Judith Wright is an American author, public speaker, educator, researcher, and program developer, known for coining the term "soft addictions", which has garnered national attention as seen on The Today Show, Good Morning America , 20/20, The CBS Early Show , The Chicago Tribune, and numerous other print and broadcast media.

Life

Born in Flint Michigan

Flint, Michigan

Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...

, before founding her own firm, she has held positions at Goodwill Industries, Mott College, The Illinois Department of Developmental Disabilities, and The Institute for the Study of Developmental Disabilities. She currently leads The Wright Institute for Transformational Leadership with her husband Dr. Robert Wright. In addition to writing and speaking together, they have founded the Wisconsin-based Graduate Institute for the Realization of Human Potential.

Programs she has developed include women’s empowerment, intimacy in families. Parenting, and leadership. She and her husband are also active in habitat restoration, environmental awareness, spiritual development, and emerging human empowerment technologies.

Early Life

Born in Flint Michigan to Richard and Ruby Gene Sewell, Judith is the third of four sisters. She began her primary schooling in a one room and then a two room school until third grade when she went to an elementary school with class rooms divided by grade. Dr. Wright’s family was active in public service and her mother was in charge of public relations for Flint Goodwill Industries where Judith had one of her earliest jobs.

From early on, she was engaged in the arts, beginning with dance in her oldest sister, Janet Surles’ dance studio where she excelled. Her studies in music and baton led to her becoming drum majorette of the Swartz Creek high school marching band. In high school she was active, winning awards in mathematics, English, and publications while graduating as class valedictorian.

Studies and Early Influences

After graduating as valedictorian from Swartz Creek High School, she attended Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

 where she graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, winning the Alumni Distinguished Scholarship Book Prize and the Humanities Essay Contest, along with Phi Kappa Phi

Phi Kappa Phi

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society established 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study and to promote the "unity and democracy of education"...

 and Alpha Lambda Delta

Alpha Lambda Delta

Alpha Lambda Delta is an honor society for students who have achieved a 3.5 GPA or higher and are in the top 20% of their class during their first year or term of higher education.-History:...

 honorary recognition. She earned a Master’s Degree in Education and Counseling from Michigan State in 1975 with a doctoral degree in education, leadership, and change earned from Fielding Graduate University

Fielding Graduate University

Fielding Graduate University, previously Fielding Graduate Institute, and The Fielding Institute, is an accredited, nonprofit post-graduate institution of higher learning based in Santa Barbara, California, USA....

. She was profoundly influenced in her early years by human potential and education authors such as Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers

Carl Ransom Rogers was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology...

, Rollo May

Rollo May

Rollo May was an American existential psychologist. He authored the influential book Love and Will during 1969. He is often associated with both humanistic psychology and existentialist philosophy. May was a close friend of the theologian Paul Tillich...

, and Mortimer Adler

Mortimer Adler

Mortimer Jerome Adler was an American philosopher, educator, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for the longest stretches in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo, California...

.

Early Career

Her initial work with Flint Goodwill Industries as Director of Work Adjustment Programtries, Flint, Michigan led to her position as Director of Special Services at Mott Community College in Flint. At Mott, she directed a demonstration grant for barrier free education and was Compliance Officer, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Sections 503 and 504, for Mott. While at Mott, she was also a Member of the Advisory Council for Collegiate Services to the Handicapped, Michigan Department of Education, on the Boards of Directors, Michigan Occupational Special Needs Association and the Easter Seal Society of Michigan. At Mott, she was also Grant applicant and Project Director, grant from the Bureau of Rehabilitation for a barrier-free campus, Principal Investigator and Project Director, "Integration of Severely Handicapped Students into the College Mainstream: A Model Program", Michigan Department of Education, VTES, and Director of Handicapped Services, and Director of Special Needs Programs. She also developed and administered special services for handicapped students as a national model for integration of handicapped students in response to the 1973 Rehabilitation Act and acted as Principal Investigator and Project Director, "A Service Model for Handicapped, Disadvantaged and Bilingual Students", Michigan Department of Education, Vocational, Technical and Educational Services.

