| Contact & profile | Publications & Grants | Courses & Syllabi | Community Projects & Consultation |
Pilar Hernandez-Wolfe, Ph.D. |
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| Phone Number: (619) 594-7196 | |||
| E-mail: phernand@mail.sdsu.edu | |||
Pilar Hernández-Wolfe Ph.D, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Assistant Professor Marriage and Family Therapy Program. Cultural Context Model in supervision and clinical practice; Post Colonial approaches to family therapy; traumatic stress and resilience; domestic violence; ethics in family therapy.
As a Marriage and Family Therapist and Counseling Psychologist, I believe that "events taking place at the level of nations (the big picture) can reverberate down into the day-to-day life of the individual and the family (the little picture)" (Garbarino, 1983, p.25). I choose to work with individuals and families within the larger social context. My research agenda is framed within a postcolonial framework and is guided by two passions: understanding and treating the wounds of social and historical traumatic stress and fostering resilience, and developing cultural competence in the therapy training of family therapists.
As an educator, I believe that education is a drawing out, not a putting in. From a post-structuralist perspective, knowledge is not simply transmitted from the teacher to students, but is actively constructed in the mind of the learner through dialogue, reflection and various hands-on activities. I believe that students make their ideas by constructing their own knowledge structures and that they learn by integrating new information from their own life experience. Dewey (1938) stated that there is an intimate and necessary relation between the processes of actual experience and education. Students draw on their own experience and prior knowledge to discover the knowledge to be learned. This discovery process occurs for both students and teacher as we both learn from each other. I believe that one of the most underappreciated joys of an academic career is the ability to teach. I have never taken this for granted. During my short, but rich career as an assistant professor, I have intended to reinvent myself in light of my previous experiences. I believe that every student has a right to a teacher's undivided attention, and I have tried my best to provide it. In this endeavor, I have been rewarded with lasting relationships with students and the pleasure of watching their success and learning. I structure my classes along three important motifs: (a) the intersectionality of class, sexual orientation, ethnicity and gender, (b) ethics and (c) the use of self in therapy.