulness & Meditation Practice Routines
Professional Services
Mindfulness-Based Consultation, Workshops & Program Development
John Christopher PhD provides wellness and mindfulness-based consultation and program development for organizations, business, health care agencies, universities and schools in the US and internationally, with a special interest in creating leaders who lead mindfully, and inspire, support and encourage a positive workplace culture. Consults throughout the US and internationally to help organizations, businesses and executives/CEO'S implement programs for stress reduction, mindfulness training, wellness, disease prevention, burnout, resilience, and effective self-care practices. His consultation focus helps organizations, institutions, and businesses assess their health care needs and design programs to improve the well-being, performance, and morale of employees. Dr. John Christopher also lectures and provides customized workshops and retreats using the latest research on neuroscience, Mindfulness and somatic-based approaches to restore health and well-being. CONTINUE READING
A Interdisciplinary Research Focus
“My research is interdisciplinary in nature. I pursue themes that I first addressed through an undergraduate major I designed at the University of Michigan entitled The Psychological and Philosophical Foundations of Culture. As a social scientist, my passion is in exploring how culture shapes the self, identity, meaning, moral development and psychological well-being. Much of my scholarly work attempts to examine Western psychology from a cross-cultural and historical perspective. I have been particularly interested in how Western assumptions about the nature of the person, or self, and the good life, underlie Western psychological theories, research, and practice. In particular, I have examined how individualism influences a variety of psychological fields. Other areas that I have addressed include moral development, character education, and psychotherapy.” CONTINUE READING
Supervision For Professional Development
John Christopher, Ph.D provides professional supervision to psychologists and counselors helping them integrate mind-body practices into their work with clients. He provides Doctoral and Master's level supervision for students who are accruing hours towards becoming a psychologist or licensed professional counselor (LPC or LCPC) in the state of Montana. As an expert in mind-body medicine and stress management and a practitioner and teacher of Mindfulness and yoga for over 30 years, John is able to help newly licensed counselors integrate mind-body or somatic therapies into their counseling work. He has been supervising students since 1991 and creates a safe space for them to learn how to work with their emotional reactions and internal experience. In his 20+ years as a professor, he pioneered the application of mindfulness to counselor training in his graduate counseling class “Mind-Body Medicine and the Art of Self-Care” and was featured in the American Counseling Association’s Counseling Today magazine. Before going into private practice full-time, Dr. Christopher was a Professor for 23 years at Dartmouth, the University of Washington, Montana State University, and the University of Guam. He has a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Texas, a Masters in Counseling and Consulting Psychology from Harvard, and an honors independent major at the University of Michigan.
Mindfulness-Focused Coaching
Mindfulness is the ability to become aware of present moment experience with acceptance. It is typically cultivated through meditative, contemplative, and yogic practices. I began practicing meditation and yoga in 1981 while an undergraduate student in Ann Arbor and found they literally saved my life. In 1984 I became a yoga and meditation teacher and in 1996 I added qigong to my practice. In 1998 I began teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and training counselors and psychotherapists how to use mindfulness practices in the service of self-care. My training in these practices has involved studying with teachers in India, Thailand, Bali, Mexico, and the United States. I incorporate mindfulness practices and principles into my work with individuals and couples. And I provide consultation to corporations and businesses, health care agencies, higher education and schools on bringing mindfulness into these settings to enhance performance and creativity, promote resilience and self-care, and prevent burnout and stress-related illness. I also provide mindfulness-based coaching to individuals.
Therapy, Counseling & Psychological Consultation In Bozeman Montana
Licensed Psychologist John Chambers Christopher, Ph.D maintains a private therapy and counseling practice in Bozeman Montana and coaching worldwide via telemedicine. He treats a range of emotional and behavioral concerns in his therapy practice including: anxiety, stress depression, well-being, self-care, multicultural psychology, transitions, spirituality, chronic pain, health concerns, psychosomatic medicine, mind-body medicine, emotion regulation, loss and grief. Integrating his extensive mind-body training and research with the best of traditional psychotherapy and counseling techniques, he helps his clients reduce their stress response and improve immune functioning for optimal emotional and physical health. John works with adults using psychodynamic and interpersonal principles combined with research on social and cognitive development, including the neurobiology of attachment. He has extensive training in a number of body-centered or somatic practices including, Focusing, Hakomi, MBSR and Mindful Self-Compassion. CONTINUE READING
Consultation, Keynotes, Workshops, Leadership Workshops & Executive Coaching
Dr. John Christopher offers wellness and mindfulness-based consultation and program development for organizations, business, executives/CEO’s, health care agencies, universities and schools in the US and Internationally with a special interest in creating thoughtful leaders who lead mindfully, and inspire, support and encourage a positive workplace culture. John teaches mindful leadership, resilience and stress management helping organizations and companies transform their workplace culture and create a healthier work/life balance. Dr. Christopher provides executive coaching with a focus on burnout protection and consults throughout the US and internationally to help organizations, businesses and individuals implement programs for stress reduction, mindfulness training, wellness, disease prevention, burnout, resilience, and effective self-care practices.