Jill Cresap -- 1st Year Student (interviewed in 2008)
What were you doing before you applied to Pacifica?

I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Behavioral Science from National University in Costa Mesa, California in 2000. I have been working for the last 13 years as a Medical Management Consultant. I would consult with physicians and healthcare management firms on how to manage a medical practice operationally, how to market a practice to increase profitability, and train physicians and staff to increase and maintain patient satisfaction.

How did you find out about Pacifica, and what led you to apply?

I attended my uncle’s graduation from the Wright Institute in Berkeley about 2 years ago. At that time I knew I wanted to go back to school and pursue my doctorate in psychology. Unfortunately, I didn’t live in Northern California and had no plans to move there. But my uncle told me about Pacifica and encouraged me to enroll and the rest is now Pacifica history.

What specifically appealed to you about the Depth Psychology degree?

I originally wanted to pursue the Clinical Psych degree. But I knew that I wanted to apply my degree toward my career in healthcare and my goal of healing the soul of medicine. Since DP focuses on the “soul of the world,” it seemed a perfect fit.

What has been the most exciting aspect of studying in the Depth Psychology program thus far?
It has got to be the people. First of all, the professors are amazingly learned and so intriguing in the volumes of experience they bring to Pacifica. I am so titillated by the lectures and conversations, I find it thrilling.




Secondly, my cohort excites me. This group of people feels like family to me – chosen family. I miss them when we are out of session and I am like a little kid going to Disneyland when I get to come back.

The richness of study in the DP program enlivens me and feeds my soul.

What are one or two of the courses you’ve taken that have been favorites, or made a significant impact on you?

Both courses in Community Process (Council and Psycho-Drama) were very poignant for me. The Council class has provided our cohort a lasting exercise in working out issues, connecting after time away, and a fun forum for free expression.  The Theatre class was an amazing experience that I am still reeling from, as it evoked a lot of thought and emotions. Truly wonderful.

I loved our Dream class with Dr. Bona. He is such a wonderful professor and his deep knowledge is inspiring.

What is unique or special about the Depth Psychology community?

I think what has struck me the most about this community is the overwhelming feeling I have of total acceptance. I have been so impressed by the calmness of the energy and this peaceful feeling that encompasses those in DP.

What are your hopes and dreams for how you will use this degree after you graduate?

I would like to be able to effect change within the healthcare field by gaining an understanding of the souls and psyches of those working within it. I believe that once I have that knowledge, I can better understand what is needed to repair this broken system.

I also would like to eventually teach at the college level. Ideally, I would like to teach medical students some aspects of DP, to assist them as they go off into the world of medicine. Perhaps that will help reshape the soul of medicine.

Click here to read a recent article Jill had published entitled "What's Your Office Personality? Understanding the Personality of Each Medical Practice" (see page 37). Congrats, Jill!
Previous Student Profiles
(scroll down to read more)
Tell us a little about your personal and educational background.

Growing up the son of a fundamentalist preacher in Nebraska I was never far from psyche, nature, and religion. Praying with the men in the basement of a simple clapboard church on Wednesday nights left a deep impression on me. These sunburned farmers and ranchers openly wept, called upon God for rain and easily acknowledged an unconscious stirring in their hearts. I loved my father and even though we fought over the length of my hair and rock ‘n’ roll, I wanted his admiration and followed his path to Bible College and eventually into ministry at a soul-saving evangelical church. But as I approached ordination, faith got in the way. There was just too much I believed that the church did not. So I returned to my college job as a paramedic. The work was full of adventure and offered a very tangible sort of soul saving. I worked in a variety of settings, including the Middle East and Central America, and eventually became a writer, editor, and publisher in the field of emergency services.   

What were you doing before you applied to Pacifica?

The most important thing I was doing was raising two sons and two step-daughters. As they moved into adulthood, I found myself asking all those second-half-of-life questions. I was running a successful publishing and consulting business but still found myself thinking about those prayer meetings in the basement of the church. I had been involved in the men’s movement and my shelves were filled with psychology and mythology texts, so I began seeking a way to respond to what Jung calls the “voice of the inner man.”






