Joseph Fountain

Biography

Joseph Fountain loves psychology and hopes to excite and interest his students in it. Most people associate the field of psychology with mental disorders, but the study and science of the mind encompasses so much more. Can he make your pupils dilate by playing a song? Will you put more hot sauce on an enchilada for a person of a different ethnicity than for a friend? How can you build a Mind Palace to significantly improve your test scores? How can we prevent suicide? Can hitting a fake hand actually cause pain? Through surprising demonstrations, practical exercises and interactive presentations, Fountain presents answers to these and many other questions about human behavior and mental processes.  

CWC offers classes in general, abnormal, social, biological, developmental and personality psychology which provides a strong foundation for students who intend to transfer to bachelor’s programs in psychology, human services and many other helping professions. Further, workshops and seminars in human potential, suicide prevention, art therapy, stress reduction, PTSD, the hero’s journey, the psychology of Harry Potter and other interesting topics are offered.

Fountain spent his childhood in Southern California, Egypt and Malaysia, before settling in Seattle for high school. He studied international relations before he was commissioned as an Army infantry officer, where he graduated from Airborne School and the Ranger Course and served in the 7^th Infantry Division.

He then spent 25 years with the Seattle Police Department as a patrol officer, SWAT operator and team leader, and tactics instructor. His last five years in law enforcement he supervised the Crisis Response Team (CRT) as a detective sergeant. CRT, comprised of three detectives and a mental-health professional specially trained to work with persons in crisis or with severe, chronic mental illness, afforded Sergeant Fountain to an opportunity to collaborate with treatment and assessment professionals.

Fountain served as an expert witness in federal civil cases that involved police use-of-force. He presented testimony on the effects of human performance factors, such as vision, reaction time, acute stress response and rapid versus deliberate cognition, in force encounters. He also provides expert forensic opinions on crisis intervention and police response to persons with symptomatic mental illness.

In 2010, he took an early retirement to pursue his longtime dream of teaching psychology at a two-year college. While in his clinical psychology master’s program, he spent a year-long practicum treating combat veterans with severe PTSD. His thesis, “Will I Follow You into the Dark?”: Effects of Celebrity Suicide on Suicide-Attempt Rates, investigated celebrity suicide contagion differential effects on suicide death and attempts.

Fountain has two adult daughters, a hospitality management professional and a college senior and IT entrepreneur. He lives in a log cabin home in Riverton with his dog, Kuri, who looks like a fox-coyote mix. He enjoys theater and has played title roles in Beauty & the Beast and MacBeth, and as Daddy Warbucks in Annie. Fountain also enjoys stand-up paddleboarding and SUP-surfing, reading Harry Potter novels by the fire, creating crossword puzzles and humor in all forms.

Degrees

Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Seattle University

Master of Science in Clinical Psychology, Eastern Washington University