Instructor Spotlight: Dr. Sahil Sharma

“Don't make up your mind too quickly - be open to experiences, be open to learning. I think the best therapists are the ones that are most comfortable with the fact that they don't know anything,” shared Dr. Sahil Sharma, PsyD, graduate of the Wright Institute’s Clinical Psychology Program, adjunct professor in the Clinical Psychology Program, and new core faculty member in the Counseling Psychology Program. “The more comfortable you are with the idea that you actually don't know anything, the better therapist I think you'll be. Allow your clients to show you who they are instead of trying to make up your mind early, thinking you know them before you really do.”

Born in India, Dr. Sharma immigrated with his family to the United States when he was only five years old and settled in Los Angeles. The family had four children, Dr. Sharma and his three older sisters, who are fifteen, fourteen, and six years older than him. He described this as being like having four moms growing up. “It’s not really a sibling relationship in the way I observe other people having,” he reflected. “I think there’s a way in which I’m always going to be the little kid to them, even though I’m an adult with a doctorate.” When Dr. Sharma started Kindergarten, he didn’t speak English yet and felt very much on the outskirts. “I had to do a lot of observing people and trying to figure things out using non-verbal cues and context clues,” he recalled. “I think I just became really fascinated with how people interact, why they are the way they are, and why they do the things they do.” Dr. Sharma credits this experience with inspiring him to study psychology.

Dr. Sharma began his undergraduate studies at Santa Monica College, a community college near Los Angeles. After a couple of years there, he moved to Davis, California to attend the University of California at Davis. In 2013, Dr. Sharma graduated from UC Davis with a BA in Psychology. “In some ways, I regret studying psychology in undergrad,” he admitted, “You learn about all of the famous studies and theories of emotions, but they don't really translate well to clinical work, in my opinion.”

During his time at UC Davis, Dr. Sharma had an internship as a Peer Counselor and Trainer as part of the campus’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) program. The peer counseling took place at a place affectionately called “the house.” Through role plays, peer counselors were trained to address several common issues like depression, anxiety, trauma, and eating disorders. “We were trained for 10 weeks pretty intensively on basic counseling and therapy skills,” Dr. Sharma recalled. “You would take a couple of shifts in the house each week and people would show up and you would just go into a room and chat with them about what was going on.” He described this as a “totally invaluable experience” that solidified for him that he wanted to pursue a career in psychology.

From 2013-2016, Dr. Sharma worked for the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis (IABA) in Los Angeles as a Senior Behavior Interventionist, working with culturally diverse children diagnosed with autism. “It was really rewarding working directly with the kids and their families,” he reflected. “Autism is very interesting because every person with autism is unique; no two folks on the spectrum are the same.” Dr. Sharma enjoyed the opportunity to serve as an advocate for these children and families, spending time in their homes and schools. “The hardest part was that, philosophically, ABA felt very weird to me. I know it has helped many people and their families, but to me, it felt very much like trying to force people on the spectrum into certain ways of behaving so that they wouldn't make other people uncomfortable,” he admitted. “It really collapses people's individual personalities and eccentricities and quirks in a way that I think can be very harmful.”

In the fall of 2015, Dr. Sharma enrolled in the Clinical Psychology Program at the Wright Institute. He had heard about the Wright Institute from two of his friends at UC Davis, one who was a graduate of the PsyD program and another who enrolled in 2014. The small, intimate feel of the Clinical Psychology program appealed to Dr. Sharma as did its location in the Bay Area. “Logistically, the fact that the Wright has a practicum in your first year is pretty unique and I felt like it was great to have that additional year of training,” he shared. Dr. Sharma graduated from the Wright Institute with a PsyD in Clinical Psychology in 2020.

Dr. Sharma worked for Richmond Area Multi-Services (RAMS, Inc.) from 2019-2022, first as a Doctoral Intern, then as a Registered Psychologist. He was drawn to RAMS for his internship because it was one of the few community health organizations in the area that was psychodynamically or psychoanalytically oriented. “I found that it was one of the few sites that didn’t just talk about the multicultural aspects of their training as part of their marketing,” he recalled. At RAMS, multiculturalism was woven throughout the curriculum and was part of the way they thought about working with clients and their own development as psychologists. “I learned more that year about myself than I did any other year and that’s why it was important for me to stay on,” Dr. Sharma reflected. “It helped me be much less rigid and much more human in the way I thought about working relationally with folks and I think it also gave me permission to let more of myself into my identity as a therapist.”

