Table Of ContentTHE GODDESS FINISHING SCHOOL: A RELATIONAL, EMBODIED,
ENGAGED-COMPASSION-BASED CURRICULUM TO PROMOTE AGENCY AND
WELL-BEING IN THOSE WHO IDENTIFY AS GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN
A Dissertation
presented to
the Faculty of
Claremont School of Theology
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Practical Theology
by
Catherine M. Wilson
May 2020
Copyright © 2020 Catherine M. Wilson
All rights reserved.
NT S C HOOL OF
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This Dissertation completed by
Catherine M. Wilson
has been presented to and accepted by
the Faculty of the Claremont School of Theology
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
of the degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Faculty Committee
Dr. Frank Rogers, Jr., Chairperson
The Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook
Dr. Alane Daugherty
Dean of the Faculty
The Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook
ABSTRACT
THE GODDESS FINISHING SCHOOL: A RELATIONAL, EMBODIED,
ENGAGED-COMPASSION-BASED CURRICULUM TO PROMOTE AGENCY AND
WELL-BEING IN THOSE WHO IDENTIFY AS GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN
by
Catherine M. Wilson
The Goddess Finishing School: A Relational, Embodied, Engaged-Compassion-
based Curriculum to Promote Agency and Well-Being in those who Identify as Girls and
Young Women investigates the use of compassion-based, embodied practices as a
methodology to support agency and identity formation, and empower those who identify
as girls and young women—in mind, body, and spirit. The program combines the
approaches of engaged compassion, contemplative practices, physical embodiment, and
interpersonal neurobiology.
Through a transformative research and evaluation framework, this study
constructs a program and curriculum for those who identify as girls and young women.
The dissertation engages with psycho-social and social science developmental, feminist,
and practical theological literature that discusses the significance of agency and
identity development for those who identify as girls and young women, then explores
promising practices and approaches for nurturing this through the engagement with
compassion-based, embodied contemplative practices. It asks three primary questions:
what positive role can spiritual formation, compassion-based, embodied contemplative
practices, practical and feminist theologies, and psycho-social and social science
developmental best practices play in the spiritual/emotional/psycho-social development
of those who identify as girls and young women—particularly with respect to sense of
self, voice, agency, resilience, authenticity, relationality, sense of community, and
reduction/prevention of “risky” behaviors? Which compassion-based contemplative and
embodied practices prove most beneficial for this population? How might a program be
designed to promote wellness and wholeness, identity and agency development, and
positive sense of self and authenticity, and decrease perceived and actual stress and
anxiety?
The Goddess Finishing School seeks to expand upon the discipline of practical
theology to create a program and environment for those who identify as girls and young
women to make sacred—rather than religious—space to develop, nurture, and sustain
empowering, life-affirming, and spiritually nourishing practices. The study fulfills this
inquiry by creating and piloting a curriculum utilizing transformative research paradigm
methodologies which confirms the potential of these practices and approaches to support
agency and identity formation and empowerment of those who identify as girls and
young women. In its final version, the study culminates in a program design and
curriculum for use in a variety of settings which seeks to support, sustain, nourish, and
empower healthful and life-affirming development in those who identify as girls and
young women—so that they might be their most badass selves.
Keywords
Engaged compassion, Compassion-based Practices, Embodied Practices, Contemplative
Practices, Practical Theology, Spiritual Formation, Transformative Paradigm Research,
Girls’ and Young Women’s Development
Dedication
I dedicate this work to my family—Jim Denault, Rob Cimorelli, and Claire Denault. To
my partner/husband/and boyfriend of twenty-seven years, Jim Denault, without whose
steady, kind, and unflagging love, encouragement, and support I would have struggled
more to mend and hone the rough edges of my life experience into a life of love,
wholeness, and joy. Dearie, from Day One, you have seen, supported, and brought out
my best self—my heart is yours forever. To my son, Rob Cimorelli, who happily
followed along wherever his teen mom took him—yamgfwhm. To my daughter, Claire
Denault, this is all for you, really: my hope is that the healing I have experienced through
these practices will minimize the transmission of intergenerational trauma, and that the
program will offer practices that support your flourishing. I am so proud of the young
woman you are: you have a fierce intellect, balanced with a compassionate, loving, and
just heart. You’re a total badass. You three are my world. I love you with all my heart.
Thanks for being such good sports and putting up without a dining room table for the past
nine years.