How did you find out about Pacifica, and what led you to apply?

I was on the last leg of sixty day camel trek in the parched Empty Quarter of southern Arabia, when suddenly a bright light shown down…  Actually, I discovered Pacifica one day while searching the Internet for a Joseph Campbell quote. I was immediately intrigued with the vision of animae mundi colendae gratia. When I came for a visit and heard Dr. Glen Slater talk about the movie "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off" from a depth psychological point of view, I knew I had found a psychology program that would allow me to reflect soulfully and metaphorically on all of life.

What specifically appealed to you about the Depth Psychology degree?

In recent years I’d become increasingly concerned about society’s and psychology’s focus on what Martin Buber refers to as “self-intending” – a focus on individual salvation or personal healing that excludes others and the world. The Depth Psychology program at Pacifica offered an exploration of psyche not just in the individual but in everything and everywhere. Applying Depth Psychology to nature, religion, community, social, political and environmental concerns, the arts, science, and the entire world has became an irresistible invitation to see psyche in all her diverse presentations and ask, what is psyche trying to say in our time? 

What has been the most exciting aspect of studying in the Depth Psychology program thus far?

It has been thrilling to show up for three days of class each month with a cohort of like-minded people to learn, imagine, experience, talk, laugh and, weep over subjects about which we all are deeply concerned. The time flies and each visit to campus is a treasured gift.
 
What are one or two of the courses you’ve taken that have been favorites, or made a significant impact on you?

It seems that every class I take is my favorite. Everything belongs!  Freud, Jung, Research Methods, Dreamwork, Community Process, Eco-psychology – they all work together. I have yet to take a class at Pacifica that has not made a significant impact on my brain and my backside (all that reading).

What is unique or special about the Depth Psychology community?

Dr. Bona has described depth psychologists as troubadours of the soul, listening, containing and loving in the hope of mediating the opposites and bringing conscious into the world. This is truly the spirit of the community of professors, staff and students I’ve found at Pacifica.

What are your hopes and dreams for how you will use this degree after you graduate?

I have been haunted by Jung’s observation that the greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of the parent. My hope and dream is that, in completing this program, I am more fully living the life I am called to live before my sons and daughters. While I will apply my degree to writing, teaching, and consulting, I want to stay open to what psyche may bring in this second half of life. As Jung reminds, “We cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning.”

John is currently completing a collection of essays on rescue work and alchemy, with transformation as the theme. Click here to read his evocative essay "The Princess and the Pirate," which received 2nd place in the 2006 Writer’s Digest Annual writing competition for memoir/personal essay.

John Becknell -- 2nd Year Student (interviewed in 2009)

  Gina Belton-2nd Year Student (interviewed in 2009)
Tell us a little about your personal and educational background.

My formal education as a Baccalaureate prepared Community Public health nurse is deeply informed by my background of growing up a fourth generation Californio in the San Joaquin Valley during the chaos and inspiration of the 60’s and 70’s. As my mind’s eye remembers it, California, probably like much of the rest of the country at the time, was a living, breathing entity of paradox. Its wild places nourished the paradox that is me, fostered by: beat poetry; rivers; music: soul, punk, classical, mariachis; the Sierra Mountains, a mosaic of cultures laboring together in vineyards and fruit orchards that nourished a whole country. I can still see the giant billboard on Highway 99 that read “Welcome to the San Joaquin Valley, America’s fruit basket!”  The Neisi and the Compesino side-by-side cultivated a rich agricultural experience that had much more to do with growing fruits and vegetables. I close my eyes and see their brown skin and smiling eyes, wiping sweat with dusty handkerchiefs resting in shirt pockets, pockets holding the dust from lineage reaching far back to Japan and Azatlan, my heart held tenderly by these ancients.  The rhythms of a seasonal life interrupted by the Vietnam war, protests, and violence in unexpected places at unexpected times: a line of green jeeps and canvas colored trucks filled with dark faced young men, driving through

