Her master's is Pacifica Graduate Institute, a dubious for profit college teaching only psych and mythology.
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https://www.independent.com/news/2014/mar/26/more-plaintiffs-join-lawsuits-against-pacifica-gra/22 current and former clinical psychology PhD students of Pacifica Graduate Institute joined 39 others in suing the school for allegedly misleading students about the status of its American Psychological Association (APA) accreditation, which isn’t required to get licensed in California but is in other states; the school is accredited with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The 61 students are suing Pacifica for tuition costs, loss of future earnings, and attorney’s fees. “We have been shocked at the amount of students who have contacted us reporting the same type of misstatements by Pacifica,” said attorney Eric Woosley.
Two lawsuits involving the original 39 students were filed in January and September of 2013, and court hearings on the matters took place last fall. Legal documents filed by Woosley’s law firm called Pacifica’s alleged actions a “long-running campaign of deceit” in which the school reportedly told students that its clinical psychology PhD program was APA certified or had such accreditation pending. According to the lawsuits, the students are now each thousands of dollars in debt and are having trouble finding work. Woosley said his team has “hundreds of pages” of documents from Pacifica mentioning APA....
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https://www.yelp.com/biz/pacifica-graduate-institute-carpinteriaNawal Z.
I did not attend this school, but I visited in hopes of attending. The cost of tuition is what made that impossible for me. Pacifica costs several thousand more per semester than the maximum yearly amount you can get from federal student loans. It seems like the school is geared for the wealthy and rich kids who have access to tons of family money.
Pacifica does offer scholarships, but even if you got one (worth about $1500), you'd still owe thousands each semester beyond what federal student loans offer....
EM V.
My review was up for nearly 5 months before mysteriously being deleted for "violating terms of service" despite the fact that it had received many Useful votes and I had personally received a number of private messages from other Yelp users thanking me for the review or sharing horror stories of their own about therapists from this "institute".
If you are the type of person who is easily brainwashed and incapable of critical thought of your own, the cult-like atmosphere of Pacifica would be a good fit for you. If you are looking for a properly trained, ethical, sane therapist, I would also discourage you from hiring anyone with an education from this place to help in your healing process.
Again, I will mention it would be very helpful for others to check out the College Times website (collegetimes.co/pacifica…), which is full of first hand accounts from former students all saying eerily similar things about this place.
The wide divide between those who praise it and those who disdain it, can only be described as the difference between those who drank the Kool Aid and those who did not.
Proceed at your own risk.
Sharon S.
There is just no way to feel comfortable writing a positive review of this school. I use to believe that at least the myth department was worth a shot at being a good school. However my belief in this school just crumbles the more I understand their underlying hypocritical actions. This is a place run by people who will lie, mislead and scam anyone who wants to learn about psychoanalysis or mythology. They present themselves as scholars and as caring educators who will guide and lead students to find their way into fulfilling satisfying career. This is a huge lie for 99% of their students. This place is a sham.
Bob F
Graduated with a Ph.D. from PGI's clinical psychology program in 2008. When I entered they pushed the idea that they were on the verge of obtaining APA accreditation. As of 2012 they are still trying. If APA is important to you then PGI is not the place to go. If you can live without APA, then here is the skinny. Any institute that promulgates caring for the soul of the world is going to have a difficult time living up to expectations. This philosophy often bumps up against their financial/ business model, which is evident. While visiting the business office, I overheard one of the staff members refer to students as "product." Like at any institution, there are good a bad instructors and everything in between. They seem to let in people of differing abilities and the emotional stability of some of their students is questionable, so if you are expecting rigorous class discussion you may be disappointed. Alternatively, there are some very fine clinicians and if you approach with the right mindset you can learn a great deal. For a Jungian-based education, I thought the we would receive more instruction on it. If I were to do this over again, for the money would opt for an APA school, but would have missed out on some interesting depth oriented material.
Finally, regarding hotel stay during your monthly sessions. When I attended, students were required to stay at the Best Western hotel in Carpinteria at a rate set by the school. The hotel is average at best and the noise and comfort level may not be appropriate for you. Check on your options to stay elsewhere for less.
Food situation is odd. You want to like the organic fresh delivery. But somehow it is not executed very well and personally I often walked away with an upset stomach. This may not be a problem for you. It becomes more of an issue because leaving campus during breaks to find alternative meals is not ideal and fact is that you are paying for the food that is available to you.
