Hurricane Harvey

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Aug 31, 2017 1:22:23 PM

A message from President Dr. Joseph Cambray to Pacifica Graduate Institute students, alumni, and faculty affected by Hurricane Harvey 

Dear Pacifica Community,

This past week we have witnessed devastating weather along the coast of Texas brought by Hurricane Harvey. The unparalleled rainfall has surpassed all records for a single storm in the United States and has caused tremendous flooding, filling our daily news with images of disaster and heroic rescues. There are more than 40 members of our Pacifica community who may have been impacted by the storm in the Houston area. Over 200 alumni and current students live in Texas, as well as a few faculty, and many of us have friends and family in the state.

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Posted in: Current Affairs, Pacifica News, Pacifica Graduate Institute

Pacifica Doctoral Student Harry Grammer named CNN Hero

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Jul 14, 2017 4:02:51 PM

We are excited and honored to announce that Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology Specialization doctoral student Harry Grammer has been named a CNN hero.

Harry is founder and president of New Earth, an Los Angeles based organization "provid[ing] youth with mentor-based creative arts and educational programs including poetry, music production, gardening, and fitness. New Earth currently serves 500 young people per week who are incarcerated in Los Angeles County detention facilities and placement homes and in the Orange County Juvenile Hall.

Upon release from incarceration, young people join our New Earth Arts & Leadership center in Culver City, CA where they receive career training, jobs, a fully accredited High School education program, mentorship, case management, nature expeditions, arts programming and wrap-around services that help them re-enter their communities with all the support and nurturing they need to make a successful transition." [1]

Please enjoy the two videos below, produced by CNN, featuring Harry Grammer.

You can also read more about Harry and his own story of being on probation in his youth, and how he came to found New Earth at pgiaa.org.

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Posted in: Current Affairs, Pacifica Events, Pacifica Students

Displacing Boundaries of Race and Politics of Space in Los Angeles

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Jun 30, 2017 3:36:39 PM

This article first appeared in the 2017 edition of Hearing Voices. Displacing Boundaries of Race and Politics of Space in Los Angeles by Alisa Orduna, Dissertation Student in the Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology Specialization.

As the Mayor’s Director of Homelessness Policy, our City’s homeless community of 28,000 residents is my primary constituent base. For far too long, L.A. has addressed homelessness and poverty through policies of containment- isolating persons with severe mental illness, substance use disorder, sexual minorities, and African Americans – in “designated” spaces of the City. Homelessness and poverty were also addressed through therapeutic models that focused on assimilating the individual into a biased model of a “productive citizen” of society.

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Posted in: Current Affairs, Pacifica News, community psychology, Pacifica Students

Touching the Soul of the World: A Mythological and Soulful View of Chaotic Times

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Jun 26, 2017 9:59:12 PM

Opening Keynote presentation by Michael Meade, Response at the Radical Edge: Depth Psychology for the 21st Century
Summary article by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

In a 4000 year old poem, a weary man argues with his ba soul (the unique spirit of a person) because the man feels deeply troubled by the increase of injustice, greed and unrest in the culture, which makes him want to end his life, begins mythologist Michael Meade, in a compelling keynote address at the recent "Response at the Radical Edge: Depth Psychology for the 21st Century" conference at Pacifica Graduate Institute.

When there is wounding in our culture, there is wounding to the soul of the world. Many may be feeling “world weary” at this moment in our modern world, and in fact, we are seeing an increase in suicide in all ages right now. But this mood of despair has happened before, Meade points out. This poem is an ancient story. A distortion in the culture, whenever it occurs, weighs on everyone in the culture—but people have survived this before.

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Posted in: Current Affairs, Trauma, Pacifica Events, soul, mythological

Racism, Cultural Violence, and Conscious Change: How The Truth Telling Project is Transforming Society

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on May 12, 2017 2:09:18 PM

Racism, Cultural Violence, and Conscious Change: How The Truth Telling Project is Transforming Society
An Interview with The Truth Telling Project Co-Founder, David Ragland, Ph.D.
A Guest Blog Post by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

Historic African American Malcolm X, leader who spoke out for black nationalism famously said, 'I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against.” This quote, featured on the home page for The Truth Telling Project speaks volumes about the mission of this unique and important organization.

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Posted in: Current Affairs, Connecting Cultures, Pacifica Events, Social Justice, community psychology

Emerging Myths, Emerging Archetypes: Everyday Life in the Quantum Universe

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Mar 17, 2017 10:54:22 AM

On Friday, March 3, 2017 Jean Houston came to Pacifica to present Emerging Myths, Emerging Archetypes: Everyday Life in the Quantum Universe for the Friday evening salon series. The Friday evening salon series takes place the Friday evening before a Saturday The Pacifica Experience: A One-Day Introduction to Pacifica's Graduate Degree Programs.

We are excited to offer the full recording of Dr. Houston's lecture.

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Posted in: Current Affairs, Social Justice, leadership, soul

Soul-centered Action

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Feb 22, 2017 2:40:52 PM

Soul-centered Action: A Call to the Collective Belief in the Possible Human and the Possible World An Interview with Dr. Jean Houston
A guest post by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

Jean Houston is almost legendary in popular culture for her passionate engagement, poetic rhetoric, and her poignant appeal for transformation and belief in what she calls “the possible human,” also the title of one her nearly 30 books. One of her many current projects is the collaboration and production of a play which will be previewed at Pacifica Graduate Institute on March 4. “Tonight in Dreamland,” a “serious comedy” as Houston refers to it, was written with Cheri Steinkellner, an award-winning writer and producer of a multitude of plays and TV shows (including the hit series, Cheers), and who is also currently a student in the Engaged Humanities and the Creative Life program at Pacifica.

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Posted in: Current Affairs, Social Justice, leadership, soul

In Communitas

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Nov 15, 2016 12:06:40 PM

Dear Pacifica Community,

I have had the privilege of sitting with many over these past days. Folks were talking from the heart and soul about the "State of the Union" in our country.

There were expressions of shock, despair, fear, and concern. Some asked, "What now?" Others, spoke of the clear and present danger they felt personally and/or for members of their families and friends. Sill others, felt the harsh reality of what they experience each day, under the the veil of silence, now being "out loud" for all to see, feel, experience.

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Posted in: Current Affairs

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFTs) eligible to work at the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA)

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Oct 10, 2016 1:48:36 PM

A big congratulations to the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (CAMFT) for working to grant eligible LMFTs employment at the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA)!

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Posted in: Counseling Psychology, Current Affairs, Pacifica News, graduate school, vocation, Education

Narcissistic Tendencies: Donald Trump and Shakespeare's Macbeth

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Sep 14, 2016 3:53:51 PM

A new book A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump has just been released by Chrion Publications. The book features twenty articles on the subject of narcissism, written by esteemed professors and professionals of psychology and depth psychology. I recently caught up with Dr. Susan Rowland, chair of Pacifica's M.A. Engaged Humanities and the Creative Life Program who wrote "The Demonic and Narcissistic Power of the Media in Shakespeare's Macbeth" for the section of the book titled Archetypal Narcissism. Here is our dialogue about the book:

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Posted in: Current Affairs, archetypes, Pacifica News, literature