Acknowledgments
Fundamentally relationally oriented, I experience my world through the
interconnected web of relationships. In addition to my family, my journey has been
supported by my beloved community.
To my brother, Chris Wilson: thank you for standing up for me. To my siblings-
in-law, Denis Denault, and the sisters I always yearned for: Kathy Radford, Michelle
Brusic, Mary Clare McKillop, and Ruth Templeton. Ruth, thank you for your generosity
and hospitality, and for being my parenting role model.
Lisa Rosenstein, you’re my best friend through thick and thin. Thanks for being
Ethel to my Lucy.
Thank you, Margie Strosser, soul sister, for your love and our almost thirty-year,
ongoing conversation of how to make story maps of survival and flourishing—and for
naming The Goddess Finishing School.
The Council: Heidi Brayman and Lisa Schenk, I can’t imagine life without your
wisdom, support, and love. If it weren’t for all the conversations about life, love,
childrearing, and everything in between, along with your reassurance and encouragement
that I could manage graduate school, I wouldn’t have tried. It’s been a long trek since that
walk around the block, and you’ve both been with me each step of the way. Time to
party.
Maya Churi and Monika Petrillo, even though we don’t see each other as much as
I would like, I cherish our friendship and love that we raised our kids together.
The ladies of Holliston Avenue: Allison Casci, Deborah Recio, Cindy Bacon, and
Cindy McCarthy—you have kept me fed, laughing, and encouraged on this journey. I am
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deeply grateful for the extraordinary blessing of the community we have built in our little
neighborhood.
Navigating raising my daughter would not be half as much fun without my
Westridge Moms contingent, especially Carolann Butler Poole and Jeanette Moon Park—
power hour!
Cami Zappaterra: thank you for sharing your deep healing wisdom with me, for
teaching me how to be the hollow bone through which lifeforce energy flows. And, to the
rest of the Zappaterra family who always choose love above all else.
Claremont Compassion Circle: Jenn Hooten, Alane Daugherty, Karri Backer, and
Leslie Adams—what a profound gift to join in a sacred circle of the D/divine feminine
with you, friends. Nancy Linton, you are an honorary member of this group. Thank you
for bringing your artistry, embodiment, and love to the work of Center for Engaged
Compassion.
To my faith community, Orange Grove Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society
of Friends. Thank you for being my spiritual home; I promise to serve on committees
again.
My colleagues at USC Shoah Foundation: Dr. Stephen Smith, Dr. Kori Street, Dr.
Claudia R. Wiedeman, Dr. Karen Kim—thank you for your advice and guidance on
research evaluation—and the rest of the Institute, particularly the education team: Jenna
Leventhal, Lesly Culp, Greg Irwin, Sedda Antekelian, and Rachel Herman—it is an
honor to work with such good people who, day in and day out, endeavor to make the
world a more compassionate place. Thank you, too, to my new friend, Mona Golabek,
whose music and indefatigable spirit inspire me.
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Dr. Sara E. Brown, thank you for setting the badass scholar-practitioner-mom
example, and for reminding me that I know what I know, and that’s enough.
I am deeply grateful to the faculty and staff of Claremont School of Theology.
When I first met Jenn Hooten, who was Dean of Admissions at the time, I had no idea
that I would find a friend for life in her. But what I did find was an administrator who
saw the light and potential in me despite the fact that, even though I was coming from a
successful career in film production, I was a former teen mom with only limited formal
higher education. Jenn, my fellow tartan lass, the compassionland road would not be so
rich, fun, and full of healing and laughter without you as a companion.
Everyone would be blessed to have a Frank Rogers, Jr. in their life. Frank is the
mentor I yearned for as a young person—always encouraging, offering guidance and
feedback that is generous and constructive, and setting the example with extravagant
compassionate and ethical action. Thank you is not enough, Frank. You are a hero to me.
You taught me a way of being and practices that have transformed my life.
Dr. Andy Dreitcer, Frank’s founding partner in The Center for Engaged
Compassion, the Wizard who figured out Frank’s counterintuitive movements of the
Compassion Practice—thanks for being Oz and for your brilliant ability to crystallize and
explain contemplative practices, and for your sly sense of humor.
Dr. Alane K. Daugherty, from our first coffee meeting where I had goosebumps
through the entire conversation, I knew I had met an exceptional soul (sister). Thank you
for teaching that the intuitive and the embodied have a place at the table and deserve to
live side-by-side with the empirical.
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