Faculty Thesis Advisors

JOAN ELLEN ABRAHAM

Jungian, Archetypal, and Developmental Psychology; interpersonal neurobiology; adoption; addiction as spiritual emergency; creativity and personal mythology; cultivation of the imagination; Authentic Movement; expressive arts therapy; storytelling; transformational learning; ritual and initiatory experience; the Sacred in everyday life; connecting with Spirit through nature; Celtic mythology and spirituality; embodied ways of knowing; integral and intuitive inquiry.

AVROM ALTMAN

Alchemy and the mundis imaginalis: the union of the essential and the imaginal in the transformed researcher; shamanism, phenomenology, systems theory, and Depth Psychotherapy; Hakomi Body-Centered Depth Psychotherapy; mindfulness, core beliefs, and Active Imagination; childhood sexual trauma and treatment; taboo and the development of conscience; betrayal and the transformation of innocence; grief and relational loss; creativity and the animus mundi.

BARBARA BOYD

The transformative power of group psychotherapy; the reemergence of the Feminine: healing women with ancient goddess archetypes; windows to the Unconscious: the uses of hypnosis, EMDR, art, music; dreamwork, myth, archetype, story, and writing in Depth Psychology; spirits in a bottle: the depth issues in addiction and recovery, dependence and co-dependence; culture and psyche: social, psychological, and cross-cultural perspectives on psyche and healing: on deviance as a relative perspective; trauma: incest, child abuse, neglect, and abandonment; working with dissociative states, healing the split, creating new neural pathways; hosting the Sacred: intuition, spirituality, and mystical traditions in psychotherapy; marking significant passages: the use of ceremony and ritual in the process of change; vibrational healing of Psyche wounds: effects of color, light, energy, and sound; the eyes have it: the power of the visual media (art, film) to harm or heal; see me, hear me: the search for the Authentic Self; befriending the Shadow, dancing with depression, resiliency in the human psyche.

KATHRYN BROWN

The process of becoming a depth psychotherapist; a new look at ethics and law within the practice of psychotherapy; the Shadow inherent in practicing psychotherapy; exploration of the curative nature of psychotherapy; the relational dynamics inherent in the therapeutic relationship; exploration of interventions from a depth perspective: what actually helps our clients? emerging new clinical issues in psychotherapy; the art of listening: what is Depth Psychotherapy? exploring the art of Depth Psychotherapy from Freud to Kohut and beyond; an exploration of the use and mis-use of boundaries in psychotherapy; how Depth Psychotherapy works with existential crises inherent in the human condition.

CINDY L. CARTER

Narrative and Psyche; Psychodrama; experiential therapies; Cognitive Therapy; psyche-soma connection; psychoneuroimmunology; clinical practice; stages of change.

JORGE DE LA O

Jungian Psychotherapy, sandplay, Active Imagination, dreamwork; Expressive Arts Therapy for children and adults; children's literature through the lens of Jungian Psychology; Chicano/Latino studies from the perspective of Depth Psychology; psychotherapy and the Latino family. children of multi-racial heritage; the concept of machismo y el hombre noble; Latin American film; conquest and trauma in the Americas; cross-cultural counseling and indigenous healing practices; pop cultural trends as an expression of Psyche; Depth Psychology in public education.

THOMAS ELSNER

Jungian analysis; alchemical symbolism and process in psychotherapy; dreams; depth psychological approaches to myth, literature and religious symbolism; the art of picture interpretation; the mythological and psychological theme of the “night-sea journey;” Romantic literature; archetypal patterns of imagination in fairytales, folk-lore and legends; the relationship between psychopathology, transformation and Individuation; Depth Psychology and physics and the relationship between C.G. Jung and Wolfgang Pauli; the symbolic dimensions of inner and outer nature; synchronicity, music and psychotherapy; nature and psychotherapy; the process of thesis writing as Active Imagination.

DIANA FERRARI

Individuals in relation to their Persona and Shadow; mental Illness - a depth approach to the discovery of the Self; women, men, and how they relate - gender issues; the creative arts - how dance, painting, drawing, and journaling facilitate Individuation; learning disabilities and ADHD; the magic of animals and water; families and children - the dynamics and what creates change; the making of a therapist; self care.

SUKEY FONTELIEU

Archetypal, Jungian, and Self Psychology; imaginal and body-centered learning; Alchemical Psychotherapy; depth understandings of the symptoms of DSM disorders; the chthonic archetype and the re-emergence of the Feminine in modern culture; all innovative attempts to understand today's culture from a depth perspective; film, art, dreams, and Active Imagination; Buddhism and Sufism; Greek mythology and drama; all mythologies; the Romantic poets; ecopsychology; feminist, post-modern, heuristic, hermeneutic, and grounded theory methodologies; production theses; publishing.

CYNTHIA ANNE HALE

Depth Psychotherapy; imaginal and archetypal approaches; the creative process; the internet as psychological space; humanities (literature, opera, theater, film, art); music; color; embodied imagination; dreamwork; life transitions; human sexuality; trauma; countertransference and vicarious traumatization; spiritual wounds; cultural wounds; group dynamics; archetypal defenses; alchemy; ritual; myth.

ALLEN KOEHN

Jungian typology; alchemy; Individuation; psychology and religion (east and west); meditation as a psychological process; mind-body connections / Psyche and Soma; relationships; Trickster Archetype; creativity - in all forms.