Sarah S.
The school MOTTO should be: TORTURING THE SOULS OF THE WORLD, instead of: Tending to the soul of the world.
I've only attended the PhD clinical program at Pacifica Grad Institute. The only reason I'm giving this school a star is because Yelp makes me give some kind of star and because the location is beautiful. However, the location is a facade, or in Jungian terms, the persona (or mask) of the school, but its shadow (or the side Pacifica doesn't want others to see) is extremely dark and sinister. I have a supervisor who dealt with an instructor in the clinical program and after dealing with this specific instructor, my supervisor highly recommended that I leave the school!
I, too, cannot fathom how this school is even WASC accredited. Charles J. ain't fibbing to y'all. And many of the students are like soul-less bodies with minds of Stepford robots. I sat in class with classmates that drained the life out of me! I'll write more soon because I can't think of many good things to say about this school.
And I do wonder if Pacifica Graduate Institute pays to have negative reviews removed. I hope not because when I first chose to attend the school there were no reviews for it. I wish there were. I would've thought twice about attending. I now feel manipulated by the used car sales tactics during the interview process. They tried to convince me that they most likely will get APA accreditation (I hear this is unlikely since the APA has many complaints about the program), that they are a great school, etc, etc.
A classmate said she doesn't think she'll be a psychotherapist because she thinks she isn't getting adequate training in how to be a therapist at Pacifica (she's not the only student to say that either).To that I say, I COULD NOT AGREE MORE and WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME!!!!!
If you don't believe me, go ahead, enroll, and see for yourself! Start pouring money into this cult like hell hole and wind up trying to find a job, especially since there will be so many other better educated individuals in psychology from better schools.
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https://collegetimes.co/pacifica-graduate-institute-lambert-campus/SWMarch 27, 2017
With zero standards for admission, no APA accreditation, and a curriculum that can prepare you for exactly nothing in terms of knowing how to care for clients in the world outside of Pacifica (i.e. it is self focused rather than client focused training), this is not the school to choose if you are interested in becoming a capable, knowledgeable, or well-trained therapist.
PGI is a cult for those who consider themselves “non-traditional” “edge-dwellers” but it is not an actual academic institution worthy of your thousands of dollars, all of which will only line the pocketbooks of its own faculty and staff, since it is a for profit, 97% employee owned institution.
JoJuly 6, 2016
This school is an utter joke made up of narcissistic new agers in the midst of midlife crisis. It will in no way prepare you for the practical knowledge needed to treat clients in the real world.
If you are looking for narcissistic navel gazing taught by and for pod people, this school is for you. The degree to which this “graduate institute” appears to be a a cult rather than an actual academic institution is disturbing.
Those who drink the kool aid stick together. While those with the courage enough to speak out about the dark shadow and utter facade of this place are discredited and maligned. This is a school for new age conformists of the empty “love and light” variety, not true seekers.
IshmaelSeptember 30, 2013
I attended the depth psychology program — the non-clinical doctorate program — as a hopeful, eager learner. I completed all three years of coursework plus an additional year on the dissertation before I decided I wasn’t giving them one more penny.
At the juncture between earning the MA and going on for the Ph.D., I paused, and, in retrospect, I wish I had stopped right there. The entire third year was a waste*, but I was, I’m ashamed to say, sucked in too far at that point.
*Silly classes such as, “let’s do a little Tai Chi on the lawn and then we’ll journal how we feel about that in relation to the 1000 pages you read to prepare for today”. Not that there’s anything WRONG with those activities, but at $2,500 a pop per weekend’s worth of classes (when I went there) I think I could have done better with adult education at the local city college . . . or just about anywhere.
On a personal level, there are aspects of the education for which I’m extremely grateful. There are a few, and only a few, extremely brilliant instructors. But they tend to be the old-timers and are being phased out. Many of the instructors are completely pathetic, teaching nothing and offering little-to-no feedback on your work.
More than a few of the professors are themselves recent PGI grads. (Cheap hires?) In our program, one was not only a recent graduate but she was also the romantic partner of our head of department, though this fact was kept hidden from the students. He had been her dissertation chair then she came to teach us without one word of disclaimer. Can you say “conflict of interest”? (Eventually they married, thus, at least future students knew where they stood with their teacher who went to bed every night with the chair.)
Oh, and want to meet with your professor? You get 15 minutes, crammed in between other students who also get 15 minutes, during meals, in the public cafeteria. And you ARE expected to make the rounds because, despite all of their supposed enlightenment about introverts, the extrovert still rules even at Pacifica.