our small town; my grandfather weeping in his backyard as his sons were taken to war; policeman who smiled at you on your way to school, only to be observed beating your neighbor that night. The indelible imprint on my psyche was this confluence of beauty and turmoil which gave rise to what my mentor and friend Dr. Charles Garfield describes as “fierce grace” which nourishes the depth of my skills as a caregiver and draw to community building, a way of being in the world that are the gifts from my grandmother Guadelupe.  As my grandmother’s sons and other mother’s sons returned from "overseas" with a lost look in their eyes, they found refuge at her table. I observed that at my grandmother’s table, temenos unfurled and healing was invited in. There was always room for one more at this table, as my grandmother’s generosity was bottomless, no matter how few her resources. It is clear to me now in these moments, that this California legacy is what seeded my Soul’s call to Community, embodying social justice as caregiver, the chaos, love and transformation of the dying time made flesh as the edgerunner, weaver of community, as nurse---one who nourishes.

What were you doing before you applied to Pacifica?

“ We clasped the hands of those that go before us,
And the hands of those who come after us,
We enter the little circle of each other’s arms”~~~ Wendell Barry

“If your end of the boat sinks, so does mine” ~~~ Dr. Charles Garfield

It was as a case manager in community nursing that I had a sentinel moment with a family, as their patriarch lay dying in hospital, which illuminated my pull to threshold experiences—the margins. As a result of this family’s gift to me, I found my way to the Metta Institute, a program for clinicians who desire to practice integrating the spiritual dimensions of dying in our medical models. In the year following my training, I began to live into this intention with a series of multidisciplinary community explorations of the dying time with founder of Shanti International and core faculty of the Metta Institute, Dr. Charles Garfield. We called this work, “The Beloved Community," inspired by the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King. We asked: “How does the Beloved Community care for itself in the dying relationship?”; “What does the workplace where we care for the dying look like for the Beloved Community?”; and more importantly, “How does the Beloved Community deepen the heart of the caregiver?” Dr. Garfield’s work in integral perspectives in the corporate culture of the modern medical model and most importantly, his work with the Wounded Healer has been essential to my journey to Pacifica.

How did you find out about Pacifica and what led you to apply?

“. . . I want to know
If you know
How to melt into that fierce heat of living,
Falling toward
The center of your longing . . .with the consequences of love . . .” ~~~David Whyte

Exploring various graduate nursing programs, it became clear to me that I was not interested in promoting the same paradigms which contributed to the wounding of the caregivers and the vulnerable populations entrusted to their care. I began to consider a path in Psychology. Once again the tender support and mentoring of the faculty from the Metta Institute emerged. Ange Stephens, co-director of the program, sat with me on the porch at Ralston White Retreat center and simply said: “If you are serious about considering psychology, you should look into Pacifica."  I never looked back. The motto “for the sake of tending to soul in the world” was all the invitation I needed!

What specifically appealed to you about the Depth Psychology program?

“We have not come here to take prisoners,
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.
We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love . . .” ~~~Hafiz

A wounded healer mending a broken heart from my experiences in Nurse Culture, I was not sure that I would ever be able to practice with integrity in the current medical model---particularly with my call to cultivate the potential for healing and transformation in the mystery of our dying time. The Depth Psychology degree invites the wounded healer to inquire deeply and holistically to journey toward mystery. To Soul.

What's the most exciting aspect of studying in the Depth Psychology program thus far?

“I’m at a day- long meditation retreat, eight hours of watching
My mind with my mind. . .
. . .I stayed and learned to name my thoughts, so far they are:
Wanting, wanting, wanting,
Wanting, wanting, wanting, wanting, wanting, judgment,
Sadness.  “Don’t identify with your
Thoughts, the teacher says, you are not your personality, not your
Ego-identification . . .” ~~~Susan Browne

It is a fascinating journey, this look inward. It is like turning a gem over and over to view the myriad facets of, as the poem says, “ego-identification." Turning toward psyche is at once profoundly disheartening and startling enlightening!  Ever the optimist, in this phase of my journey, I choose to be amused and curious by all that reveals itself to me---what appears to be most exciting is that this appears to be a bottomless inquiry!

What are one or two of the courses you’ve taken your first year which have been most memorable?

