Student Spotlight: Gessica Ni

“My desire to say yes to every opportunity is fueled by my genuine enthusiasm for personal and professional development,” explained Gessica Ni, a third year student in the Wright Institute’s Clinical Psychology Program. “The harsh reality, however, is that there's only a finite amount of time available, and the challenge lies in navigating these abundant opportunities within the constraints of a 24-hour day.”

Gessica is a first-generation Chinese American. She grew up in San Francisco with her parents and younger sisters. “As a child, my parents enrolled me in many extra-curricular activities, including piano, violin, figure skating, ballet, Chinese school, and art classes,” she recalled. For her early education, Gessica attended a “small catholic school with a majority Asian student body.” At the end of eighth grade, she was offered and accepted a scholarship to a prestigious local high school.

Faculty Spotlight: Professor Jenna Robinson

“I really like teaching at the Wright Institute because it isn't an art space, so it’s really special when I bring arts into the classroom,” explained Professor Jenna Robinson, a part-time core faculty member in the Wright Institute's Counseling Psychology Program. “I get to invoke something in people and show them that, even if they’re not dedicating themselves to being an expressive arts therapist, they can still bring art and play into their work as therapists.”

Dr. Jack Daniels Honored with Local Award

Dr. Jack Daniels, a 1986 graduate of the Wright Institute's Clinical Psychology Program, was honored on January 4th, 2023 as a recipient of the Madison, Wisconsin City-County Humanitarian Awards honoring Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The three recipients are community members who reflect the values of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Since graduating from the Wright Institute, Dr. Daniels has had an impressive career in higher education and is currently serving as the president of Madison Area Technical College. According to the City of Madison website, "His visionary leadership has reshaped the college's response to its diverse communities, propelling its transformation into a culture deeply rooted in principles of equity and inclusion."

Dr. Daniels has clearly dedicated himself to making his community a better place and we congratulate him on this honor.

Student Spotlight: Morgan Booker

“I think I always was interested in psychology and was fighting it for years. The real question is: what made me switch to theatre when I knew in the depths of my heart I wanted to be a therapist?” asked second-year Wright Institute Counseling Psychology Program student Morgan Booker. “I didn’t want to be someone who studied the human condition. I wanted to be interesting. I wanted to be fascinating to others. I think after a while I just let go of trying to be the most interesting person in the room and decided to be who I really am.”

Alumni Spotlight: Edna Olivares Gómez

“I had to get out of my comfort zone and get a different perspective of things,” confessed Wright Institute's Counseling Psychology Program graduate Edna Olivares Gómez. “My time at the Wright Institute gave me so many more tools to think about situations, understand the clients, connect with the clients, and conceptualize cases in a different way.”

Edna was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico, where she lived with her parents and her little sister. Her favorite activities as a child were playing with her sister and cousins, dancing, and playing board games. “My parents really valued education because they came from a very humble background, so they wanted my sister and I to have tools to be prepared for life,” she recalled. “My sister and I attended private schools that were bilingual, so I started learning English when I was three years old.”

Congratulations to Dr. Keddy

Dr. Philip Keddy co-taught a recent 5-day online introduction to the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) with Drs. Don Viglione and Jim Kleiger. Dr. Keddy is a member of the R-PAS teaching staff. This workshop covered R-PAS's rationale, administration, coding, and interpretation. It took place on September 21, 22,23,26, and 27. There were online attendees from countries as far away as Slovenia!

For additional information, please contact Dr. Keddy.

Dr. Quintin Bailey Published in Psychoanalytic Psychology

Dr. Quintin Bailey, 2021 graduate of the Wright Institute's Clinical Psychology Program, recently had an article published in Psychoanalytic Psychology. The article, titled "Trans Identity Development and Integration," is available here.

In the article, Dr. Bailey explores popular modern theories of trans identity development and proposes a new conceptualization grounded in psychoanalytic and transgender theory. Building on Winnicott’s (1960) theories of the true and false self to understand trans identity development, the author proposes the concept of trans existential dread to understand the tension between the true and false self for trans folks. These concepts are presented alongside clinical recommendations for exploring gender with all patients.

Congratulations to Dr. Uzuncan

The California Psychological Association Board of Division I (Clinical and Professional Practice) has voted to appoint Dr. Temre Uzuncan, Director of the Wright Institute’s Integrated Health Psychology Program, as a Director-at-Large for 2023.

Dr. Uzuncan will be part of the Division’s many efforts to promote access to psychological care and to protect the interests of psychology in state legislative matters.

Congratulations to Dr. Levenson

Hanna Levenson, PhD gave an invited in-person presentation at the Freud Museum in Vienna on June 29th on corrective emotional experiences and showed some video of actual therapy sessions to illustrate important clinical concepts.

On Thursday, October 5th, she will give a virtual webinar hosted by the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric treatment facility in Massachusetts, on her latest book, Deliberate Practice in Psychodynamic Therapy. The one hour CEU presentation is free by going to this link and registering.

Caiti Crum, graduate of the Wright Institute's Counseling Psychology Program and Adjunct Professor, wrote an article called "September . . . Reflections about Suicide Prevention Awareness Month," which has been posted on the website of Foresight Mental Health, where she serves as the VP of Therapy.

"Being a survivor of a loved one’s suicide is a unique grief. Often displaced by distance, the wear of confusion, guilt, and the inability to do anything more to help, survivors of suicide are left with unresolved questions that make us feel powerless. Metabolizing grief as a survivor of suicide is a unique process due to the absence of conclusive, rationale explanations. We simply have to let go of searching for the “why” and find other meaning."

Read the full article here.