Don’t worry about your grades, however: A’s are going currency and very few professors seem to have the courage or interest to engage the students on a level that could be considered academically challenging.
ALL THIS PLACE CARES ABOUT IS THE MONEY. Oh they’ll sell you the line of goods, slicker than the mythological snake-oil salesperson, all wrapped up in secular Jungian religiosity.
Not only is PGI FOR PROFIT, IT IS OWNED BY THE EMPLOYEES, by the very people feeding and TEACHING you. Can you say ACCOUNTABILITY?
Grad school in general has sadly become an enormous scam. But private, for profit “institutions” such as PGI are amongst the worst: They will do whatever it takes to avail themselves of all of those federally funded loan dollars. The students are the lemmings, the means of transferring the funds into the teachers’ and administrators’ pockets.
I love the subject matter, but there are so many varied and better ways to obtain this sort of education. Anyone affiliated with PGI should be absolutely ashamed of the scam they are pulling on its students. A degree from here is no better than one from an assembly line trade school. Nah, the trade school would be better.
Expensive and with an out of control shadow at their core. I would stay away . . . wish I had.
DaveJuly 13, 2012
I wish that reviews would have been available before I enrolled at Pacifica three years ago!
I am in the Clinical PhD program and I have been beyond disappointed in my experiences at Pacifica. Some of the other reviews are for different departments, and it’s important to note that each program has a different administration and faculty.
Many students have great experiences in the Counseling, Myth, and Depth programs, but the Clinical department is something else entirely and it also tends to generally attract a different sort of person. In the three years that I was at Pacifica, I never once encountered a Clinical student who was thoughtful, kind, or conscientious. Every single student in my track seemed like an inpatient. I so longed to have a meaningful exchange with someone, anyone, on campus, but that never happened.
When you look at the faculty list on the website, be sure to note that anyone who sounds interesting or creative is NOT in the clinical department.
Class assignments are usually “read an article and present it to the class.” And then you will sit for hours and hours while each student in the class presents an article, hopefully showing everyone that they know how to read. This is not what I had imagined for my $150K Ph.D.
The food and housing situation is also a nightmare. It didn’t bother me at first, but after two years, I felt angry about being forced to buy the food that it served. What other school gets away with this? Where else do you have to take a shuttle onto campus? That gets really old, fast.
ChristineJanuary 26, 2012
Thank you Janet, Valerie, Michael and Susan for validating the way I have felt in the years since I went to Pacifica. I have had no one to talk to about it. I do know one other Pacifica student who just loves the place, something I can’t understand…. Obviously it is just the same now as when I went a little over 10 years ago.
I did a full two years at Pacifica but didn’t bother to go to the last summer session as I had decided that most of what I had learned was a narcissistic head trip. Also, to be perfectly honest, I had heard that the human sexuality course was a huge marathon of pornography, and frankly, I saw no reason to pollute my mind in that way. I am not a prude, but after all, I don’t need to see dozens of car wrecks either to imagine a lot.
I also agree about the behavior of my classmates which was parallel to what is described above. I wonder if more than 10% actually became counselors. I think perhaps at least 2 or 3 actually had nervous breakdowns during the first year. Several dropped out…. Since I did my practicum in another state it was quite a different atmosphere as many of the others in my practicum program in the other state were doing masters at other schools, and they seemed to be a lot more grounded in what they were trying to accomplish. With my background from Pacifica, which I agree is totally narcissistic, I was totally unprepared for most of the things I encountered with ordinary people suffering ordinary things, not on some spiritual head/soul trip.
If you want to spend a lot of money and hear a lot of people talking about animus mundi and other such stuff, and then have art projects with a lot of “rituals”, and meet a lot of crackpots, I definitely recommend the school. it is so very Southern california. So coooool. However, personally I felt that going to Pacifica was a terrific expense and colossal waste of my energy. My sense is it’s an extremely profitable business piggy-backing on a few famous names such as Joseph Campbell, and of course CG Jung, though actually they teach no Jungian psychology. I think that cult has it all wrapped up.. I could never figure out how Joseph Campbell fit into their program.
If you decide to become a counselor, do some serious homework, find out about licensure in your own state and get with a program that will help you get a job. If on the other hand you have a lot of spare time, a lot of money, and a dilettante view that you can incorporate myth, dreams and everything else into some wonderful ball which will make you aware and enlightened, then by all means register and start pouring money into the place called Pacifica Graduate Institute.
