Prof. Steven Sandage featured in BU Brink article on BU Research Project on Mental Health and Well-Being
The following is an excerpt from a BU Brink article “New BU Research Project Aims to Shift Mental Health Focus Beyond Symptoms to Meaning and Well-Being” by Bailey Scott (COM’26), featuring Albert and Jessie Danielsen Professor of Psychology of Religion and Theology Steven Sandage, published October 31, 2025.
Steven Sandage wants to change the way mental health care is practiced and studied. A clinical psychologist who teaches at Boston University School of Theology, he believes that mental health care providers can better support their patients by incorporating into their treatment the strengths, community, life purpose, and holistic well-being of those in their care—factors outside the typical scope of the clinical discipline.
Sandage, the Albert and Jessie Danielsen Professor of Psychology of Religion & Theology, and his team recently received a $5.2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to fund an initiative on training psychotherapists to incorporate these ideas and new training and treatment research into their practices. Led by Sandage and Jesse Owen, a professor at the University of Denver, the project will span eight clinical sites across the United States and Ireland. The work started in September and will continue for the next three years.
…