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.

New Children's Book by Julee Peterson

Julee Petersen, a 2014 graduate of the Wright Institute's Counseling Psychology Program, has published her first children's book. The book is titled Blended Bree - A Child's Discovery of Blended Families.

"Blended Bree is an entertaining story about blended families, building relationships, and the power of imagination." Julee wrote this book because "blended families lack resources to help them navigate the tricky waters." Order a copy of the book here. Her online course, The Blended Blueprint, will be available in December.

Alumni Spotlight: April Kenney

“My plan was always to do college then graduate school right after, but life panned out differently,” shared Wright Institute Counseling Psychology Program graduate April Kenney. “I’m actually thankful because I needed to live all that life before I was ready to be a therapist.”

April grew up in Ojai, California, which she describes as a “lovely, quaint town.” She is an only child and has always been very close to her parents. “They’re incredible, wise, loving humans,” she said proudly. “I feel so thankful to be their daughter.” April attended a Montessori school for Pre-K, then attended Ojai Valley School, a private school, from kindergarten through eighth grade. By high school, she was ready for a change and decided to attend the local public school, Nordhoff. “I’m so glad that I did,” she exclaimed, “because I still have some of those friendships today!”

WI Graduate and Current Student on Being Well Podcast

You're considering becoming a therapist, but you're aware that graduate school is a huge investment of time, money, and energy, so you want to make sure this work is the right fit for you. Short of holding your own informational interviews with several therapists, how can you determine whether to take the plunge?