Our Humanistic Approach
Saybrook’s humanistic approach is about actualizing potential: your potential to grow as a person and professional, Saybrook’s potential to advance as an institution, and our shared potential to provide comprehensive care to those in need by applying an integrative, mind-body-spirit approach to psychology, leadership, counseling, nutrition, social work, and beyond.
This work cannot be achieved, however, without considerable effort. Our humanistic approach pairs academic rigor with your personal curiosity to create a learning environment that will challenge you to push forward the fields of interest that brought you to Saybrook in the first place.
Saybrook students don’t shy away from this challenge—they welcome it.
What Humanistic Means for You
Saybrook believes people are greater than the sum of their parts—to properly understand someone, we must acknowledge their full history rather than viewing the facets of life as working independently from one another. These core beliefs inform our philosophy as a learning community.
Humanistic means
authentic.
Humanistic means
belonging.
Humanistic means
engagement.
Humanistic means
all-encompassing.
Our Mission
Saybrook University relentlessly pursues a socially just, sustainable world by educating humanistic leaders who transform their fields and communities.
Saybrook: A History
Saybrook’s humanistic roots are directly entwined with the roots of humanistic psychology itself. The concept was first introduced by some of the most influential voices in the field at the Old Saybrook Conference in 1964. Seven years later, Eleanor Criswell, Rollo May, Clark Moustakas, and James Bugental—all attendees of the Old Saybrook Conference—established the Humanistic Psychology Institute, our original name. Born from the very minds who devised humanistic psychology, Saybrook continues their legacy of humanistic values and academic rigor.
Our Faculty, Your Guides
Our faculty members will be the guides by your side at Saybrook. They take pride in encouraging your curiosity, strengthening your studies, and using their years of professional experience to help you discover the path that’s right for you.
Leadership
Our exceptional leadership team embodies Saybrook’s humanistic mission. Our president, Executive Cabinet, and Board of Trustees dedicate themselves to upholding the values that have helped thousands of students discover their life’s purpose.
Belonging at Saybrook
Everyone belongs at Saybrook. Everyone.
Each member of our learning community—each unique perspective, story, and insight—strengthens our efforts to create a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive future.
Accreditation
Saybrook University has been accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) since 1984.
The Community Solution
We are a proud member of The Community Solution Education System, an integrated nonprofit system of six colleges and universities that works collaboratively toward scaling our institutions, so we remain focused entirely on one thing: your educational experience.
