Upcoming Pacifica Events: Spring 2019

Posted by Melissa Ruisz Nazario on Jan 31, 2019 11:55:48 AM

Is personal, intellectual, or creative growth one of your goals for this year, or for your life in general? Do you long to connect with others interested in the intersections of art, soul, and depth psychology? Let one of Pacifica’s upcoming events this spring be the catalyst for you to plug into our like-minded community, and get ready to experience and engage in deep, meaningful conversations where you are able to hold space for each other and learn new, exciting ways to explore your creative potential.

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Posted in: Pacifica Events, Pacifica News, Santa Barbara, graduate school, creativity, art, vocation, Education, depth psychology, active imagination, Pacifica Students, Pacifica Graduate Institute, resources

Depth Psychology: Empowering Multicultural Women in the Wider World

Posted by Krystyna Knight on Apr 5, 2018 9:18:33 AM

Depth Psychology: Empowering Multicultural Women in the Wider World-An Interview with Self-Made Media Mogul, Nely Galán, MFT.  A Guest Post by Bonnie Bright, Ph.D.

Listen to the full audio interview with Nely Galán here (approx. 32 mins)

We’ve all heard the adage that success doesn’t always bring happiness, a concept Nely Galán knows well. As a Latina and a self-made media mogul who has produced hundreds of television shows, headed a TV network, and generated a significant amount of income, she felt an odd sense of relief when the economy crashed in 2008, bringing many of her projects to a halt. She realized the extent to which she felt like a hamster running around a wheel, and while she would never have tried to exit the industry if she had maintained her level of involvement in multiple projects, the economic downturn provided her a way out.

 

By that point in her life, she had been through psychotherapy and understood, from a personal perspective, how powerful it could be. Acknowledging that she had always wanted to go to school to study psychology, she took the plunge; first finishing a B.A., before applying to Pacifica, which had already been in her “mind and heart for a while,” as she reveals.

 

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Posted in: Alumni, clinical psychology, gender, leadership, vocation, depth psychology, individuation, Pacifica Students

Deep Vocation: Living Your 'One Wild and Precious Life'

Posted by Krystyna Knight on Mar 26, 2018 1:53:18 PM

A guest blog post by Jennifer Leigh Selig, Ph.D.

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

--Mary Oliver

I think a lot about how to live a meaningful life.

In childhood and young adulthood, I had some early encounters with accidents and untimely deaths that sensitized me to how easily and how quickly life could be stripped from us. When I was twenty-one, an accident of my own laid me up in bed for three months, and during that time, I contemplated the poet Mary Oliver’s question: what should I do with my one wild and precious life?

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Posted in: Pacifica Events, vocation, soul, symbol, Pacifica Graduate Institute

Depth Psychology and Careers of the Future

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Feb 6, 2017 3:09:17 PM

A guest post by Craig Chalquist, Ph.D.

If you haven’t figured out what kind of career you want, consider the possibility that it hasn’t been invented yet.

Events in our highly interconnected world change so rapidly now that what were formerly considered safe, stable careers can vanish overnight or be exported to other lands. I have a friend who decided a while back to give up on career pursuit worries and just drive a taxi. Surely that would be a safe bet? Everyone needs to get around. That, of course, was before Uber and Lyft.

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Posted in: Alumni, Psychology, vocation, depth psychology

Connecting Vocation with Psyche

Posted by Krystyna Knight on Dec 8, 2016 1:18:42 PM

“The question of vocation is crucial, and choosing the right one requires listening to the voice within.  The root of the word “vocation” is Latin for voice.  Learning to trust that inner voice in the face of economic and social pressures that might urge otherwise is an act of courage.  Accessing that courage is key to finding the voice” ~ Dr. Joseph Cambray, Provost

Many of us actively seek to connect with our inner voice and calling, in guiding us on our life’s journey. Determining a graduate program that brings meaning and embraces our calling takes time, research, and a dedication to our self and making a difference. Whether seeking to enhance an existing career, beginning a new vocation, or striving for personal transformation and development, Pacifica’s graduate degree programs will further you on the path. By following the institute’s motto
 “animae mundi colendae gratia”, which in Latin means “for the sake of tending the soul in and of the world”, Pacifica’s students become pioneers in the field of depth psychology through the lens of the various specializations and interdisciplinary curriculum that each program provides. 

