The Wright Institute

April Parker, a second-year student in the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology program, was born and raised in Northern California. She lived with her mother, who was a single mom, and her older brother. “My mother worked very hard and was doing the best she could to take care of two young children,” she reflected. “A lot of our social safety nets were already weakened at that time and there were a lot of ways our family fell through the holes.” Despite the family’s personal and financial struggles, April remembers a childhood filled with laughter and fun. “I was taught from a young age how to laugh in the face of life's most difficult challenges,” she explained. “That's a lovely piece of my childhood that I feel really grateful for.”

Read more about April here - https://www.wi.edu/news-student-spotlight-april-parker

Dr. Pratima Pathania, a 2021 graduate of the Wright Institute’s Clinical Psychology program, was born in India and moved to Hollister, California when she was twelve years old. Her father was a fashion designer in India and transferred to the US for work. Several years later, he was able to bring Dr. Pathania, her brother, and her mother here as well.

Read more about Dr. Pathania - https://www.wi.edu/news-alumni-spotlight-pratima-pathania

“A combination of my temperament and my Jewish and Q***r identities has made me generally skeptical of authority and interested in people that redefine the good life outside of dominant social norms,” shared Dr. Adrienne Rosenberg, a 2020 graduate and current faculty member in the Wright Institute’s Clinical Psychology Program. “You can draw a direct line between that, my dissertation on clinical failure, and my love of working with the neurodivergent, q***r, immigrant, and disabled communities.”

Read more about Dr. Rosenberg - https://www.wi.edu/news-faculty-spotlight-adrienne-rosenberg

Shonali Shome, a 2023 graduate of the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology Program, grew up in a small town in Virginia, where her parents taught at Virginia Tech. “I’m an only child, but I have a large extended family on my dad’s side in India,” she explained. Shonali attended small public schools from first grade through high school. She enjoyed growing up in a small town and is still close to some of her elementary school friends. “Southwest Virginia was a very conservative area, but Blacksburg itself was more diverse and progressive because of the large university," Shonali recalled. “It was an interesting juxtaposition.”

Read more here - https://www.wi.edu/alumni-spotlight-shonali-shome

Sean Daugherty, a third-year student in the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology Program, was born and raised in a small suburb outside of San Diego called Lemon Grove. He grew up in a working class neighborhood with his parents and his older brother. Sean attended public schools in Lemon Grove and the surrounding areas and still has many close friends from his neighborhood and schools growing up. His father managed a fireplace store and his mother did administrative work at a local community college, but both are now happily retired and still living in the home where Sean and his brother were raised.

Read more here - https://www.wi.edu/student-spotlight-sean-daugherty