Student Stories and Experiences

Resources

The Latest Video Interviews

Piret J. | Meridian Student Profile

Hear from open enrollment course registrant Piret Jeedas about her experience taking a few different courses and how she has applied what she learned in her career and life. Sharing the space with international students and hearing their stories, as well as reflecting together on faculty questions, has given her many perspectives and led her to inquire more within herself.

Daniel F. | Meridian Student Profile

Hear from Meridian student, Daniel Fecher, about how he has applied transformative learning in his life. He has felt challenged and supported throughout his program and dissertation process. He has also found balance and flexibility in his courses and empathy and professionalism among his classmates.

Student Testimonials

Read key takeaways from Meridian graduate students about their educational experience and why they chose Meridian's curriculum, faculty, community, and learning platform.

—Vanessa N.

Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

Years after completing my doctorate, the education I received at Meridian continues to offer me guiding principles, as well as deepened capacities for self-awareness and tolerance, which I draw upon each and every day; my education feels like a living organism that continues to ripple forth. Furthermore, the power of Meridian's learning community structure catalyzed me to bring my psychological training into the political realm, towards work I never imagined myself doing: the healing of my own, local community.

—Mary Fullwood

Ph.D., M.F.A., Co-Director of the Terra Foundation, Los Osos, California

How I got to Meridian was doing my research and looking for universities that had values I align to…and I think the reason it aligns with why I care about higher education is because I’m very interested in the transformation of higher education. It’s a leadership doctorate that I’m in, and I feel that you’re a leader in your family and in everywhere in the world. I think how I’m showing up is more consistent and aware of others and the community. I’m walking a little softer in the world because of my doctorate work.

—Micki M.

Ed.D in Organizational Leadership

What’s special about the way that Meridian structures things is that I'm given that material and then asked to integrate it and think about it through the context of my own lived experience by telling stories about my own life by unpacking my own Shadows my own fears my own complexities.

—Lili Jeree W.

MA in Counseling Psychology Student

The Meridian experience was about more than just getting a degree. It was an invitation to explore and connect deeply with what matters most in this world, and to get grounded in the fundamentals of what it means to be alive as a human being. By answering this call to adventure, I found much more than an education. I found myself.

—Joshua Holcomb

M.A, President, Eclectic Health

My time at Meridian has tremendously impacted how I am able to be present with clients... I think first and foremost there is an openness and excitement that I've been able to develop in myself for new and emergent possibilities in learning. I feel like I'm in the midst of people [Meridian faculty] who have so much of their personality and experience shining through, but also so incredibly open to learning and seeing what's unfolding with others, and that's really powerful. I experience a really responsible way of holding authority and developing community among learners. So much understanding and experience that's been shared information has been incredibly helpful and really stays with me in my personal life and work. There's a depth of authenticity that has been really important.

—Camille M.

Ph.D. in Psychology

Transformative learning really is something that has changed my life because it integrated all parts of myself. It leaves nothing out. Everything is subject for examination in this program.

—Phoenix J.

Ph.D. in Psychology Student

My main goal in my career is to work in the diabetes and mental health fields, find that overlap, and do some heart-centered diabetes work. One thing that stands out about the faculty at Meridian is the amount of presence and space that they hold in our courses. Being at Meridian feels like swimming in a school of fish with other people that are all sort of going the same direction as I am, even though we all have our specialties, and I think that space has been very valuable to my creative process and my work and what I’m passionate about.

—Mandy J.

M.A. in Counseling Psychology

Take a moment to imagine the most meaningful educational experience possible. Then, like me, imagine embarking on the life changing journey of going to Meridian. Engaging in the educational process at Meridian provided me the invaluable opportunity to enhance my willingness to participate in daily life as both a learner and a teacher. In a unique and compelling fashion, Meridian’s staff and faculty mentor students towards developing those capacities necessary to become a powerful and effective psychological practitioner who can serve the larger community with compassion and respect. Embracing Meridian’s encouragement of its students to strive towards cultural leadership in both professional practice and personal life, continues to be a challenging experience fully worth its immeasurable reward.

—Susan J. Gulbe Walsh

PH.D., Counseling Psychologist, University of California, Santa Cruz

The transformative experience here feels like a safe walk, like you're walking with a friend who just cares and wants to see you get to the other side because they've been there and they know how wonderful it is. So, it feels like a real, sweet, gentle invitation. Organically over the time I've been here, my family relationships have just come even more alive... The aspect of the shared learning that's happening is so rich. I find myself in awe most of the time for the depth of knowledge and experience that's in the space with me. There are just some really heartfelt folks here that seem to get, at a deep level, that it's about humanity; it's about really being here for ourselves and others in a way that we all thrive. The teachers in general, I found to be amazing individuals. The work they're doing in the world inspires me.

—Evelyn S.

Ph.D. in Psychology

After being an established Marriage and Family Therapist I had a deeper knowing that something was missing. I wanted to do soul work within the context of community. My cohort life at Meridian provided the opportunity for my desires to manifest. The program’s curriculum, which emphasizes expression through ritual, imagination, and creativity within the complexities and challenges of community-making, invited the awakening of my soul. I engaged in relationships in ways I had not known in my family. This experience has opened my heart, freed my spirit, supported my growth, and allowed me to be more effective in my work as a healer.

—Dianna Grayer

Psychotherapist in Private Practice

Thirty years ago I became a Marriage and Family Therapist. Decades later, seasoned by life experiences, I returned to graduate school to deepen my own journey. I found a program at Meridian that integrated, within its academic requirements, challenges that engendered a richer and more expansive level of beingness to my life and work. The psychology program at Meridian is truly a transformative program.