Welcome to the Wright Institute. Based in Berkeley, California, The Wright Institute is an independent school of professional psychology offering the Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) degree.

We know that prospective students have a great array of choices when trying to sort through all the different programs offering graduate training in clinical psychology. Why choose the Wright Institute over other similar programs? The Wright program provides a unique small community setting that fosters rich relationships between students as well as between students, faculty, and supervisors. You will not get “lost in the cracks” at the Wright Institute. The model of education that we implement is student centered and relationally based, so that we conceptualize learning to be a result of the contextual interaction of students with their teachers, their supervisors, and their peers. Our clinical case conference series fosters close support of individual student development by an experienced teacher-clinician within an intimate setting of groups of 6-8 students.

We work from the tradition set forth by our founder, Nevitt Sanford, of training clinicians in service to society, and encourage our students to act as agents of social change within a variety of settings. In their practica, students often work with the most economically disadvantaged and underserved members of our community and are asked to see their clients’ problems within the larger social context. This larger context is also acknowledged in our classrooms where the curricula reflects an interest in the important issues of our diverse society, including gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

Students in our program are broadly exposed to a wide range of psychological theories and therapeutic modalities, and to the scientific literature that underlies the practice of psychology. Highly respected within the clinical psychology community, Wright Institute graduates find themselves well prepared to move into responsible careers within the rapidly changing field of professional psychology.

Students often undergo deep personal change while enrolled in the program and find the variety of challenges presented to be educationally rewarding and personally satisfying. If you would like to pursue becoming a professional psychologist in this kind of setting I hope you will give us the opportunity to show you a more personal view of the Wright Institute by joining us at one of our open houses. I look forward to meeting you.

Gilbert Newman, Ph.D.
Vice President for Academic Affairs