by Jemma Elliot, MA, LMFT, LPCC, Co-Chair, Counseling Psychology Department

As Co-Chair of the Counseling Psychology Department at Pacifica, it is my joy to support our students as they navigate their education in our MA and PsyD Counseling Psychology Programs. Our program is unique and meaningful – a cauldron of ideas where incredibly diverse individuals, yet like-minded in spirit and focus, come together with an overarching goal to become helping professionals who impact the collective.

My path to a rich clinical and academic career began as a graduate of the MA Counseling Psychology Program myself. Like so many who come to Pacifica, I was always deeply called to be of service. As a survivor of 9/11 in Manhattan in 2001, I learned early in my adulthood about the textures of collective trauma and was propelled on a path to uncover healing ways of being with others. I decided to return to school to pursue an undergraduate degree specifically in Psychology, focusing my research on trauma, and then was led to graduate study at Pacifica, which allowed me to incorporate the tenets that felt most crucial in healing work to me – tenets inclusive of the whole organism, including, importantly, the unconscious.

by Matthew Bennett, PsyD, and Jemma Elliot, MA,, Co-chairs Counseling Psychology Department  

As chairs of the unified Counseling Psychology Department, which includes both the MA and PsyD degrees in Counseling Psychology, we appreciate the energy, focus, and good judgment it takes to apply for and enroll in graduate school. We would like to take this time to describe some of the more valuable, noteworthy, and special aspects of the PsyD program, in the hopes that this will help you make an informed decision about starting your future careers.  These are some of the meaningful ways in which the PsyD in Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica stands out:

We crosswalk applied clinical practice with the perspectives of depth psychology.  While any effective doctoral degree preparing students for licensure as psychologists trains students in a broad range of skill-sets (such as psychological assessment, theories of psychotherapy and clinical intervention, risk assessment, cultural competence, and principles of psychopathology), Pacifica’s PsyD in Counseling Psychology provides students with relational, imaginal, and creative capacities which enhance each of these.  Depth Psychological models of human psychology encourage the kind of emotional honesty, attunement, curiosity, and cognitive flexibility which allow powerful and effective outcomes.  At the same time, we will help you prepare to hit the ground running in your applied practicum and internship training experiences.

Matthew Bennett, PsyD, Chair, Counseling Psychology Department and Jemma Elliot, MA, LMFT, LPCC, Co-Chair, Counseling Psychology Department

As Chair and Co-Chair of the Counseling Psychology Department at Pacifica, we are often asked, “What makes the MA Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica unique?” We are hopeful that this letter provides a space to reflect upon that important question.

There are a number of wonderful MA Programs in Counseling Psychology to choose from, and we are proud to count these other programs among our colleagues, collaborating with them in various consortia and in other areas of our professional lives. While all of these programs offer the tools needed for learning clinicians, there are some meaningful ways in which Pacifica’s MA Counseling Psychology Program is unique:

• Focus on Depth Psychology: Above all, Pacifica’s MA Counseling Psychology Program offers a truly unique focus on the interweaving of depth psychology throughout all facets of the curriculum. While students gain education and training in all of the complex content areas required for licensure, they are also simultaneously gaining the opportunity to view this all through a depth psychological lens – a truly unparalleled experience in the world of higher education in Psychology.

by Rica Toribio, M.A., Ed.D. cand. Senior Director of Enrollment Management at Pacifica

There is no feeling as joyous, expansive, and life changing as the moment you get that call or open that letter welcoming you to the right program at the right graduate school. The Admissions team at Pacifica is dedicated to helping you arrive at that moment, and we feel just as excited as our newly accepted students to be giving that call and writing that letter of acceptance. We are delighted to help you hone your vision by discussing our eight programs traversing the core ideas of the humanities, as well as the mythologies of culture, the collective human imagination, and ecological symbiosis. And of course, depth psychology, which is the founding principle of the school and what sets it apart as a truly unique institution.

The Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco-Psychologies (CLIE) M.A./Ph.D. specialization at Pacifica brings together scholars who pursue vocations oriented toward social and environmental justice. These efforts are brought together in our annual publication, Hearing Voices. We'd like to introduce you to the work of Katie Robinson, our 2nd year CLIE student, poet, and sexuality educator.

On Queerness As Praxis

By Katie Robinson

If part of decoloniality is about naming what hurts and why, equal part must also be about screaming what feels good and why. Queers raised in a western colonial and neocolonial context, in all
our vibrant multiplicity, have always been good at this, having continually broken from, acted against, and thrived outside of a colonial expectation and construct based in erotophobia. Many of us have decided to live and build community around a full bodied, “yes, this!” in the direction of pleasure as an authentic self and with others. 

by Susan James and Mary Watkins, Co-Chairs CLIE, Pacifica Graduate Institute

Our M.A./Ph.D. specialization in Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco-Psychologies (CLIE) in the department of Depth Psychology is a bold initiative to forge interdisciplinary and transformative approaches to the social justice, cultural, and ecological challenges of our time. We look forward to the completion of your application in the coming weeks so that we might meet with you this year about this unique graduate program. An early completion of your application is helpful if you are applying for financial aid.

Our curriculum in CLIE provides training in several lineages of depth psychology, which are placed in dynamic dialogue with critical community psychology, indigenous, liberation and eco-psychologies from a variety of local cultural perspectives worldwide.

by James Hillman, Ph.D.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of Pacifica Graduate Institute, James Hillman, Ph.D. gave a talk about the ways that Pacifica serves, promotes, and sparks the development of the education of the soul. What follows is a transcription of his talk.

By Nadia Thalji, Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute

In these moments of challenges, I find comfort in recalling the holding space that Pacifica provided, and continues to provide, through lasting friendships and companionship. I recall the life-changing encounters with my fellow classmates, and the precious sharing and witnessing of each other’s unfolding. 

The exposure to new concepts, teachings, and discussions. The generous exchanges with professors, mentors, and librarians. The smiling cooks who prepared delicious meals to soothe our mind and bodies after intense classes. The birds and trees that brought beauty, balance, and proportion every day.

An Interview of Stephen Aizenstat by Angela Borda, Part II of II