Judith (Jodi) McKenna, Ph.D.
The Depth Psychology Department congratulates Dr. Jodi McKenna for her dissertation titled:
"Troubled Students: A Teaching Journey from Inside the Prison of Addiction to a New Landscape of the World Outside"
The California Department of Corrections Rehabilitation (CDCR) offers the parole system educational programs for dealing with parole violators who have committed a crime as a result of alcohol or drug addiction. The educational programs are conducted in prisons, parole offices, and jail settings. Classes give parolees an opportunity for recovery from substance addiction and a lifestyle involving crime. Research shows that education reduces recidivism and addiction. Curricula in California are facilitated using the cognitive-behavioral educational approach. This approach when used alone does not significantly improve the chances of long-term recovery and subsequent drop in recidivism rate. The cognitive-behavioral approach is dominated by rational, logical, ego-based conceptions of knowing. It assumes that the student is able to make appropriate choices based on cognitive processing. Students must first be given an opportunity to form deeper cohesive structures by making meaningful interpersonal and intrapersonal psychological and intellectual connections. For recidivism rates to improve and a stable life to be (re) established, I propose that curricula including a multiplicity of teaching strategies be implemented, not only for student recovery from addiction and a drop in the recidivism rate, but also as a powerful potential for teacher renewal. The present qualitative study describes a meaning-making pedagogical process that focuses on deeper emotional and spiritual dimensions of learning.
Jodi's dissertation is really no less than an intervention into the deleterious status quo of conventional prison-based education offered to parole violators who have broken laws as a result of alcohol or drug addiction. Working on the assumption that cognitive-behavioral models of education are most appropriate, teaching models now in place do not, Jodi's research and practice suggest, create the environment necessary for the deep learning and alchemical transformations necessary to substantive change among inmates who operate in contexts both within and outside the prison setting that, in often debilitating ways, alienate them from community, transformative modes of bodily knowing, and hope itself.
From Pacifica faculty member Dr. Maurice Stevens, Jodi's dissertation advisor:
"Please join me in acknowledging and congratulating our very own Judith 'Jodi' McKenna on her successful Dissertation titled "Troubled Students: A teaching journey from inside the prison of addiction to a new landscape of the world outside." Confronted with technological challenges, some tough questions from her committee members, and the joyful distraction of just having become a new grandmother, Jodi comported herself admirably and passionately during her dissertation defense ritual.
Jodi, in true Depth Psychological fashion, reminds us too, that teachers, too, contribute to and are affected by these structures and dynamics, and she seeks the 'renewal' of all parties concerned. This fierce alchemy, suggests Jodi, is best kindled in the crucible of 'meaning-making' pedagogical processes that focus 'on deeper emotional and spiritual dimensions of learning.'
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Judith 'Jodi' McKenna as she joins the ranks of new Depth Psychology PhD's.
Congratulations Jodi and congratulations Dr. McKenna!!"
Dr. Craig Chalquist, Jodi's dissertation coordinator, adds,"She gave good answers to all questions, and I enjoyed being the first to call her Doctor McKenna."
THE ABSTRACT OF JODI'S DISSERTATION
Besides receiving her Doctorate in Depth Psychology, Jodi has written numerous unpublished articles concerning marginalization, institutionalization, homelessness, and incarceration. Jodi holds a Master's degree from the University of Santa Monica in Psychology and with emphasis in Counseling, and a Master's degree in Depth Psychology from Pacifica. Her undergraduate work is in Education with a credential in Social Psychology. Jodi also has 20 plus in all aspects of nursing with heavy emphasis on gerontology.
Jodi has been a consultant and trainer in senior care and housing, and has successfully started facilities in Ohio, California, Washington, and Oregon. Her career in human services has led to corrections educator for the California Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Contra Costa County Office of Education.
She currently resides in Berkeley, California where she continues her research on addictions and the pedagogy of incarcerated adult males.
Jodi (proud new grandmother in the middle) with grandson Tosh, daughter Shanti, and son-in-law Michael Kelley.