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Posted in: vocation, soul, psyche

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

A Second Ph.D.; An Alumna Story

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Apr 27, 2016 1:13:25 PM

An interview with Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Alumn Sarette Zecharia, Ph.D.

Please tell us about your professional life since you graduated from Pacifica.

When I graduated from Pacifica in 2000, I had moved to Scottsdale Arizona. I did my post doc through the Superior Court of Arizona in the Probation Department. From there I went into private practice and continued to explore more alternative methods to help empower patients to truly value themselves and shine as vibrant divine beings. Through the years, I have also partnered with various clinics to ensure an integrative approach to care and have focused heavily on working with chronic pain at a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level. On the side, I have taught as adjunct faculty at various universities and lectured prolifically on topics in my expertise, bringing awareness and empowerment to attendees to find their way.

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Posted in: Alumni, clinical psychology, graduate school, vocation

Pacifica's Psy.D. Clinical Psychology Program; An Alumna Story

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Apr 18, 2016 1:35:36 PM

An interview with Psy.D. Clinical Psychology Alumna Johanna Hays, Psy.D.

I received my BA in Psychology from California State University Northridge in 2007, and completed my MA in Counseling Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2009.

I completed my doctoral degree from Pacifica in December 2013 and conducted my research on the integration of Somatic Experiencing® with psychodynamic psychotherapy. Concurrent with my doctoral studies, I completed the three-year Somatic Experiencing® certification and currently have a private practice in which I integrate both SE and hypnotherapy together to work with individuals who experience symptoms of trauma and pain.

I attended the Hypnotherapy Motivation Institute in 2005 prior to beginning my graduate studies, and it was this connection to the unconscious and the power of image and story that resonated with me at Pacifica.

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Posted in: Alumni, clinical psychology, graduate school, vocation

Pacifica's Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Program; An Alumnus Story

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Apr 18, 2016 11:13:48 AM

An interview with Ph.D. Clinical Psychology Alumnus Doug Henry, Ph.D.

What was your work path, following graduation from Pacifica?

I went to work full-time for four years in the inpatient psychiatric unit at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital where I did evaluations, group, individual, and family therapy, was also in private practice in SB, and did training and consulting work with the SBPD (Hostage) Negotiation Team and the CIT – Crisis Intervention Team of the SBPD as well.

After working with acute patients, I was eager for a change. While locked inpatient hospital work is terrific training - you really see crises so often that you are less likely to be shocked or flustered over time - it is difficult and even unhealthy, for many psychologists, to sustain this for long periods. My next position was as lead assessor for Santa Barbara County department of Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services (ADMHS), in the Calle Real Adult Outpatient Clinic. Upon licensure in California I was promoted becoming fluent in managing teams of mental health professionals. This too was a tremendously valuable experience: I gained insight how to be effective in an environment where clinicians are overloaded by the number of patients seeking services and the scope of their needs. As we all know, this is characteristic of the majority of the behavioral health systems in the U.S., particularly public systems.

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Posted in: Alumni, clinical psychology, graduate school, vocation

Dezombifying Higher Education: A Depth Psychological Approach

Posted by Nikole Hollenitsch on Mar 2, 2016 12:27:58 PM

A guest post by Frank McMillan

Nature is always right.  By repeated experiment, nature is now proven to be non-local.  According to quantum physicist Henry Stapp, non-locality is the most profound discovery of science.  Read that again.  Not simply an interesting finding or significant advance, but the most profound discovery in the history of science.  The reigning materialist paradigm that has dominated Western culture for three centuries is empirically dethroned as a complete explanation of reality.  More than seventy-five years after reductionism’s funeral in the labs of Bohr and Planck, Nature magazine printed its obituary last fall in an article entitled, “Quantum physics: Death by experiment for local realism.”  Wow.  To quote rock godfather Chuck Berry, “Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news.”

Somebody refuses to listen, however.  I’m looking at you, Academia.

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Posted in: Pacifica Events, graduate school, vocation, Education