Graduating Student Reflection 2025: Marissa Huang

Marissa Huang is a graduate of the M.A. in Counseling Psychology concentration in Integral Counseling Psychology, and an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist at CIIS’ Pierce Street Integral Counseling Center.
 

As I rushed down to campus on a fall afternoon, I received a cryptic text:  

“When you get here...I have a surprise for you.”  

I arrived to our classroom and my friend’s got this giant bag… Inside it? A massive blue oyster mushroom — roots and all — that she’d been growing in her closet. On break, we took it to the Awakenings Cafe and we harvested it — cutting the flowering mushroom from its solid base, laughing at the absurdity of all this, and sharing in one of those sacred-silly moments.

That mushroom became a meal. And that moment became a reminder: What we tend to in the dark can feed not just ourselves, but each other.

That, to me, is the spirit of CIIS.  

We grew things together — ideas, relationships, parts of ourselves we’d tucked away...and then we offered them up, with care.

In the words of bell hooks:  “Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.” That's what we've built here. A community of seekers, scholars, artists, clinicians, healers, and change-makers — each shaped by different backgrounds and drawn to different paths.  

We studied across disciplines, woven together diverse modalities. Whether we attended classes in-person, or through a Zoom screen — we were reminded again and again there is no single way of knowing, practicing, or being.  

That’s what it means to be integral: to hold multiplicity with reverence. To recognize that healing, knowledge, and transformation happens in relationship – with each other, with the world, and within ourselves.

Of course, this journey wasn’t easy. Many of us carried the responsibilities of jobs and families. Some faced immigration concerns, financial strain, or heartbreak.

During my first semester, my mother had a stroke. Suddenly, I was navigating grad school...plus caregiving, confusion, and grief. There were days I barely made it to class. Nights I stayed up overwhelmed, trying to study through the fog. After she passed, I had to step away...I wasn’t sure I’d return. But when I did...I came back to something profound: a community that welcomed me without condition.

And I know I’m not alone. Many of us paused, returned, reoriented. We found healing not just in the classrooms – but in community. We showed up for our community as teaching assistants, facilitators, researchers, and leaders. We joined affinity groups and created spaces to gather, process, and remind one another that we belong.

And we also laughed a lot. Made countless WhatsApp chats. Sent way too many memes. Went on snack runs. Created inside jokes. Met each other’s pets.  

Be it a sunny, or a typically overcast SF day – we communed at the beach, or at the park. Made memories in the evenings at The Beer Hall processing what we couldn’t in class.

Now, as we cross this threshold, we pause in gratitude.

Thank you, faculty — for your wisdom, presence, and challenge.  

Thank you, mentors and supervisors — for walking with us when the path was unclear.

Thank you, staff and administrators — for all your work behind the scenes.

Thank you, partners, friends, parents and families — for your support throughout. This moment belongs to you, too.

And thank you, fellow graduates — for your courage, your mirrors, your tenderness. We did this — in communion.

The call to action now, is to turn our vision outward — into art, advocacy, academy, healing, and hope.  

So let’s go where we’re called. To the margins. To the center. To bring spirit, story, and justice into every room — be it a classroom, a clinic, a boardroom, or a protest. 

Today, we are living embodiments of what it means to be integral — whole, curious, grounded, and connected.

Congratulations, Class of 2025. We did it.