“Love

Love means to learn to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many . . .”  ~~~Czeslaw Milosz

It is clear that each foundational course unfolds organically into the next, yet my engagement with Mary Watkins’s Psychology of Liberation course has re-ignited my passion for social justice work as expressed in community health nursing. Jennifer Selig and Alex Fidyk have offered a refreshing view that research can actually be enjoyable, which is a far cry from my undergraduate experience and the unexpected gift--is the coming forward of the Artemis archetype (as the hunter/researcher) in me!  Though the most profound encounter for me has been with Ed Casey’s Ecopsychology course. It has "placed" me back in touch with my love of the wild places of my life and in myself. Moreover, it has located my responsibility to preserve and nourish this wildness in my intention for "tending to Soul in the world."

What is unique or special about the Depth Psychology community at Pacifica as you've experienced it thus far?

“ Beginners

But we have only begun
To love the earth.
We have only begun
To imagine the fullness of life..
How could we tire of hope?
So much is in the bud.
How can desire fail?
We have only begun
To imagine justice and mercy,
Only begun to envision
How it might be
To live as siblings with beast and flower
Not as oppressors . . .” ~~~Denise Levertov

What other campus nourishes Soul with such unabashed joy and intention? I am so nourished by this community. I am inspired by my cohort at every meeting: we hold each other lightly as our own personal ontology widens and deepens in each other’s presence, while still holding our feet to the fire!  We appear to be committed to bearing tender witness to each one’s unique process of inquiry and we are having fun while doing it! The faculty and administrative staff at all levels have been exceptionally supportive---such kindness and expertise.

What are your hopes and dreams for how you will use this degree after you graduate?

In the weeks prior to my arrival at Pacifica, I had a series of meetings with various levels of nurse culture. An astounding synchronicity occurred--more than a few uttered the phrase “nursing has lost its soul."  What was most striking to me was how these words were uttered, with a far-away look in the eyes and a gaze over my shoulder to something distant. I found this experience to be both exquisitely heartbreaking and unexpectedly hopeful.

My hopes?  That this degree will support the demiurge that moves my soul to walk in the Balance Way of clinical mastery meeting the mystery of Soul. I hope to invite the community of nurse culture to find its way back toward an ensouled experience illuminated by the Feminine Divine. In extending this invitation, perhaps nurse culture may find its way back to the sacred, in the most intimate of experiences---our dying time. All will be revealed, as Psyche may have her own inspirations.





To read an abstract of Gina's first summer fieldwork with the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers and a poem she wrote about it, click here.
GINA'S FAVORITE LINKS:


Jordan Shapiro -- 2nd Year Student (interviewed in 2009)


Tell us a little about your personal and educational background.

I started my undergraduate studies at The New School University studying feminist and racial critical theory. I spent my nights trying to break into the television industry by hob-nobbing with entertainment types and I cooked in fancy Manhattan restaurants like Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill. After reading Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces on a train ride to visit a girlfriend on a beach in Long Island, I decided that I could have a much greater impact on social justice through storytelling and myth so I transferred to Bard College to study Film and Electronic media in order to concentrate on making movies.

What were you doing before you applied to Pacifica?

Recovering from a premature midlife crisis. I owned and operated a popular Philadelphia restaurant that specialized in diner food made from scratch with fresh, local, and organic ingredients. The restaurant did a wonderful job supporting my wife and two young boys but did little to make me feel like me.

How did you find out about Pacifica, and what led you to apply?

Pacifica’s catalog has been delivered to my door every year since I finished my undergraduate degree. I’ve been a Jungian "hobbyist" since Campbell accompanied me on the train to Long Island. I skimmed journals. I occasionally browsed through Carl’s collected works. I dug up Jungian scholarship in whatever areas interested me at any given time. I had hoped and dreamed that at some point -- maybe after the kids grew up, maybe when I made a million dollars, maybe when I retired -- I would either apply to Pacifica or become a certified Jungian analyst. As long as the Pacifica catalog kept arriving in the mail box, I kept grinding away at my boring day job like a greyhound chasing a mechanical bunny. One day I decided I was done waiting.



What specifically appealed to you about the Depth Psychology degree?