JanetSeptember 7, 2011
I agree with the essence of what Michael stated. I’m disappointed at the selection process for students. Many students play out their issues and gotten violent. Administrators decided not to give these students consequences. I hate, hate, hate the school but spent so much money and have a year of academics to go before doing dissertation. I honestly don’t know if I’ll survive. Many of the administration and instructors are apathetic beyond belief! I came from a WASC accredited master’s in psych program that was very organized. Dean of program was beyond excellent and a great role model of what a psychologist should be. I really hate to say it, but if I’m going to be honest, PGI is a circus environment and the teachers should model fir us what therapists should be, but even though Yukushko and Sipiora are intelligent, they don’t have much clinical experience, just research, so how can they really model what a therapist should be? The ones with clinical experience are not good role models at all. Very apathetic. Don’t know about anyone else, but I’d like my instructors who teach me psychology to show me by example how to care because whether they admit it or not, students are influenced by their behavior. I dint think 90 percent if the students have raw talent in being a psychologist. They’re not focused on the real lesson, just what grade they get. My supervisor, who also teaches at the master’s level, once told me he gives many students A’s because they did the work, but would never hire those students. Yet there are students he’s given a B or C and would hire them. I am disappointed with the lack of skills, natural talent and level of intelligence of the classmates in my classes at PGI. There are some intelligent students, but though they are intelligent, I wouldn’t say they would be the best or good therapists. I have to agree with Michael. I would not have agreed to enroll at PGI, knowing what I know now. They do give the used car sales man pitch. They mesmerize you by the beauty of the campus initially. Caveat emptor. Please, run, don’t walk, from this place before you spend $150,000!
MichaelAugust 6, 2011
Pacifica was the only graduate school that I applied to since I was very interested in pursuing “depth psychology.” I have now been in the clinical program for a year and I feel that I have been scammed. Coming to this school was a big mistake and the only thing that I can do now is to warn others to not come here (there were no reviews available before I applied to Pacifica).
I have spent $30K+ for one year at Pacifica and I am totally disappointed with the “education” that I received.
Looking back, I can see that there were many red flags that came up right away that I ignored since I was so eager to be in a PhD program (e.g., I should have walked away when I encountered the used car sales techniques of the admissions staff.)
Another red flag that I ignored was how lax Pacifica’s admissions standards are. Pacifica admits anyone who applies. There are students in my cohort who cannot read or write! Most of the students that I have encountered here are “just here for the PhD” and are not passionate about depth psychology. I have also had conversations with third year students and have been shocked by how poorly educated they seemed.
Pay several thousand dollars, talk about Jung a bit, get your PhD–that is the Pacifica experience.
I have been especially horrified by how awful and/or apathetic the instructors here are. The only exception that I’ve found to this is Dr. Gary Groth-Marnat. Unfortunately, he is not a full-time teacher there, so now that I have had my two required assessment classes with him, I will likely not see him again, and it would be impossible for me to have him as an advisor.
Before I applied to Pacifica, I didn’t know anything about Practicums or Internships. It took me a few months to figure this out, and now that I understand this, I can see how not having a practicum lined up for next year will be detrimental to my educational and professional future. There are several people in my cohort who also do not have a practicum, and this is something that would not happen in a reputable PhD program. The staff who are responsible for practicum and internship placements are too apathetic and/or lazy to care about the students.
I could go on and on about everything bad, and it is very sad that I cannot think of anything good about the year that I have been here.
Susan FosterApril 14, 2011
I did both my masters and PhD. at Pacifica Gradutate Institute. If you have a lot of money and want enrichment; it is wonderful. The courses are outstanding, the experience is the ultimate in narcissistic indulgence! However, I have had nothing but problems getting any type of help and support for follow up information. I graduated 10 years ago and now they say my dissertation was not done correctly. I have submitted and re submitted it and they alway find errors no matter who I have edit it. This has been going on for 5 years and countless copies and thousands of dollars. Each time I send it in they have yet another editor go over it and they always find errors. Before the document has ever been returned I get a bill. I have spent a total of $300,000 for a PhD. that is professionally useless; personally it great! Imagine if I had invested that money and just taken their seminars for the same enrichment; I\’d be retired instead of spending a $1,500 each go around trying to get my offical transcripts.
