Lupe Zuniga, PhD Clinical Psychology, 2001 – Co-Founder and Interim President

Lupe Zuniga received her PhD from Pacifica’s Clinical Psychology program in 2001, forging life-long friends with classmates, mentors and alumni.  One of her greatest honors was being selected to participate in the founding of the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association (PGIAA) in 2011. Dr. Zuniga has been a foundational figure in the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association since its inception, including co-chair of the inaugural Steering Committee, Board member, Advisory board member and Emerita board member.  In 2024, at its most challenging time when experience was needed most, she stepped into the role of Interim President of the PGIAA Board, continuing her dedicated service to the alumni community.  Dr. Zuniga’s commitment to PGIAA has been instrumental in shaping its mission and expanding its reach.  Her leadership has fostered a vibrant network that supports alumni in their intellectual, spiritual and professional endeavors. She has been actively involved in organizing events and advocating for the alumni community’s interests.  Now, to have been asked to return to ‘fine-tune,’streamline and bring increased organization to the PGIAA as Board Chair has been a sincere privilege.

Her experience with other non-profit boards and the corporate world has helped her navigate organizational changes.  She has served on the Board of Counseling West, co-founded by Dr. Patricia Katsky in 1976 to provide high-quality, affordable counseling services throughout the San Fernando and Conejo Valleys.  In 1973, she was instrumental, with her friend, Carmen Zapata, Emmy-nominated actress and producer, in founding the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts (BFA) to present classic Spanish-language plays in Spanish and English thereby raising awareness of the diversity of the Hispanic culture through theatre.  She has recently stepped away from the BFA Board and is currently an Emerita.

For nine years, she was senior instructor and clinician at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in Tarzana, CA.  As the clinic’s only bilingual counselor at the time, she facilitated the therapeutic process for non-english speaking Hispanic individuals by translating testing procedures into Spanish.

In 1970, she joined her friend, Robert K. Hagel, President and CEO of THE BURBANK STUDIOS (TBS), the joint venture and third studio created by Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures in Burbank, CA.  She served as his executive and personal assistant in the operation and administration of 114 acres of film, television, commercial, scoring and recording facilities until their departure in September, 1977.

Dr. Zuniga currently maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Encino, CA, specializing in Clinical Hypnotherapy where she provides solution-focused, success-oriented therapy for professional athletes, the entertainment industry, ‘first’ responders, ‘golden agers’ and corporate professionals.

Holly Reusing, PhD, Depth Psychology 2015 MA, Counseling Psychology 2005 – Co-Founder PGIAA

Holly Reusing was raised in Atlanta, GA, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Georgia State University in 1991. She worked in the financial planning industry for several years and passed the Series 7 exam shortly after graduation and secured a position at Smith Barney, a prominent brokerage firm. In 1996, Holly relocated to the West Coast with her husband and they welcomed two daughters. While raising her children, Holly pursued further education at Pacifica Graduate Institute, completing her MA in Counseling in 2005. Her academic focus included psychoneuroimmunology, quantum physics, and Native American knowledge systems. Following her graduate studies, Holly and her husband opened their first of four Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools in Southern California, where she received her black belt in jiu-jitsu and is involved in developing infrastructure around safety and ethics in the jiu-jitsu industry, with a unique focus on women’s experiences in a male-dominated combat sport. Holly returned to Pacifica to pursue her PhD in Depth Psychology, deepening her exploration of the mind-body connection and transformative potential of martial arts, with particular emphasis on how this pertains to women in sports. Holly played an early pivotal role in the development of ongoing activities of the Pacifica Graduate Institute Association (PGIAA). As one of the founding members, she served as a co-chair of the inaugural PGIAA Steering Committee, helping to establish the association’s foundational structure and mission. Through her ongoing involvement, Holly continues to support and is committed to the institutes mission, tending soul of and in the world. She currently resides in Riverside, CA where she integrates her academic and personal experiences into her work within the jiu-jitsu community and beyond.

David Baker, PhD, Clinical Psychology, 2001

David serves as a consultant and psychotherapist working with founders and executives of organizations in fine-tuning their relational skills, and maintains a private clinical practice in Winter Park, FL. He is on the post-graduate faculty at the Tampa Bay Institute for Psychoanalytic Studies, where he teaches on the interrelationship between psychology and spirituality.  Previous teaching assignments include Rollins College, The Seattle School of Psychology & Theology, and the University of Central Florida. David holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute (2001) and B.A. and M.A. degrees in theology from Biola University and Talbot School of Theology. He enjoys being the father of two rambunctious men, restoring vintage trucks, playing drums, board games (surfing, paddleboarding), and wondering about things.