I was never interested in treating patients. I hate going to the doctor so the whole clinical thing holds very little appeal for me. I like the Depth Psychology program because of its focus on theory and the broad range of possible applications that could be built on that theoretical foundation.   

What has been the most exciting aspect of studying in the Depth Psychology program thus far?
 
My writing has improved dramatically, not only because I have a better understanding of the way symbols communicate archetypally and mythopoetically, but also because I’ve become much more attuned to my inner life -- emotionally and intellectually – and much more willing to share it. Before Pacifica I lived up to the stereotype of the emotionally shut-off overly rational man. Because my inner world has now begun to cross over the threshold into my outer world, I’ve also started writing songs and performing music in public again, something I loved doing as a ‘tween-ager but had only done privately for the past 10 years. I’m now working in a recording studio producing songs that were originally played for my classmates at Pacifica.

What are one or two of the courses you’ve taken that have been favorites, or made a significant impact on you?

All of them. In my entire undergraduate career I probably had 3 great professors, at Pacifica I haven’t had a bad one yet. The wealth of information covered in each class is astounding. Equally impressive is the faculty’s ability to communicate with each other so that the readings and ideas presented in one class cross over and have thematic relevance to the other classes meeting during the same session.
 
What is unique or special about the Depth Psychology community?

We’re in classes with the same group of students, the cohort, for the duration of the program. And everyone seems to arrive on the first day ready to present themselves as authentically and honestly as possible. With such a commitment to openness the community can’t help but become very tight, very quickly. Our interactions can be sometimes confessional, sometimes intellectual, sometimes spiritual and often mutate into off campus wine tastings, parties, and group dinners at local restaurants. When we’re not in session we "meet" online via email, Facebook or Skype and often discuss things that are not related to our academic studies. It is invigorating to be part of such a safe dedicated community.

What are your hopes and dreams for how you will use this degree after you graduate?

I’m really looking forward to printing up business cards and changing my email signature to say “Dr. Jordan Shapiro, Phd.” Additionally, I intend to pay a lot of attention to popular culture. We project a lot of non-integrated aspects of the collective (cultural and global) unconscious on to movies, television, internet media, musical performers etc.. Therefore, it seems that there is enormous potential for healing and transformation through interaction with popular media. Hopefully, I can develop a "therapeutic" method that does "dreamwork" with popular entertainment. Maybe I’ll also write a few best selling books and record a few popular rock and roll albums along the way. 


Jordan has an amazing blog which contains some of the papers he's written for Pacifica so far. Check out such provocative titles such as

  • "Oedipal dreams from the heartland: Springsteen and Freud in dialogue" and

  • "Tunnel Vision. Or: Pinch me, I’m Dichotomizing," a paper he wrote about what a dream revealed to him about his Pacifica experience.

Click here to enjoy his writing.
Jordo lives in Philadelphia with his wife Jane and two young sons Sergey and Niko.
The abstract from Jordan's first summer fieldwork, "Embodied Phenomena in Rock and Roll. Or, Touring the Imaginal Geography of Popular Music Performance."

This fieldwork focuses on "soulful" performance.  Locating "soul" in the space between popular music performer and audience, it attempts to understand the lived experience of the performance as a relationship. Working with four different musicians, I apply post-Jungian embodied dreamwork techniques as a method to understand the experience of performing by engaging the imaginal character – the performing self – directly. Additionally, I use of a variety of depth psychological concepts in order to describe the inter-relational energy field between performer and audience. In the process, I discover a new personal relationship between my own psyche, my body, and the act of musical performance.

Click here to read the fieldwork paper on his blog.

Stephanie Paidas Dukarm--3rd Year Student (interviewed in 2010)
Tell us a little about your personal and educational background.

I grew up in the deciduous forests of Ohio in a pretty traditional family. Both my parents were teachers and they instilled a love of reading in my sisters and me. From that grew a passion for the written word, so after high school I enrolled in Boston University to major in creative writing. A few years in the city made me long for family and nature, and I found that I was more interested in real-life psychology than in fictional characters. After returning to Ohio to earn a B.A. in psychology, I moved west to enroll in the clinical psychology gradate program at the University of Montana, where I could study in one of the most beautiful, pristine places in the U.S. I earned a master’s degree (with a minor in statistics and measurement) and was continuing for a PhD when medical issues forced me to withdraw. In the years that followed, I spent a great deal of time experiencing the Montana wilderness, which ultimately healed my body and brought me to a deep love and appreciation for nature’s capacities. I now live in Alaska, taking in the many magnificent landscapes in the final frontier.


