Webb Garrison, Ph.D.
Psychologist
Webb Black Garrison III, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist who has been practicing and teaching for over 30 years and supervising for over 20. He earned a BA in Religious Studies at Davidson College. During this time studying world religions and philosophies, he became particularly interested in mysticism and meditative practices.
His experiences in meditation are what led him to pursue a graduate degree and career in Psychology. Dr. Garrison went on to get his Masters and Doctoral Degrees in Clinical Psychology at the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University. Subsequent to obtaining his graduate degrees, Dr. Garrison has maintained clinical, supervisory, and teaching dimensions in his work.
Dr. Garrison completed his internship at South Oaks Hospital. From here, while getting licensed, he worked within a private practice that focused on work with those who had suffered various forms of trauma. Once licensed, in addition to starting his private practice, Dr. Garrison was the Senior Supervising Psychologist at MercyFirst, a child welfare agency that worked with children at various levels of need. In this capacity, he supervised Psychology interns, maintained direct clinical responsibilities in three group homes, and supervised the Clinical Coordinators of 11 group homes, located from
Brooklyn to Suffolk County. Dr. Garrison later worked within nursing homes as a staff clinician and Supervising Psychologist.
In terms of his teaching and academic career, while in graduate school, Dr. Garrison worked for Princeton Review, where he taught test preparation (PSAT, SAT, GMAT, GRE, LSAT) and became a Master Teacher, where he trained other teachers. Dr. Garrison has taught at a number of colleges, including St. Joseph’s, SUNY Old Westbury, and Adelphi University. He additionally taught and served as Academic Dean at Southwestern College, a graduate institution for offering Masters Degrees and training Mental Health Counselors and Art Therapists in Santa Fe, NM. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate classes at Adelphi University and graduate courses online at Meridian University.
Dr. Garrison’s clinical approach and his overall approach to life is integrative. While his graduate studies were focused on Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic work, his clinical experiences have expanded into other realms, including Humanistic, Cognitive Behavioral and Somatic approaches. Throughout his career, Dr. Garrison has also been deeply interested in spirituality, functional and holistic medicine, and the arts.
Dr. Garrison’s basic teaching approach is Socratic and intuitive. He strongly believes that education is about awakening a passion and an inner wisdom which is not simply conveyed, or transmitted, by the teacher. Rather, the teacher serves as a facilitator of a student’s growth and development by asking questions and following curiosities and intuitions, while bringing the subject matter to the light of inquiry.
In addition to his work as a Psychologist, Dr. Garrison is avidly committed to family life. Beyond his involvement with family, he plays and composes music for the piano, does leather work, carves wood, and engages in other random creative acts as opportunities present themselves. He also enjoys retreating into the arms of nature, as time and circumstances allow.