Turn back to the most subjective part of yourself, to the source of your being, to that point where you are making world history without being aware of it…(C.G. Jung, 1933).

The on-going mental health crisis cannot be viewed independent of a world that is more fragmented and polarized than ever. In the clinical psychology program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, we recognize the interwoven and dynamic nature of psyche and culture; the ways in which the inner world and outer world constantly influence and shape each other. This reality mandates the need to evolve the healing values of psychotherapy with the justice values that concern every community. In the Clinical Psychology graduate program, this means the research and work we engage with is focused not only on the inner work of addressing depression, anxiety or worse, but also on the ways that psychotherapeutic values can be responsive to the contemporary challenges of our communities.

The breath of such attention is situated within a culture of shared becoming and is supported by practices rooted in depth psychology and it’s understanding of the unconscious connections between these inner and outer worlds.  This foundation influences not only the work we do, but the way in which we do it.  In the PGI Clinical Program, the scholarship and research you engage with is held within a framework that understands that as you learn more about yourself, you become better capable of understanding patterns with your clients. This will then radiate out to identifying patterns with the larger society and citizenship where you can then apply psychotherapeutic processes and practices.

With this mission in mind, we invite you to join us for this complimentary series of on-line monthly “Lighthouse Conversations” convened by core, adjunct faculty, and students in the clinical program. This series is designed to offer you an opportunity to connect with the scholars and practitioners who are shaping the future of depth clinical practice at Pacifica Graduate Institute and to explore imaginative, new initiatives all aimed toward responding to our current human condition.  Learn more about our vision of clinical psychology, our curriculum, the opportunities to become clinical psychologists, and the rewarding work each student engages in to realize that dream.

Staff members from the Office of Admissions will also be available at the end of each webinar session to explain the admissions process and to answer any questions that prospective students may have. Attendees of this webinar will also qualify for a free admissions application to any of Pacifica’s degree programs.

The summer schedule and topics for these conversations is as follows:

The Unfolding Journey: A Closer Look at the Interwoven Nature of Your Graduate Degree and Your Own Inner Journey

June 26, 5:00-6:30pm. (PST).

Dr. William James Jones (Core faculty Clinical Psychology) will host a webinar introducing faculty, alumni, and current students. As a proud alumnus of the clinical program at Pacifica (’16), he will outline his own journey with personal insights about doctoral education, the creation of a private practice, teaching, and examples of bridging depth psychology into much needed communities. He will also engage guest speakers to share their journey of becoming, focusing on the ways in which the clinical psychology MA/PhD program has helped to prepare them for their current or future career path.

Bringing Heart, Soul and Imagination to Clinical Research

July 18, 2024, 5:00-6:30pm. (PST).

Dr. Brenda Murrow (Core faculty Clinical Psychology) will host this webinar focusing on the opportunities to engage in research practices from a depth psychological perspective.  In the current paradigm of large-scale research, it can be a challenge to find ways to express curiosity in an ethical and meaningful manner.  It is important to remember that psychological research started as small-scale projects that helped the researchers better understand human experiences.  We can follow this lead today, by finding ways to responsibly and creatively explore current phenomena that affects the patients we see and the world in which we find ourselves.  She will highlight her own interests in animal assisted psychotherapy, rooted in the essential understanding of attachment and attunement across species.

The Deeper Stories: Psychotherapeutic Storytelling as a Bridge to Building Communities of Shared Becoming

August 15th, 2024, 5:00-6:30pm. (PST).

Dr. Peter T. Dunlap and Dr. Camille Jarmie (Cochairs clinical psychology program) will host a conversation about bringing psychotherapeutic practices into the public domain to offer a new model of relating that is rooted in an understanding of our shared becoming.  Emphasizing the dynamic relationship between psychotherapy and citizenship, this model is situated in stark relief against what has become a culturally normative orientation of toxic polarization.

While psychotherapy is often thought of as “internal work” and while community engagement can be thought of as “external work,” the integration of these is wholly possible. This integration begins in stories of belonging which help us understand the reasons we become healers. Such stories then extend from the consulting room into our communities and into the fabric of our shared collective history. Rooted in our shared history we are learning to focus on our shared becoming, that is, the way we are all fragments of an emerging, shared future. Through story telling we can learn to tell this deeper story, to find the way in which we can fit ourselves back together, into a shared remedy, into a highly practical vocational and professional path that enables us to become the people called for by our time.