What were you doing before you applied to Pacifica?

I was working as a research consultant, contracted to contribute statistics and editing to quantitative studies. As the work progressed, clients began appearing with qualitative studies that were really interesting and challenging. I found myself wanting to pursue that kind of research.


How did you find out about Pacifica, and what led you to apply?

For fun, I was taking an Ecopsychology course at Sonoma State with Mary Gomes, one of the founders of the field. , a graduate of Pacifica’s Depth program, guest lectured about the soul of places. I asked how he had developed his ideas and he told me about Pacifica, encouraging me to apply. With no intention of returning to graduate school, I visited Pacifica for a One Day Introduction and fell in love. I found myself in the garden wondering if I should apply when a lizard appeared on the rock next to me and nodded enthusiastically. Those were all the signs I needed to convince me to go back to school, and that Pacifica was the place to do it!

 
What specifically appealed to you about the Depth Psychology degree?

I had studied psychology for 8 years but had not learned much about the depth traditions and wanted to remedy that gap. The qualitative emphasis appealed to me, and I was intrigued by the idea of studying the humanities in relation to psychology. I also appreciated that it offers the works foundational to depth psychology (studying Freud, Jung, and Hillman) in a context where students are free to expand those original concepts and ideas beyond the therapy room- in my case, to nature.


What has been the most exciting aspect of studying in the Depth Psychology program thus far?

The faculty and instructors are of mind-blowing intellectual caliber, serve as excellent role models, and they engage deeply and empathically with students. The course material is malleable to nearly any goal, and the experiential components have allowed me to engage in learning far beyond the typically academic. I’m finding my voice as a writer and honing those skills in ways I didn’t anticipate. But, perhaps most exciting is the continual unfolding and deepening of the bonds in my cohort, where- to my complete surprise- I have found some of the most interesting, insightful, and delightful human beings that I’ve ever been fortunate enough to call friends. (Sorry, that’s more than one, but these are all such incredible aspects of the program!)    
 
 
What are one or two of the courses you’ve taken that have been favorites, or made a significant impact on you?

Ecopsychology I (with Ed Casey), which taught me that philosophy and ecology cannot be separated, and Ecopsychology II (with Betsy Perluss), which was more experiential and really, really fun (including a fieldtrip to Ojai!). And I’ve savored the research courses, balancing a quantitative background with an education in qualitative approaches.

 
What is unique or special about the Depth Psychology community?

This community strives to walk the community walk instead of just talking the community talk. We try to pay attention to the dynamics of shadow and the marginalized- even on campus- and make honest attempts at curiosity and empathy when we don’t understand or find ourselves angry or offended. We seek to look inward as much as outward, and find support, encouragement, and patience in community as we individually engage unconscious dynamics. Most notably to me, we hold sacred space, letting the reverent spirit of the campus pervade us and work through us in class. That’s a pretty cool community for a “school.”


What are your hopes and dreams for how you will use this degree after you graduate?

Teaching, writing, leading nature workshops, and continuing to let the material seep into my life, work, and play!

     Stephanie says of this photo:

The photo was taken July 23rd in Katmai National Park in Alaska. We hired a bush pilot to fly us to Katmai and hiked back to Brook's Falls to see coastal brown bears feeding on salmon as they migrated upstream to spawn. Knowing we'd be there all day, and that comps were coming up in 2 weeks, I brought some stuff to study and became the only confirmed person in the history of the park to bring a Jung book in my backpack!
The Depth Psychology Program would like to congratulate Stephanie  on being accepted to present at the 2010 American Psychological Association Convention in San Diego, California. Click here to read the abstract of her talk titled “Eco-Stew: Stirring the Pot of Environmental and EcoPsychological Literature”
Websites Stephanie recommends:

Click here to read about an upcoming presentation John will give at a major Jungian conference
Click here to read about an upcoming presentation Jordan will give at a major Jungian conference
Tell us a little about your personal and educational background.

