An Unexpected Path: Meet the Chair of Clinical Psychology, Dr. William James Jones

Dr. William James Jones is the Chair and an Assistant Professor for the M.A./Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with Emphasis in Depth Psychology program. He will also be speaking for Pacifica’s “M.A./Ph.D. Clinical Studies Admissions Webinar – Integrative Depth Psychotherapy: Clinical Considerations for Our Time” on July 30, 2025.  I’m delighted to learn more about his career and the Clinical Program. 

William James Jones’s path to the Chair of Pacifica’s Clinical Psychology program has been, by his own description, “unexpected.” He began life in Chicago, was raised by his single mother, and discovered his voice through the performing arts community, which he says led to his first sense of belonging, and set him on “an incredible journey to young Hollywood and being sent to California as an emancipated minor and costarring on California Dreams for five years. I started a theater group, wrote plays, and did lots of performances.” At sixteen, he became the breadwinner in his house and was able to bring his mother to California with her own place. William says, “I felt on top of the world for some time but there was an overidentification with that young actor persona that couldn’t hold me through the different seasons of life as my passions started to change.”

Something deeper was nudging William, but he wasn’t sure in what direction. His foray into corporate America was successful but unfulfilling. William says, “I wasn’t happy, and I didn’t know why. There was this internal nudging of something deeper waiting for me. It was quite a pivot to finally accept the fact that I no longer had a desire to be a performer, to act, to write, to engage in salesmanship, but I didn’t know what the next step was.” As happens often in the paths of those who come to Pacifica, synchronicity intervened, and a friend invited William to a talk at a church in Inglewood by high-level figures in Hollywood who’d prioritized their spirituality, without sacrificing their careers. Deeply impressed by the speakers, William visited many faith-based organizations, from temples to mosques to churches, and eventually found one that resonated with him, saying, “I wanted to serve. I wanted to engage with the community and be whatever resource I could be for the people who most needed help. I became a lay counselor there at that church for people who wanted to talk to someone “nonprofessional.” It was then that he met a “young man fresh out of incarceration, living in a halfway home, who was high in suicidal ideation, and I didn’t know how to help him. When I told the leaders about this individual, they gave me resources, but he didn’t want any part of it, he just wanted to talk to me. That scared me, because I didn’t know what I was doing, and it inspired me to go to a community college and take a psychology course. That little nudging inside became a small flame, so I took another course, and the flames started to grow.”

William found within himself a passion for knowledge, philosophy, and psychology, going on to study psychodynamic theory during his Master’s degree, “learning about unconscious, deep systems that influence how a person shows up in the world.” One of his professors was an adjunct professor at Pacifica. William says, “I’d never heard of Pacifica. My professor lit up in a way that inspired me and excited me when he talked about depth psychology and its connections to psychodynamic theory. It seemed to fit my way of being. Within a few weeks, I went to a Pacifica Experience Day, with Lionel Corbett and Stephen Aizenstat, and I was in awe. I couldn’t believe that a place like Pacifica existed. I know then I’d apply. There was no question that Pacifica was where I had to be. The community, the location, the seriousness with philosophy, respect for humanity, such a fusion of so many different ways of considering the human mind and how to be of service to the world. My joy came back. My passion came back, and I’ve been on fire ever since.”

In his work, William has said that “Improving the mental, emotional, and behavioral functioning of any person is habitually the implied mission of most mental health practitioners, particularly, for a segment of the population that has been historically underserved, disenfranchised, marginalized, and still recovering from the generational residue of slavery.” And he also teaches a course at Pacifica titled “Psychotherapy with Diverse Populations.” When I ask him if this was the primary focus of his private practice and teaching, he notes that “Since the death of George Floyd, I’ve had more clients come to my practice who need support and guidance in this thing called life in America as a person of color. I probably did my most authentic work during that period. My clients forced conversations I would typically steer away from, unless it had something to do with their therapeutic goals. It’s been incredible.” And this extends to his teaching at Pacifica. He says, “Psychotherapy with Diverse Populations is a daunting class to teach. I encourage the cohort to confront ourselves in the most authentic ways possible. Who we are, our identity formation, our biases, the internalized racism we carry, all the different systems that have influenced our way of being in the world and how to liberate ourselves and our clients. That’s an essential part of my work.” And of the teaching experience itself, he says, “I learn as much from my students as I have to give them. It’s such a shared experience of growth every time I step into the classroom. I’m full of joy when I’m teaching.”

In his article “The Lives of Douglass, Du Bois, and Washington: Self-Actualization Among African American Males,” William investigates if “the theory of self-actualization has a dearth of prescribed and defined cultural factors that specifically correspond to the manifestation of potentialities among African Americans.” When I ask how studying these figures applies to the current day, he says, “I was so gut-punched and inspired by their journeys, because a lot of what they experienced is still happening now. To still show up and pursue knowledge and justice despite overwhelming circumstances, including life, liberty and death. In those times, there was a consequence for a black man to become educated, to speak out, and advocate for the community, but they still did it. We have so much to learn from individuals like this because the cycle is still repeating.”

Because of the demand for his work, William went from having one office to four, hiring interns from Pacifica, and building a brand of therapy called Integrative Depth Psychology and Psychotherapy. The inspiration for this focus began during his pre- and post-doc training, when he found a way to work with populations with profound personality disorders without himself becoming overwhelmed or exhausted by it. He says, “It’s a specific way of working clinically. It’s essentially the best of all I’d learned and what I wish I’d learned.”

Having gone from child actor, to businessman, to lay counselor, then going back to school to pursue psychology to the level of Ph.D. and opening a tremendously successful private practice, what draws William back to Pacifica? It’s an easy answer for William. “I’m truly at my best teaching at Pacifica. I’m in awe of the multifaceted brilliance of our students. We have several who already had different Ph.D.’s in other disciplines, people who have been practicing in other fields, and they all feel called to the clinical work now. So much preparation is required from our students, but they come with inquisitive natures, the willingness to self-reflect, and look at the deepest parts of what we’re considering, in addition to meeting the academic standards of our field. There’s nothing like it. It’s hard to describe how powerful it is to go from being a proud graduate of the program, to teaching for it, and right now having the honor to lead it. It’s not something I could’ve predicted.”

The spirit and fire William brings is the perfect fit to lead a dynamic clinical program, which houses the Pacifica Psychoanalytic Research Collective, dedicated to advancing the philosophical underpinnings of clinical psychology as a human science. Also part of Clinical is the Lighthouse Initiative, which evolved to support student scholarship, community engagement, structured faculty mentorship, and enhanced inter-student support. Lighthouse has grown to include three active faculty-led research labs, each advancing original student-faculty research projects. They have hosted several well-attended public lectures and workshops that have significantly enriched the intellectual life of our community. Also afoot in Clinical is the Emergent-Systems Research Collective, which aspires to cultivate a public emotional intelligence that helps organization and community leaders respond to the multiple crises of our time.

Aside from his work at Pacifica, William himself has exciting plans. He has contributed to a book about counseling considerations for African Americans that will be published by Oxford Press this year, and he’s preparing to write a book about integrative depth psychology and how he uses it in clinical practice. And on a profoundly deep note of integration, he will return to Chicago this summer for the first time in decades, to celebrate his 50^th birthday and lay the footwork for opening an office of his practice in Chicago. We wish William the best of luck in all these endeavors!

For those interested in the M.A./Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with Emphasis in Depth Psychology program program visit us here. 

If you’d like to register for the “M.A./Ph.D. Clinical Studies Admissions Webinar – Integrative Depth Psychotherapy: Clinical Considerations for Our Time,” visit us here.