Faculty Directory

Filtered by last initial: W (clear)

Joanna Walling, MA, LMFT, is a licensed psychotherapist and Pacifica alumni working in private practice. She serves as a Research Associate and adjunct faculty in Pacifica’s MA Counseling Psychology department. Practicing since 2012, Joanna received her early training in community mental health as a bilingual therapist serving low-income individuals and families living with severe mental illness. Her current research interests explore theoretical integration, examining the intersection of Jungian-oriented psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and somatic psychotherapy. In her spare time Joanna enjoys working on her photographic portfolio reimagining photography by capturing California abstract landscapes.


Kristi is a certified psychoanalyst and has been in full time practice for over 30 years. She is currently affiliated with Newport Psychoanalytic Institute and the Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis as a training and supervising analyst, and is on the faculty at NPI. Kristi works from an object relations orientation with a deep appreciation for attachment and relational contributions.


Mary is chair of the Depth Psychology Program, Co-Chair of the Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco- Psychologies Specialization (CLIE), and Coordinator of Community and Ecological Fieldwork and Research in CLIE.


Roderick is a Professor of Psychology at City University of New York Graduate Center. He is trained in Critical Social/Personality Psychology.


Radhule Weininger, Ph.D., clinical psychologist in private practice, founder of the non-profit Mindful Heart Programs, and teacher of deep mindfulness and compassion practices and Buddhist psychology.


At age 19, Joel Weishaus was a Jr. Executive at a Madison Avenue agency specializing in movie advertising. He moved to San Francisco in 1964, and was a student in the University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Oriental Languages, and Literary Editor of the student newspaper. During the 1980s, living in Albuquerque NM, he was a photography critic for Artspace: A Quarterly of Contemporary Southwest Art. In 1985, he was an Adjunct Curator of Video Art at the University of New Mexico’s Museum of Fine Arts, and a Writer-in-Residence at UNM’s Center for Soutwest Research. He has been Visiting Faculty at Portland State University, and a Research Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Weishaus’ Complete Poems, While I was Waiting For You, was published as an ebook in 2021.


Gary is originally from Philadelphia, Gary has been in Santa Barbara for 30 years, coming here for an internship and choosing to remain in California. Gary has been working in the mental health field for over 25 years. He has worked with emotionally disturbed teens, developmentally disabled and autistic young adults, offenders and survivors of sexual violence and general sexual issues, including issues of sexual identity, oppression, homophobia and heterosexism.


Dr. Witt has had a broad and extensive training and career in clinical psychology, with a practice in Santa Barbara devoted to work with children, adolescents, and young adults with learning, medical, or neurological concerns. Areas of specialty include both neuropsychological and psychological evaluation, as well as psychotherapy and behavioral interventions. His training included a clinical psychology PHD from the New School for Social Research in New York City then completed an internship and fellowship at St. Vincent's Hospital of New York, and a behavioral medicine and neuropsychology residency at Miami Children's Hospital.


Michele serves as Director of Clinical Training and Adjunct Faculty in the Counseling Psychology Program. She teaches Clinical Practice, Group Process and Substance Use Disorders. Michele received her degree from Pacifica in 2006 after a thoroughly different career in finance. She went on to work extensively with clients with substance abuse and/or considerable mental health problems. In her agency work, Michele worked for a number of years as a case manager at a substance abuse treatment program, managed a dual diagnosis program and supervised MFT and LPCC interns. Michele also has a small local private practice, where she sees patients with issues such as insomnia, addiction, codependency and trauma.


Mary Antonia Wood is Chair of the M.A. in Depth Psychology and Creativity with Emphasis in the Arts and Humanities program, and the owner of Talisman Creative Mentoring, a practice that supports artists and creators of all types. Through one-on-one consultations, group workshops and classes, Wood assists creative individuals who desire a stronger and more authentic connection to the deepest archetypal sources of creativity. Wood has been a visual artist for over thirty years, working in a variety of media. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions and has been collected by both public institutions and individuals.


Funlayo E. Wood-Menzies, PhD is a scholar-practitioner of Africana Religions, specializing in the Ifa-Orisa tradition as practiced in Nigeria and among African Americans in the US. She is the founding director of the African and Diasporic Religious Studies Association and founding dean of Ase Ire Communiversity, an independent Africana Studies Institute.