Institute for the Study of Developmental Disabilities and The Illinois Institute of Developmental Disabilities, ISDD and IIDD.

In 1978 Dr. Wright became Project Coordinator for "The Chicago Early Childhood Education
Project, Contracted by the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped. She was appointed
Director of Clinical Programs, Illinois Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of
Illinois, Chicago and the Illinois Department of Mental Health where she developed model
programs for children with disabilities and their families. Designed state of the art programs and
received federal funding for several grants as national demonstration projects. She was
Principal Investigator and Project Director, "The Chicago Institutionalization Prevention Project
for Severely Handicapped Children", contracted through the U.S. Department of Education, the
Principal Investigator and Project Director, "Early Intervention with Risk and Handicapped
Infants in Multi Hospital Multi Program Areas", National Institute for Handicapped Research,
Office of Special Education, as well as Group Leader for mothers of handicapped children

Initial Private Business 1985

In 1985 Dr. Wright founded The Center for Exceptional Living, taking the success principles of
handicapped individuals and their families and applying them to a general population in a
context of spiritual growth and development. 1997-current President, Wright, The Wright Graduate Institute for the Realization of Human Potential, and The Wright
Business Institute. She is also co-founder of The Exceptional Living Retreat Center in Elkhorn,
Wisconsin where she Developed a Training Center dedicated to living exceptionally, increasing
consciousness, deepening connection with self, others, spirit and nature. Provides a place for growth and healing for people as well as a wildlife sanctuary.

The business, however, has come under some controversy. In 2000 the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (IDPR) filed complaints against Judith and her husband for exploiting their therapeutic relationships with patients whom they were treating to promote business ventures. Due to jurisdictional issues, the complaint was overturned by appeal in 2004 and continues to be up to the IDPR to pursue.

Public speaker, trainer, consultant and author

Dr. Wright’s work has been featured on national and local radio and television from 20/20, to
The Today Show, Good Morning America, and the Oprah Winfrey Show, Northwest Afternoon,
NBC Weekend Morning News-Chicago, KOMO TV-Seattle, Fox in the Mornings-Chicago, Good
Day Atlanta, NBC 10!-Philadelphia, Fox Mornings-Nashville. Magazine coverage has included
articles and references in publications ranging from Fitness and Health magazines, to Better
Homes and Gardens, Cosmopolitan, Entrepreneur, Shape, Prevention, Health, Marie Claire,
Natural Health magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Denver Post, and the Twin Cities Times.

Books

• There Must Be More Than This: Finding More Live, Love, and Meaning by Overcoming Your Soft Addictions. (Broadway Books/Random House , March 2003)ISBN: 978-0767913409
• The One Decision, (Tarcher/Penguin , December 2005)ISBN: 978-1585425471
• The Soft Addiction Solution (Tarcher/Penguin , October 2006)ISBN: 978-1585425327

Other publications

• Wright, Judith Sewell. An Integrative Model of Parent Involvement. In Marie Peters, Ed., Building an Alliance for Children: Parents and Professionals. Seattle, WA: University of Washington PDAS, 1982
• Wright, Judith Sewell, Granger, Roberta and Sameroff, Arnold. Parental Acceptance and Developmental Handicap. In Severely Handicapped Young Children and their Families. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, 1984
• Wright, Judith Sewell, Ed. Early Intervention Programs. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois, 1984, Editor and Author of articles in Exceptional Living Journal
• Deardoff, Julie, "What's Your Soft Addiction?"
• Uptown Magazine, "5 Signs You have a Soft Addiction"
• The Times Dispatch, "TV, Social Networking, and the Web Can Mean Soft Addictions"
• The South Bend Tribune, "Soft Addictions Hard to Beat"
• The Danbury Connecticut News Times, "You Can Get Hooked on Soft Addictions"