I was born in Manhattan New York where I attended Mahopac High School. As an undergraduate student at the University of Albany, I studied Computer Science and Classical Music Theory and Composition.  After my sophomore year,I moved out west and graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Finance in 1986 and M.B.A. in 1989.  Over my academic career, I have been active
in various market research and analytical capacities and authored several research
papers for the Urban Land Institute, presented conference papers and keynote
presentations for homebuilders, banks, city council sessions, and state of the
city symposiums.

Prior to starting Competitive Analytics, my professional career included senior
analyst positions at Kenneth Leventhal & Company and Ernst & Young as well
the Director of Market Research at The Irvine Company.

When I have spare time, I can be found in my home-based state-of-the-art
recording studio writing and recording music. I am married to Erika who is an
accomplished investment banker and lawyer specializing in foreign emerging
markets. We enjoy movies, traveling, depth psychology, athletics and are both
voracious readers.

You can reach me at 714-545-2555 (office) or 949 697 9977 (mobile) or
dss@competitiveanalytics.com

What were you doing before you applied to Pacifica?

Running my company.

How did you find out about Pacifica, and what led you to apply?

About 15 years ago I was driving randomly around the foothills of Santa Barbara when I noticed a sign that said “Pacifica Graduate Institute.” I said to myself: “What the heck is this?” I drove in, parked, and meandered around (not knowing of course that I was on the Lambert campus with strict parking regulations). I quickly found the bookstore and scanned through the bookshelves thinking to myself that these topics were so eclectic and different than anything I had ever read before. Then I left and didn’t think another thought about Pacifica for a long while. Then, about five years later my life caved-in (I went through a divorce while my best friend was dying of cancer). I soon started seeing a therapist and over the next 10 years I would stop into the Lambert bookstore to buy a few books . . . but still never allowing myself to entertain the thought of pursuing a degree in psychology for more than a few seconds. Fast forward another five years later, I’m married to a wonderful woman (Erika) and after a vacation in Santa Barbara and another ritual visit to the bookstore, we noticed an invitation to attend an “Introduction to Pacifica.” We signed up and after Stephen Aizenstat and Dennis Slattery spoke, Erika leaned over and said: “I’m going!” I quickly responded: “You mean you don’t like what you’re hearing and want to leave?” She quickly clarified: “No…I mean I’m enrolling!” About 90 days later and Erika was accepted into the Myth program and I was accepted into the Depth Psych program.

What specifically appealed to you about the Depth Psychology degree?

There are a myriad of aspects of the DP program that appealed to me, however, THE most important factor was that Pacifica encourages you to bring your own ideas, theories, and imagination. . . and you are expected to “advance” current frameworks, theories, and philosophies.  Everything I read at Pacifica provokes a dozen new ideas and theories . . . and the feedback and encouragement I have already received from Drs. Bona, Selig, Ciafolo, Watkins, Slater, and Kilpatrick enlarges and refuels my ever-expanding tank of imagination . . . which was a pretty enormous container to begin with! Conversely, anyone and everyone that knows me will tell you I detest environments where I am expected to learn and follow specific pre-established guidelines of knowledge.

What has been the most exciting aspect of studying in the Depth Psychology program thus far?

That is an Über-challenging question. I would have to say the readings. I have a library at home with over 500 books on psychology and philosophy and thought I would be familiar with the assigned readings . . . But I was not!  Reading about new theories, concepts, research techniques, and history was a very exciting and eye-opening experience . . .and still is!
 
What are one or two of the courses you’ve taken that have been favorites, or made a significant impact on you?

Now that question is going to get me into trouble with the professors I do not mention! LOL! And I honesty enjoyed them all!

What is unique or special about the Depth Psychology community?

