Faculty play a crucial role in the academic life of the Counseling Psychology program, as they model the skills and values of the integration of the art and science of clinical practice, and provide essential mentoring for students.
Experienced practicing clinicians are particularly able to help students develop the critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills students need to function effectively when presented with the complex problems that characterize Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy practice. Experienced clinicians are central to the execution of our model of education, which emphasizes both the unique demands of professional education and the importance of mentoring and modeling. Through modeling a life that combines clinical practice with the awareness of current research and literature, the Counseling Psychology program faculty enable students to form a strong identification with the multi-faceted roles and responsibilities of contemporary clinicians.
The Counseling Psychology program faculty exemplify the core tenets of our mission statement and program philosophy. Namely, our faculty champion social justice and an appreciation of diversity, while embodying an orientation that focuses on client and student strengths, and emphasizes resiliency, recovery and evidence-based practices. The program has assembled a team of professionals who come from a broad range of personal backgrounds and clinical experiences in order to mirror our culturally diverse student body and their future constituents. Our faculty members are critical thinkers who engage people easily, possess integrity and the ability to communicate effectively, and above all, know how to instill students with a sense of hope and excitement about the counseling field. The Wright Institute is committed to basing all recruitment, hiring, admissions and promotion decisions upon individual qualifications, merit and competency. It is the Institute's policy to provide equal opportunity for all students, faculty and employees.
Elaine Leeder, MSW, MPH, PhD - Interim Program Director
Elaine Leeder is a trained social worker and sociologist who has worked in gerontology, foster care, community mental health, addictions, couples therapy and individual therapy. She was a professor of Social Work and Sociology at Ithaca College from 1977-2001; she then became Dean of the School of Social Science at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, CA... Read more »Mary M. Clarke, PhD - Full-Time Faculty
Dr. Clarke is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma recovery including: complex PTSD, dissociation, and dissociative identity disorder (DID). She works with LGBTQ+, Trans, GNC, and Non Binary folks. Additionally, she has long-term therapy experience with personality concerns and other relational needs. In over 18+ years as a clinician, she has provided... Read more »Jennifer Dorsey, MA - Part-Time Faculty
Professor Dorsey is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist who approaches case conceptualization with systems thinking and psychodynamic theory. Professor Dorsey emphasizes somatic awareness and neuroscience psychoeducation as resources to highlight and regulate her client’s physiological responses to stress and trauma... Read more »Beth Greivel, MA - Part-Time Faculty
Professor Beth Greivel is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with experience working with individual adults, individual teenagers, and adult intimate partners. Professor Greivel’s clinical background includes serving families in reunification after they have experienced trauma... Read more »Jenna Robinson, MA - Part-Time Faculty
Jenna Robinson (she/her), MA, LMFT, is a queer woman of color expressive arts therapist and performance poet located in the Bay Area. Jenna is a steadfast advocate for empowering people at the margins to author their stories of resistance and resilience using written and oral traditions. She has been performing and teaching... Read more »Sahil Sharma, PsyD - Part-Time Faculty
Dr. Sahil Sharma is a licensed clinical psychologist with a clinical focus in trauma, acculturation issues, the immigrant experience, and multicultural identity development. He received his PsyD from the Wright Institute and trained largely in community mental health and school-based settings, completing his pre-doctoral internship... Read more »MacKenzie Stuart, MA - Part-Time Faculty
Professor Stuart is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who works with adults, couples, partners, and families. Professor Stuart specializes in nontraditional relationship structures, including polyamory and other forms of consensual nonmonogamy, as well as chronic depression and suicidality... Read more »