From 2020-2022, Dr. Sharma worked in private practice at The Combs Group: Counseling and Therapeutic Services. Hilary Combs was his supervisor during his third and fourth year placements and he really enjoyed working with her. After graduating from the Wright Institute, Dr. Sharma reached out to her about becoming a psychological associate in her private practice group. “It was invaluable working with her because she really took the time to walk me through all of the logistics and the business side of things,” he recalled. “I really learned the behind the scenes aspects of how to practice.” Working with The Combs Group gave Dr. Sharma the space he needed to grow and discover what was important to him.

After getting licensed in September 2022, Dr. Sharma opened his own private practice in Oakland. He had built up a caseload with The Combs Group that he was allowed to bring with him to his own private practice. “It was a really smooth transition,” Dr. Sharma reflected. “When I opened my practice, I had a huge head start.” He really enjoys working in private practice because he gets to do things his own way. “I get to really prioritize my clients and what I think is important to them,” he reflected, “and not having to juggle the needs of a group that can take away from the needs of my clients.” The only drawback Dr. Sharma noted about having a solo practice is that it can get lonely, which is why he seeks out teaching and supervising opportunities as well. “If I just did private practice, it would be really easy to become too insulated and just go on autopilot and do your own thing,” he mused. Dr. Sharma is also part of a peer consultation group that he meets with regularly to discuss clinical work as well as the logistics of running a private practice.

In his practice, Dr. Sharma specializes in addressing trauma, acculturation issues, the immigrant experience, and multicultural identity development for adolescents, adults, and couples. His interest in working with clients experiencing trauma began during his first year Case Conference at the Wright Institute, where they read Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman. Since then, he’s had an interest in the ways in which people are affected by trauma. “I find it really interesting that, oftentimes, people who have had traumatic experiences have a hard time with relationships, however it is the fostering and building of a healthy relationship through therapy that is the road to recovery,” he reflected. “I think it's a very privileged position to be in with someone, for them to share their traumatic experiences with you and you help them to hold it and work through it and build a relationship around it.” His other areas of focus are based on his own experiences as an immigrant and his struggle to form his own identity.

Dr. Sharma returned to the Wright Institute as an instructor in the Clinical Psychology Program in April of 2021. He knew during his training that he wanted to teach at some point, so after graduating he reached out to Dr. Gilbert Newman to let him know that he’d like to teach in the program at some point in the future. “I was thinking that this would be years down the line,” Dr. Sharma confessed, “but it just so happened that they needed someone to teach the Intervention: Group Therapy class the spring after I graduated.” He admitted that he had struggled with group therapy as a student, but he seized the opportunity and has grown to love teaching the course. “It felt really smooth to transition to teaching in a program that I'd previously been a student in,” he shared. “I understood the program and felt like I could really relate to the experience of the students having recently been in their shoes.”

In September 2021, Dr. Sharma became an adjunct professor in the Counseling Psychology Program at the Wright Institute. That fall, he taught Diagnosis and Empirically Supported Treatments and later he taught the Professional Development Seminar course as well. Coming from the Clinical Psychology Program to the Counseling Psychology Program was a bit of an adjustment for Dr. Sharma. One major difference he noted was that, because Counseling students aren’t in a practicum during their first year, they take in the material and think about it in a different way. “The questions are so much more conceptual or hypothetical and students are so much more creative with where they go with things,” he reflected. He also noted that he enjoys that the Counseling Program is “clinically based and application focused,” which he finds very exciting.

This fall, Dr. Sharma is joining the core faculty of the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology Program. “When the opportunity to become core faculty was presented to me, I was very flattered and said yes,” he shared. “I’m so excited to shift into that role and be more involved with the student body.” He looks forward to participating in graduation, holding more office hours, and spending more time working with students one-on-one. Dr. Sharma also appreciates the culture and environment of the Counseling Program, noting that he enjoys his colleagues and the “good energy” of the program as a whole.

In his spare time, Dr. Sharma enjoys spending time in nature, going on walks and hikes, watching TV, and spending time with his wife. Recently, they watched many seasons of “Survivor” and the first season of “The Last of Us,” which he was familiar with from playing the video game of the same title. Dr. Sharma also loves food and cooking. “I love going out and trying different restaurants and I also enjoy cooking for myself at home,” he shared. “I always say that if I wasn't doing this work, I would have worked as a chef or a cook in some capacity.”