CHRISTINA MENTES

Sociopolitical issues concerning power, privilege and oppression; diversity and bicultural identity; interpersonal issues; family of origin issues; axis II disorders and traits; health disparities; profession development for students and therapists, especially when they have minority identities; gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgender, intersex, queer issues; depression and anxiety; psychopharmacology; quantitative research.

KATHEE MILLER

Body as a source of wisdom, a doorway in, portal to the personal, collective, and numinous realms; Authentic Movement with individuals and groups; Hakomi Body-Centered Psychotherapy; Jungian sandplay and Active Imagination; therapeutic use of dreams, poetry, metaphor, myths, stories, dialogues, art, music, film, dance, archetypal astrology; the therapeutic container, temenos, the healing relationship; Archetypes of the Goddesses and Gods, the Feminine and Masculine; themes of darkness and light; meeting Shadow: death, grief, loss, trauma, depression, madness, the underworld journey, gift in the wound; animal symbolism, wilderness and nature connections, ecofeminism; diversity, gender issues; integrating developmental issues, early childhood; psychotherapy as a spiritual practice, east/west links; use of ceremony, rites of passage, ritual, meditation, altered states; indigenous cultures, ancestry; women’s expressive arts groups, motherhood as a journey, life transitions; the adolescent psyche, mentoring initiation, dreamcollage with teens; the creative process, opening to mystery, poesis, art as medicine, writing, writers and artist’s lives; bearing witness.

ANGELA MOHAN

Systems theory and therapy, family of origin work, existential phenomenology, therapist as healer, rituals and the marking of time, self inflicted harm in adolescent girls, couples issues, softened start-up and the development of a solid basis of friendship with couples, child abuse, neglect and resiliency, cross-cultural perspectives in therapy, multigenerational acculturation and assimilation issues, development of the therapist, ethical dilemmas in therapy, the curative nature of psychotherapy and the therapist as instrument, children's literature, adolescent (juvenile) literature and themes of self identity and development, transformation in therapy as client and as therapist, therapist self care, psychology and religion, interpersonal and group dynamic issues, anxiety and panic disorders, step-family issues, philosophical and existential issues for therapists, therapist as container.

MARK MONTIJO

Jungian, Archetypal, and Alchemical Psychology; the use of traditional Native American ceremony in the process of healing and change; the use of myth and storytelling to assist the process of psychological growth; cross-cultural counseling; multigenerational acculturation issues within families who have come to America; childhood sexual trauma; crisis – what occurs during a crisis and the implications for counseling in the aftermath of a traumatic event; psychological services in the aftermath of large-scale disasters such as terrorism and shootings in the workplace.

JEAN PALMER-DALEY

Jungian analysis; Jungian-based psychotherapy; dream analysis; the role of the dream in healing; Psyche’s innate drive toward wholeness; the imaginal in different cultures and in healing; shamanistic practices and healing; diverse traditions in healing, mythology, and fairly tales; Greek mythology; archetypal patterns; the religious function; anima, animus, feminine consciousness, the masculine and the feminine; body work; the body’s role in psyche; the mind/body split; the spirit/matter split; alchemy; alchemical symbolism; valuing the darkness; the value of emotional issues; initiation; transference-countertransference; the therapist as an agent of change; attachment theories; bonding; attachment disorders; attachment and addiction; addiction and the religious function; self-destructive behaviors; eating disorders; self-mutilation; personality disorders; developmental disorders; learning disorders; developmental disorders; art therapy.

LORI PYE

Ecopsychology, mythology - as a therapeutic tool, for inner life work, and use of mythic metaphors and analogies for family and organizational systems; Depth Psychology and Archetypal Psychology - specifically the work of James Hillman; archetypal perspectives on sexuality, cultural movements and trends; religious traditions; environmental activism from a depth perspective; natural or alternative healing.

BARBARA SHORE

The intersection of ethics and the law in the practice of psychotherapy; trauma and the treatment of PTSD; the process of grief and the positive well-spring of Depth Psychology and the use of archetypes; the use of artistic imagery in psychotherapy from a depth perspective.

LOU ANN WALLNER

Fantasy, image and creativity; the Orphan Archetype: abandonment, death, disillusionment, mourning and rebirth; trauma and resiliency in children; anxiety: especially OCD; from a depth perspective: working with children integrating object relations and family systems theories; initiation and identity: adolescent psychology; retroflective behavior: especially cutting; mother's teenage daughters: rites of passage; reengaging the Soul through narrative, art, myth, poetry, metaphor and sand tray; Archetypal Psychology: Psyche, Soul and polytheistic imagination; image vs. belief: religion and politics; themes of wilderness, solitude, biophilia, sense of place, archetypal ecology and imagination.

WILLOW YOUNG

Jungian clinical concepts in psychotherapy - use of Active Imagination in developing a relationship with the conscious and unconscious aspects of the Psyche; understanding the Self, Shadow, Animus/Anima, process of projection, use of typology, the development of the conscious Feminine and Masculine, dreamwork, archetypal, and mythological approaches to understanding the individual in relation with Self and others and to deepening the understanding and treatment of psychopathologies; couple dynamics; Self-Psychology's contribution to clinical effectiveness and evocation of patient understanding; trauma, experienced and introjected; parenting and family issues; women's Issues; Eco-Psychology.