Bio for Gary Seeman, Ph.D., retired

Education

- - Ph.D. Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2001
  - M.A. Psychology with an emphasis in Holistic Studies, Antioch University San Francisco, 1981
  - B.S. Economics, Marketing major, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, 1973
  - High School, The Gunnery, Washington, CT, 1969: Cum Laude Society

Clinical Experience

10/2003 – 1/1/2022: Psychotherapist in private practice, originally in the San Francisco Bay Area where I had offices, first in Corte Madera, CA, then in San Francisco, and later in Redwood City, CA. After moving to Washington state in 2014, I had offices in Vancouver, WA.

1/2015 – 10/2015: Staff psychologist at Western Psychological & Counseling Services, PC, Vancouver, WA (Salmon Creek office). While here, I continued serving California clients via teletherapy.

Clinical Education and Training

Ongoing Continuing Education and Consultation: Licensed psychotherapists are required to pursue continuing education. Although I am not documenting each course or consultation group, I stayed current and honed my skills, especially in areas of practice specialization.

3/2015: Attachment-Focused EMDR Training (AFEMDR) with Laurel Parnell, Ph.D., Portland, OR. EMDR is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, an evidence-based trauma therapy.

10/2012 – 5/2013: ACISTE Mental Health Practitioner certification training. ACISTE is the American Center for the Integration of Spiritually Transformative Experiences. I later helped train other clinicians to achieve and renew their certification and served on the ACISTE Board of Directors for a full term.

11/2009 – 11/2012: Completed EMDR Basic Training with Laurel Parnell, Ph.D., San Francisco, CA.

9/2002 – 8/2003: Psychological assistantship with Ann Bernhardt, Ph.D., Mill Valley. Addressed individuation, bereavement, aging and related medical concerns, and characterological aspects of Mood Disorders. The work was informed by cognitive, solution-focused, and depth psychological theories, with the latter including Jungian and psychodynamic approaches. Depth psychological training included applications of dreamwork, attending to the transference and the interactive field (relational aspects of therapy), characterological assessment and crisis intervention. Collaborated with medicating psychiatrists.

9/2001 – 9/2002: Post-doctoral fellowship at Kaiser Permanente Psychiatric Services, San Rafael. Offered individual, couples and family therapy, facilitated groups for teens and their families, elderly adults, and body-mind group (pain management with Buddhist psychology focus). Other duties included being on-call, intakes, initial assessment for medication, and psychological testing. Emphasis on brief therapy, but some work was medium-term.

8/2000 – 6/2001: Internship at Santa Rosa Junior College Student Psychological Services (SPS), Santa Rosa, CA. Conducted drop-in, brief and long-term therapy with individuals and couples, facilitated relationship group, wrote and delivered outreach presentations on relationships, addictions, career. Clients were students and their partners in late teens to late fifties, multi-racial, and ethnic. Worked with relationship and identity issues, addictions, anxiety and mood disorders, and anger management.

6/98 – 10/99: Internship and practicum at Center Point, Inc., San Rafael, CA, providing adult residential substance abuse treatment. Approximately half of clients were mandated by the criminal justice system, about a third had dual diagnoses. Provided individual and group therapy, and facilitated recreational activities. Led ongoing groups for men’s issues and grief and loss. Helped assess dual diagnosis clients via clinical interviews and psychological testing.

While pursuing psychology education and training, I earned a living as an award-winning, marketing, and technology writer and editor. Lack of funds and regulatory time limitations on license eligibility under my master’s degree required me to abandon licensure under that degree. I had to regroup and return to the field 15 years later. My earlier psychological and medical experience and education included:

5/83 – 10/83: Volunteer, Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, San Francisco, CA. Volunteered at the crisis clinic.

4/30 – 3/81: Intern, the Way Home Community Counseling Center, San Francisco, CA. Co-therapist with individual adult clients and their families did intake interviews, participated in therapist training group.

1968: Volunteer work with developmentally disabled youngsters at Southbury Training School in Connecticut.

Independent Education and Personal Growth

My work as a psychologist was informed by my spiritual practice, personal experience in psychotherapy, a good marriage, and education and training experiences I’ve pursued independently.

2-3/12: 9 day spiritual guidance retreat and Kundalini Yoga practice with Swami Chandrasekharanand Saraswati and Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, Ph.D., Knoxville, TN.

7/07: 9 day silent Mahamudra meditation retreat with Lama Kunzang Rinpoche of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism at The Hermitage, Denman Island, BC, Canada. This was a deep meditation experience investigating the nature of mind.

9/02: 12 day meditation retreat and Kundalini Yoga practice with Swami Chandrasehkharanand Saraswati and Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, Ph.D. This was the experiential culmination of my dissertation research on the Kundalini Seminars of C. G. Jung.

10/98 – 9/01: Analytic psychotherapy with Pan Coukoulis, Ph.D., including clinical case consultation, dreamwork, exploration of the interactive field.

(Dates of the following are approximate.)

10/88 – 11/94: Six-year analysis with the Donald Sandner, M.D., author, training analyst and former president of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.

1/85 – 8/85: 23 day certification training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming™ with Grinder, Delozier and Associates.

1980-81: Presented group process model of indoctrination to the late Margaret Singer, Ph.D. and cult exit counselors group (where I was a participant) at invitation of Philip Cushman, Ph.D.

1979-81: Heartsong Advanced Clairvoyant Reading and Healing Program. After my spiritual awakening of 1977, my first spiritual teacher, Rev. Dr. Patrick Young, advised me to train at Heartsong. During this time, I also trained briefly in spiritual healing with Greg Schelkun and others.

1975-78: I first began to look inward as a participant in the Human Potential Movement, including several est seminars, where I first became aware of the reality of intuitive perception beyond the usual sensory modalities.

Professional Affiliations