[7] Eleanor Camp Criswell, along with Rollo May, Clark Moustakas, and James Bugental, founded the Humanistic Psychology Institute at California State University, Sonoma in 1971.

[8][9][10] Author Michael Mayer recalls that the Saybrook name derives from Old Saybrook, Connecticut, where during a conference in 1964 several psychologists, including Rollo May and Carl Rogers, expressed a desire "to create a school that embodied the values of the 'human growth and potential movement' and to educate practitioner-scholars in the methods and philosophies of human-centered psychotherapy".

[11] Under the leadership of Criswell and philosopher Thomas Louis Hanna (1928–1990) the school began offering graduate courses in humanistic psychology.

The university aims to provide "rigorous graduate education that inspires transformational change in individuals, organizations, and communities, toward a just, humane, and sustainable world.

"[17] It offers programs in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Studies (non-clinical), Clinical Psychology, Psychophysiology, Mind-Body Medicine, Leadership and Management, Counseling, Integrative Wellness Coaching, Transformative Social Change, and Integrative and Functional Nutrition.

[26][27] Notable faculty include Gary S. Metcalf at the School of Organizational Leadership and Transformation[29] and author Chip Conley.