I believe there is a unique connection among members of the DP community that can potentially experience an innate insight into an alternative set of cultural values . . . if you allow oneself to be and stay connected. As an analogy, the character of Dr. Grace Augustine in the movie Avatar is empathetic to a different set of core values versus a dysfunctional social milieu we perceive as normal. That malleable acceptance of differing values, frameworks, cultures, behaviors, etc. is what I believe a majority of people who see themselves as part of the DP community embraces.


I am working on a half a dozen ideas and projects on how I will (excuse the business term) leverage my degree. These include: 1) My wife and I plan to evolve an advisory service we just started that will integrate mythology and depth psychology with individual clients, corporations, communities, and government. Interestingly, we are calling our new organization “Atlantica Institute” . . . inspired by three reasons: the fact that I flew over the Atlantic Ocean to meet Erika, the mythological place of Atlantis, and the obvious inspirational tie with Pacifica. Other ideas include a model I am developing called SEQOL (Significantly Enhancing Quality of Life), Relative Time Banking, A potential course on Economics and Psychology, and last but not least (and most likely my dissertation topic) an idea called the Human Matrix: A Unifying Integrated Meta-Archetypal Theory of Psychology. More on that one later!



David's links: 






David Scott Savlowitz--1st Year Student (interviewed in 2010)
Tell us a little about your personal and educational background.

I was born in a small town near Lake Michigan. I lived in the Tampa Bay area of Florida from 1980-1990 where I attended the University of South Florida.  My bachelors degree is from the Tampa campus and my Masters of Liberal Arts is from the St. Petersburg campus. I worked in the advertising industry until moving to Syracuse, New York in 1990 to complete a Ph.D. in Public Communication (Mass Communication) and Women’s Studies.  I have been a dancer most of my adult life and a  yoga practitioner for the last eleven years.

What were you doing before you applied to Pacifica?

I was and still am a tenured associate professor in the School of Journalism & Communication at the University of Oregon where I have taught since 1993.

How did you find out about Pacifica, and what led you to apply?

A colleague was a student in the Mythological Studies program and I also received advertising via my subscriptions to related publications. I began my studies in the Mythological Studies program and transferred to Depth Psychology.


What specifically appealed to you about the Depth Psychology degree?

The opportunity to dig deeply into Freud’s and Jung’s ideas and most specifically the opportunity to study and write in the area of ecopsychology.

What has been the most exciting aspect of studying in the Depth Psychology program thus far?

Finding connections between praxis and practice in area of cultural studies, which is what I have done thus far, and animal studies/ecopsychology. I’ve made some wonderful professional and personal contacts by way of field work, course work, and conferences connected to animal activism.
 

What are one or two of the courses you’ve taken that have been favorites, or made a significant impact on you?

Courses taught by Ed Casey and Mary Watkins.

What is unique or special about the Depth Psychology community?

Openness to different approaches to the topic and an understanding of the complexity of students.

What are your hopes and dreams for how you will use this degree after you graduate?

Ideally, I would find a new academic home where I could write, teach, and conduct research in a supportive environment that blends my passions for depth and ecological psychology with media studies.



In addition to her recent publication in Spring Journal...

  • Merskin, D. (2010, accepted-forthcoming). Hearing voices: The promise of participatory action research for animals. Action Research.
  • Merskin, D. (2010). The new Artemis? Women who hunt.  In N. Kowalsky (Ed.). Hunting -Philosophy for everyone: In search of the wild life (pp. 225-238).  Malden, MA: Wiley- Blackwell. .
  • Durham, D. & Merskin, D. (2009). Animals, agency, and absence: A discourse analysis of institutional animal care and use committee meetings. In S. McFarland & R. Hediger (Eds.), Animals, agency, and authority. Boston: Brill.




This edition of Spring Journal was guest edited by Gay Bradshaw, another Depth Psychology alum, who contributed an article titled "The Art of Cultural Brokerage: Recreating Elephant-Human Relationship and Community" (co-authored with Carol Buckley), "We, Matata: Bicultural Living Among Apes," "Freud and the Family Horse: Exploration into Equine Psychotherapy" (co-authored with Vera Muller-Paisner) and "The Evolution of Ethology: An Interview with Marc Bekoff."

Also in the journal, a film review of "The Cove" by current dissertation student Victoria Drake.