Edmund Knighton, Ph.D.
(805) 882-2424 x 303
Edmund Knighton is a registered psychological assistant at the Family Therapy Institute in Santa Barbara. Edmund holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.
Perspective on Therapy
Experiential and somatic psychotherapy is more effective than talk therapy alone. Each client brings something unique to the session and is worked with individually and in relationship with others in their life. Through creativity and spontaneity of each session, clients empower themselves to remember how to live healthily. Edmund experience deep joy in being with clients, and loves assisting them to deepen and expand their sense of self to live more fully and lovingly.
Approach to Therapy
Edmund offers a balanced approach of active listening and intervention to allow clients to achieve more choice and freedom in life situations, and to regain a feeling of empowerment and discernment in a safe and confidential environment. He is most effective with clients who are actively in the process of change. Edmund uses focused present awareness (mindfulness) supported by a relational approach to help clients access and integrate physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual experience. His approach is curious, supportive, and often playful, and draws from training in somatic and body-centered therapies.
Professional Specialties
Edmund works with families, groups, couples, and individuals. He specializes in relationships; parenting; stress/trauma relief; life changes/transitions; anxiety/depression; grief and loss; holistic integrative therapy; and psycho-spiritual development.
Professional Training
Edmund has received training in Somatic Therapies, Client-Centered Humanistic Therapies, Gestalt Therapy, Transpersonal and Existential Therapies, Field Theory, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and Jungian Therapy. Edmund was also trained in neuropsychology at University of California-Davis Medical Center’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, a Regional I trauma center and teaching hospital, where he provided assessment and therapy as a member of a multidisciplinary medical team that used a biopsychosocial model to treat neurological disorders, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and stroke.
Related Experience
Edmund has been counseling and teaching people in various capacities since 1989. He served as a guidance counselor to elementary, middle school, and high school students in East Palo Alto and Sacramento. Edmund has helped to create and facilitate four men’s groups since 1985. Edmund also provides low fee counseling at Turner Foundation in Santa Barbara.
Teaching
Edmund is currently Department Chair and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. He advises students in the Somatic Psychology Specialization, chairs dissertation committees, and teaches courses in the Clinical Somatic Psychology Program. Edmund taught elementary, middle, and high school for 15 years and now serves as consultant and trains Waldorf Teachers. Edmund is certified in Spacial Dynamics Movement Therapy, Conflict Management, Ropes Course Instruction, Outdoor Education, and Yoga.
Personal Life
Edmund and his wife are excitedly welcoming their first child into the world this summer. He balances an active work life with having fun at the beach, in the mountains, and at home, including singing, running, hiking, and yoga. He aligns with many spiritual traditions, including Esoteric Christianity, Judaism, Sufism, Cherokee Indian, and Buddhism. He was raised both Methodist and Jewish, and found Buddhist and Native American teachers in his teens. Currently he embraces best practices of spiritual and religious traditions in a daily practice.
Treatment Population Age
Elementary, Adolescent, Young Adult, Adult, Senior
Edmund serves in the low fee psychotherapy clinic at FTI. Sliding scale fees are based on income and range from $30-100 per session; insurance can not be accepted in the low fee clinic.