Rita Bazeley, LMFT, MA Depth Psychology, 2006

Rita Bazeley grew up on Long Island and had the opportunities of being a Baby Boomer: having fine schools, a very good education, and lots of new housing. All the aftereffects of WWII. An hour from Manhattan, field trips into New York City were often. Here, Rita got to see museums, shows, and the New York architecture. Rita also got to experience the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Rita also traveled every summer throughout New York and New England, learning about the history, architecture, lifestyles, philosophies, and the psychology of America’s early founders. Rita received her BFA from RISD, Rhode Island School of Design, where her major was architecture, a pioneering rarity for a woman in the 1960s.When Rita moved to Southern California in 1976, she formed the local RISD Alumni branch, which became the model of all other RISD Alumni branches.

Rita’s love of architecture led her to teach History of Architecture and to form a local Historical Club. Having seen the 1908 Gamble House in a History class, Rita made sure all her students visited it and many other historical places throughout Southern California. She has volunteered there as a docent since 2018.

Always interested in psychology, in 1999, Rita discovered the C. G. Jung Institute of LA. Here Rita took many classes, and shortly afterwards Rita went to Pacifica Graduate Institute to study Depth Psychology, working towards her Master’s. When she completed her coursework, Rita looked around for an Alumni Group to continue her connections to Depth work. Once again, Rita found there was none, so Rita started arranging for LA Alumni to meet, and shortly afterwards, an official Alumni Association was founded. Then the Regional Groups were formed throughout America and beyond.

Rita continued her studies at the Jung Institute, got supervision from a Jungian analyst, and was licensed in 2011 (MFC #49515). Rita has Private practice in Studio City, CA, where she practices Jung Depth psychology, using: Sand Tray, Art Therapy, and Dream analysis with her clients. Rita found that her life experiences, background in world art, architecture, and history, and studies at Pacifica have all contributed to her Practice in Depth Psychology.

David Davidson-Methot, PhD, Clinical Psychology, 2000

Dr Davidson-Methot grew up in Phoenix, AZ, and received his BA degree from Northern Arizona University, where his major was Humanities, with a focus in Comparative Religion. It was there that he first encountered the writings of CG Jung. He received a Master of Divinity degree from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, an Episcopal seminary part of the Graduate Theological Union, with reciprocity with the University of California, Berkeley. After 15 years in parish ministry in Northern and Southern California, he decided to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, beginning in 1994, and completing and defending his dissertation in 2000. He has been licensed to practice in California since 2002, and in Arizona since 2005. He has had a wide variety of clinical experiences, including working at a residential treatment center for CPS and state ward youth in Southern California, serving as clinical director for a community non-profit serving severely mentally ill adults, and managing a substance abuse treatment center in downtown Phoenix. He also worked half-time at one of the state prisons in Arizona, including on the yard housing the state’s sex offender population.

He has been in private practice in suburban Phoenix since 2007 until 2013, when he relocated to northern California. He has had a private practice in Auburn, CA, since 2014.

Nicole Freeman, LMFT, LPCC, MA, Counseling Psychology, 2018

Nicole completed her undergraduate degree in psychology at San Francisco State
University. Nicole began working with children and adolescents in 2003 when her children entered school. She was actively involved in The Open Classroom, a co-op specializing in alternative learning methods for students. Nicole received her master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in professional clinical counseling and depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Montecito, California. Nicole worked in the Office of Alumni Relations as part of the work-study program and joined the PGIAA board in 2018. Nicole Freeman is an LMFT and LPCC in private practice located in Southern California and is an adjunct professor at Antioch University in Santa Barbara. Nicole is an EMDR certified clinician and is working toward certification in DBT.

Nicole has experience working with adolescents and their families in residential settings at an extremely high level of acuity and has maintained an intimate private practice since 2018. Nicole has procured a dream practice comprised of individuals who are eager to explore their emotional terrain as if it were a color never seen before. The art of balancing acceptance and change is celebrated while antiquated constructs are dismantled and given a Viking’s funeral.