“Something that I feel really resonates with me at the Wright Institute is the power of community,” shared Erin McQueen, a second year student in the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology Program. “To be in one place with one group of people for a period of time, and to move through that experience together can be really supportive.”
“I have many reasons to be grateful for the work I do,” reflected Dr. Kristin Dempsey, full-time core faculty member in the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology Program. “I mostly think about how this work has given me meaning and has allowed me to participate in powerful work throughout my life. Good days or bad, I have always felt anchored in the fact that what I do matters.”
Dr. Dempsey grew up as the youngest of six children in a working class family in Mendocino County, California. Her father, a WWII veteran, worked in the logging industry and her mother stayed home with the children then later worked as a teacher. Dr. Dempsey attended rural public schools in Mendocino County, which suffered from a lack of resources. “I have really good memories,” she shared, “of being in touch with the natural world and going out and playing all day long with friends.”
Drs. Adam Blum, Peter Goldberg, and Michael Levin, all Wright Institute Clinical Program Alumni, have published a book called Here I'm Alive: The Spirit of Music in Psychoanalysis.
"Here I’m Alive explores the musical foundation of being human from a psychoanalytic perspective. Writing in collaboration, three psychoanalytic clinicians develop a fresh vision of the essential role of music in psychical life. Through an interdisciplinary exploration, Here I’m Alive shows how music is fundamental to becoming human, establishing our embodied sense of membership and participation in a shared world through the fabric of culture. With one authorial voice, these pages resonate with the musical forms of living that make possible any individual style of conduct or shape of desire and without which we are forever lost in the noise."
Order the book here.
Dr. O'Connor recently published an article in Psychology Today entitled "Are Productive Habits the Result of Social Status?"
"Many believe that small habits lead to productivity, but the truth may be the opposite—that high status leads to productive habits."
Read the full article here.
"Despite having a MacArthur “genius” grant, among other accolades, Amalia Mesa-Bains, like many Chicana artists of her generation, has always had to work harder than most for attention from the mainstream art world. Now, the 79-year-old Bay Area artist is receiving her first museum retrospective, opening Feb. 4 at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive."
Read the full article here.
Dr. O'Connor recently published an article in Psychology Today entitled "How to Live with Survivor's Guilt: It’s hard to be happy when someone you love is suffering."
"Feeling a form of survivor's guilt can be normal in daily life. The angst that grabs you when you win an award and your coworker is unrecognized, or when you realize you’re still in love with your husband while your best friend is recently divorced and certain she’ll be alone forever—that awful feeling that comes like a weight on your shoulders, pushing you down, that may be survivor's guilt. It’s so under the surface we rarely recognize it—it feels like waves of inexplicable anxiety, or depression."
Read the full article here.
"'I think that teens, especially post-pandemic, have a lot of stuff going on these days–there are so many pressures,' said Dr. Larry Miller, a licensed psychologist who has a private practice in Berkeley and is a faculty member at the Wright Institute. Miller has over 25 years of experience working with people of all ages. 'They’re getting hit with so many different things, it gets hard to differentiate if it’s the seasons or all these other things going on in their lives.' He adds."
Read the full article here.
"As abortion supporter, Psychology Today contributor and Wright Institute professor Mary Lamia put it recently, men "often silently suffer after abortion” because society disenfranchises their grief."
Read the full article here.
“The Wright Institute instilled in me a curiosity and an acceptance and excitement about continuing my own journey, learning, growing, adapting, and sometimes relearning,” shared Graham Holoch, who graduated from the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology Program in 2021. “In the world of mental health, there is no manual, there is no script. Everyone brings something different, clients and clinicians.”
Graham was born in San Francisco and is the oldest of three brothers. His mother is from Hong Kong and his father is of German descent, but was raised in New Jersey. Over the course of his K-12 education, he attended a Montessori school, a Waldorf school, a private school, and several public schools. “I would say I didn't particularly enjoy high school,” Graham admitted, but he did enjoy the high school’s photography program. “We had a working dark room and a really good photography teacher,” he shared, which inspired him to pursue photography.
“Life is gonna life,” shared Dr. Alison Richardson, Dean of Students in the Counseling Program at the Wright Institute. “It's important to allow yourself to be vulnerable and to say, ‘I need some support right now. I need a cheerleader in my corner. I need somebody to talk to,’ because it’s just a patch, it’s not forever.” With sage advice like this, it’s no surprise that her path has led her to her current position, guiding students through their higher education experiences.
