Actor. Buddhist monk. Psychologist. Counselor William Jackson, one of the new members of the Deerfield Academy Counseling Center, is already employing his unique background to counseling and meditation on campus.
Dr. Jackson first realized the importance of emotional wellness as a student in a conservatory acting program at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford. As part of the program, he spent three months studying Shakespeare in Birmingham, England. As a high schooler, he struggled with negative self-perception, until he started meditating. This practice guided his self-understanding, which shaped his attitudes. Dr. Jackson explained, “The fact that meditation was helping me to create something that adults and other people really valued made me feel like a good person.”
Before Dr. Jackson came to Deerfield, he had been a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk for six years and an actor at the Hartford Stage and Shakespeare in the Park. In addition, he had his own private practice in Easton, Massachusetts, and a small health and wellness company where he helped other therapists and wellness practitioners create their community online. However, he said he was missing a sense of community in his life.
Regarding his reason for coming to Deerfield, Dr. Jackson said, “I think especially after the pandemic, and when I look back, the times that I’ve been happiest in my life, whether that was when I was a Buddhist monk, whether that was when I was an actor with a troupe, the happiest times of my life have been when I’ve been living within a close knit community,” he said.
Dr. Jackson also expressed his excitement at working with teenage students at Deerfield. “It’s really exciting because I feel like as a teenager, you’re just really starting to form who you are, and sort of taking the reins on understanding what is best for you,” he said. “To be at that formative age, it’s really exciting to see people blossom into that.”
Director of Counseling Jennifer Daily said, “I think [Dr. Jackson] is great at bringing creative energy to the department. I think he’s a great team player, and he’s just kind of a wealth of new ideas.” She also emphasized his dedication to the new mindfulness meditation group that he leads.
To help Deerfield students become less stressed and anxious, Dr. Jackson started open-door meditation sessions. Dr. Jackson explained that meditation is something one has to practice continuously; thus, he conducts the sessions every Thursday during community time. Regarding the purpose of his meditation sessions, he said, “I think when you can sit in a room and really express all the crazy things that you’re thinking and feeling, and have somebody be like, ‘yeah, that’s okay,’ …it’d be actually compassionate and understanding and non-judgmental. I don’t think you have to do much more than that in therapy.”
Dr. Jackson’s themes of finding acceptance and compassion in his sessions come from his personal practice as a monk, where he explored his own emotional life and understanding of the mind. However, his sessions aren’t only stationary meditation, but also what he called “forest bathing,” which includes activities such as walking outside. Dr. Jackson also utilizes more unconventional practices for people to understand their emotions, such as dance parties where people evaluate their feelings before and after they dance.
While Dr. Jackson is focused on the meditation group and hoping to promote it more among students, he also has ambitious plans for the future. As an avid lover of sports, he is working with Deerfield sports teams, as well as the Office of Inclusion and Community Life, to help community members “develop more emotional resilience” and “clarify their values” within sports teams, he said.
Dr. Jackson has had many different experiences throughout his life, from being an actor to a monk. However, Dr. Jackson noted that a multitude of experiences supports one’s personal understanding, saying, “I think whether you’re producing a play, or you’re doing a martial art, or a sport, these are all opportunities for you to learn and to grow, and understand more about yourself.”