Wright Institute founder, Dr. Nevitt Sanford, in the news

Craig K. Comstock, a writer, TV producer, and former student of Dr. Nevitt Sanford, recently posted two brief articles about Wright Institute founder, Dr. Nevitt Sanford. Comstock served as a teaching assistant for Dr. Sanford during his time in the Psychology department at Stanford University in the 1960s, before Dr. Sanford founded the Wright Institute in 1968. Click here to learn more about Dr. Sanford's background.

Click below to read the posts:

Get to know Katherine Tarnoff, MFT - Core Faculty, Counseling Psychology Program

Shayna Quilty (SQ): You started at the Wright Institute as a student. How did you find out about the Wright as a prospective student?
Katherine Tarnoff (KT): I was working in advertising before I transitioned into the counseling field. After working for an ad agency for a few years, I started to want something more substantial out of my career and an opportunity to connect more honestly with people. I realized I would need to change fields if I wanted to make that happen.

So I began exploring other career options. I heard about The Wright Institute through an acquaintance and it is the only place that I applied-- I’ve never second-guessed or regretted the decision. The environment immediately felt welcoming and open with opportunity.

Including the Body in Psychotherapy Practice
By Angela Porter, MFT, CATC, CMT, Wright Institute Counseling Psychology program graduate

Doing graduate work at The Wright Institute allowed me to assimilate my life experience with my desire to become a clinician capable of navigating the increasingly complex mental health needs of our society. Before becoming a therapist, I was a substance abuse treatment counselor for many years, and I studied Gestalt and Body Psychotherapy as a work scholar at Esalen Institute, with some of the great pioneers in the field.

Get to know Bowbay Liang-Hua Feng, MFT - Core Faculty, Counseling Psychology Program

See Bowbay's professional biography here.


Shayna Quilty (SQ): Congratulations on becoming a Core Faculty Member! Can you tell me a bit about your history with the Wright Institute?
Bowbay Feng (BF): Thank you! I’m a graduate of the Counseling Psychology program here at the Wright Institute. I was always interested in teaching. I talked with my faculty advisor about it when I was still a student, and she was wonderfully supportive. I have taught at other universities, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join the faculty at my own alma mater. I have a long history of teaching and developing programs, trainings, and groups. I am an avid learner and am passionate about sharing and helping others grow, develop, and explore.

New study explores impacts of clinical supervisory relationships on supervisees and supervisors

Click here to read more about Dr. Rubio's background.
Click here to read about Dr. Rubio's work with Expressive Arts.


The San Francisco Department of Public Health - Behavioral Health Services is undergoing external review by the State. As part of this review, Dr. Ritchie Rubio, Full-Time Faculty member in the Counseling Psychology program, will be presenting on his ongoing study of clinical supervisors of the city.

Dr. Rubio Incorporates Art Therapy and Play Therapy into Instruction

Click here to read more about Dr. Rubio's background.


Despite the dominant media representations of therapy, talk therapy isn't universal, and it isn't for everyone. Dr. Ritchie Rubio explains that talk therapy may not come naturally to some people, especially those from cultures or backgrounds that value nonverbal communication. Expressive arts therapy can also be effective with children, youth, or adults who may struggle to put their thoughts and feelings into words, especially when starting therapy. Given their effectiveness for diverse client populations, Dr. Rubio feels driven to introduce and integrate expressive art therapy modalities at The Wright Institute.

Leaning into Discomfort: Wright Institute Faculty Member Presents on White Fragility

Lyman Hollins, a member of the adjunct faculty for both the Counseling Psychology and Clinical Psychology programs at the Wright Institute, recently participated in a fall symposium hosted by The Psychotherapy Institute (TPI) entitled: "Understanding White Fragility and its Impact on Clinical Work in a Multicultural Society."

"The symposium allowed white therapists to understand that they do have a position in clinical work when it comes to talking about race," said Lyman, who has collaborated in developing the Wright Institute's Multicultural Awareness & Sensitivity courses for each program. "Oftentimes when talking about race, you find that those who identify as white can't engage unless there is a person of color in the room or unless the person of color broaches it."

Leveraging Duality: Using Humor with Borderline Clients

See Dr. Shapiro's professional biography here.


Wright Institute Clinical Psychology faculty member Dr. Lauren Shapiro is conducting research on the use of humor as an intervention with clients diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

“From what I’ve learned about borderline clients, something they struggle with is integrating multiple seemingly contradictory thoughts or feelings,” Shapiro explained. “For example, they often engage in splitting—they’ll undervalue someone, and then switch to overvaluing them.”

Since the essence of humor is the presence of two contradictory meanings simultaneously, Shapiro wondered if humor could be an effective tool with borderline clients. Anecdotally, she had heard from therapists about using humor in sessions, but she couldn’t find very much if anything written about it in the literature.

Lessons from Darkness

Click here to read Dr. Anita Barrows's professional bio.


Longtime Clinical Program Faculty Member, Dr. Anita Barrows, has published one of her poems in an anthology called Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems, Grayson Books, Hartford, Connecticut (2017), and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, which is a major national prize for an individual poem.

Here’s the Poem:

Lessons from Darkness

"I’m afraid of the darkness, and the hole in it,
and I see it sometime of every day!"
- Martin Luther, in Luther

Does losing a parent help us develop gratitude?

A recent Wright Institute Clinical Psychology Program graduate, Dr. Nathan Greene, recently published an article with Elephant Journal exploring how the experience of losing his mother to cancer when he was a teen shaped his development as a more grateful person. This experience and his article serves as a platform for him to share to a broad audience his dissertation research findings about parental loss, gratitude, and resilience. Click here to read Dr. Greene's article.


Click here to learn more about the Wright Institute’s Doctor of Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) program.
Click here to learn more about the Wright Institute’s Master of Counseling Psychology program.