Veronica is Professor Emerita at Pacifica Graduate Institute where she was a Core Faculty member for over 15 years. She taught courses on Jungian and Imaginal Psychology and Psychotherapy, Dreamwork, Alchemy, The Grail Myth, Depth Psychology and Quantum Physics, Depth Psychology and the Sacred, Clinical Case Colloquia, and ‘Alchemical’ Research that includes unconscious processes, active imagination, and dreams.
Matthew is Director of Workforce Economic Development and Community Programs at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, CA. In this position he has led the development of academic and social programs that serve the diversity of the community, including limited-English speakers, inmates at the local prison and jail, foster youth and other youth with barriers, students with mental health challenges, adults with disabilities, as well as older adults.
Christina R. Griffin, Ph.D., Psy.D. , is a Psychoanalyst and Clinical Psychologist practicing in Southern California. She has been a Board Member of the International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education (IFPE) and Co-chair of the History of Psychoanalysis Committee.
Gary is a Emeritus faculty member, he was the Director of Research and Research Coordinator for the Clinical Psychology program, and is an author, lecturer, researcher, and a practicing clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist. Dr. Groth-Marnat is a leading expert in the field of psychological assessment. His textbooks are used throughout the United States and abroad in psychological assessment and testing courses.
Dr. Erica Haines is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist currently in private practice. She went to undergrad at UC San Diego and later received a master’s degree in forensic psychology from Argosy University and a Psy.D. in clinical psychology from the American School of Professional Psychology in Orange County. Dr. Haines started her career working in corrections at several state prisons, including Chino, San Quentin, and Vacaville, where she specialized in providing group therapy to inmates, treating high-risk patients, and running the Suicide Prevention Program, as well as providing staff trainings and clinical supervision to unlicensed therapists. She moved on from that work to join a group practice in Santa Barbara in 2020, eventually opening her own practice in 2022.
Maren Hansen holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, a Master of Divinity degree, and is a licensed MFT. Hansen is a founding member of Pacifica Graduate Institute, and a founding faculty member of the first hybrid learning program at Pacifica. Her research interests include the depth psychological approach to myth, female psychology and spirituality, ritual, and depth psychological models of leadership. Hansen was a board member of the Joseph Campbell Library and Archives. She studied with Joseph Campbell for years and has taught several courses on Joseph Campbell’s work. She is author of the books Mother Mysteries and Teachers of Myth. Hansen researched, designed, and tested a myth curriculum for adolescents, designed to stimulate psychological development.
Evergreen has an artistic and psychological approach to being human. Her day to day work involves supporting PGI students in the Depth PhD Integrative Therapy and Healing Practices specialization. As adjunct faculty, Evergreen teaches the Art of Ritual class. An artist and lover of beauty medicine, her background includes research and experience in feminist ethics, natural history, self-designed ceremony, sexuality studies, rites of passage work, wilderness guiding, ceremonial play and major community art projects.
Kim Hermanson, Ph.D., is an author, educator, and shamanic catalyst. She was initiated to the shamanic path in her 20s when she was critically injured in a head-on collision on the highway and accessed otherworldly energies to heal her body. Kim is adjunct faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute and has served as both core and adjunct faculty at Meridian University, Sophia Center at Holy Names University, University of California Berkeley Extension, Sofia University, and the Esalen Institute.
Daniel A. Hirshberg, Ph.D. is Associate Teaching Professor of Tibetan Studies and Associate Faculty Director of Himalayan Languages in the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has held one-year fellowships at UC Santa Barbara, LMU Munich, and UVa’s Contemplative Sciences Center, and served as Visiting Faculty at Naropa University’s Center for Psychedelic Studies.
Taryn serves as Clinical Practicum Associate II and Adjunct Faculty in the MA Counseling Program. Her background comprises administering cognitive psychology experiments, working as a school-based counselor and in private practice with individuals, families, and couples. An avid traveler, Taryn has lived abroad on multiple occasions volunteering and working with youth in addition to surfing, cycling, and pursuing outdoor adventures.
David Anderson Hooker is the Founder and Principle Narrator for CounterStories Consulting, llc. CounterStories engages as a conversation and visioning partner with international, national and local civil society organizations and religious groups to craft narratives of their preferred futures and align organizational structures and internal practices in furtherance of their constructed narratives.
Shannon Hoppenstedt is a licensed marriage and family therapist, Registered Nurse, and alumnus of Pacifica Graduate Institute. After working for over two decades in critical care hospital settings, she saw the need for a holistic, soul centered approach to healing and pursued her MA in counseling psychology. She is currently working in private practice in Los Angeles, California with an area of focus on healing trauma. Trained in EMDR, energy healing, yoga, and Ketamine assisted psychotherapy, she uses a Depth approach to witness the healing process of the psyche in her clients. Her current area of interest and study is in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy and global healing through plant medicine.
Dr. Jesse Jacob is a licensed psychologist, adjunct professor, TA, and former Director of Clinical Training for the Counseling PsyD Program. He developed a passion for quality instruction while at UC Berkeley for his undergraduate degree in German. There Dr. Jacob was trained and employed by UCB as a tutor, after which he spent a decade tutoring students in math, English, Latin, and German. He also has experience preparing students for the SAT and GRE. Dr. Jacob studied abroad in Berlin for one year and later taught English in Barcelona. He attained an M.A. in psychology from Antioch in 2013 and most recently a Psy.D. in clinical psychology from Pacifica in 2019.
Gioia Jacobson is a licensed marriage and family therapist and serves as Core Faculty and the MA Director of Research in the Counseling Department. Gioia received undergraduate degrees from Pitzer College in Psychology as well as English and World Literature: Creative Writing. Prior to completing her graduate work, Gioia studied holistic medicine for three years and obtained certification as a yoga instructor. Her current research focuses on ecopsychology as it relates to clinical practice.
Geoffrey is a poet, essayist, editor, and critic whose essays on literature, the visual arts, and other subjects have appeared in the Killens Review of Arts and Letters, ArtForum, American Literature, Cineaste, NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art, and elsewhere. His research explores poetics, modernist literature, African Americans and the visual arts, and the nuts and bolts of creativity.
Amy Jakobson, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice and an adjunct faculty member in the Clinical Psychology doctoral program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She holds a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and has completed training at NYU's Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. She also has studied the integration of meditation as well as psychedelics into psychotherapy. Her research in the efficacy of various psychotherapies has fostered her interest in psychotherapy supervision.
Susan James is member of the core faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and co-chair of the Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco-Psychologies specialization of the M.A./Ph.D. program in Depth Psychology. Her work has focused on structural violence, transnational African spiritualities as resistance and innovation, visual design methodologies and research communication strategies. Her journal publications include American Journal of Community Psychology, Violence Against Women, and Women and Therapy.
Ayana Jamieson, PhD is the founder of the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network, established in 2011, a global organization that fosters awareness of and builds community around Butler’s life and legacy. She is currently assistant professor of ethnic studies and at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
